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Barbecue

For example, in a typical home grill with two separately controlled burners, grilled foods are placed over both burners, while if barbecuing, one burner is turned off and the food is placed over the cold burner and heated from the side. The meat is turned one or more times to ensure complete cooking.

This method of cooking breaks down the collagen in meat and turns tougher cuts into easy eating.

Table of contents

1 Regional Variations 1.1 United States 1.1.1 North Carolina 1.1.2 South Carolina 1.1.3 Texas 1.1.4 Georgia 1.1.5 Florida 1.1.6 Tennessee 1.1.7 Missouri 1.1.8 Kansas City metropolitan area 1.2 Caribbean 1.3 Australasia 1.4 South Africa 1.5 Korea 2 Techniques 2.6 Wood 2.7 Charcoal 2.8 Natural Gas/Propane 3 Etymology 4 External links

Regional Variations

South Carolina

Texas

In Texas, barbecueing refers to what others call "hot smoking"—cooking with both smoke and low heat for hours over woods such as oak, mesquite, or pecan. Cooking with direct heat, such as a propane-fueled flame, is not referred to as barbecueing, but is instead known as grilling. Curing meat without heat is known as smoking. Meat prepared by Texas barbecue often has a red tinge even when fully cooked, and a pink smoke ring around the edges of the meat.

If used, traditional sauce consists of tomatoes with a vinegar base. It can be sweet or spicy and thick or thin, depending on the chef. At barbecue cookoffs in Texas, however, meat is generally judged without sauce, as sauce can cover up for poor-quality meats and cooking. Commercially available sauces usually bear little resemblance to traditional barbecue sauce, and are frequently made from tomatoes and corn syrup.

Since creating proper barbecue requires considerable expense of money and time, in that one needs a specialized smoker and has to start smoking many hours before the meat is ready, most Texans simply visit a local restaurant known as a barbecue joint. Such establishments typically serve the meat in a no-frills manner, on a plastic tray and butcher paper with white bread or crackers, or, to-go, in a brown paper sack. Traditional side dishes include potato salad, cole slaw (mustard or vinegar), pinto beans, which are often spicy. Banana pudding, peach cobbler and Blue Bell Ice Cream are popular dessert options. However, they are not always available—the film Kreuz Market: No Sauce, No Sides, No Silverware depicts a popular barbeuce joint in Lockhart that lacks the three items mentioned in the title.

Slight regional variations in Texas barbecue exist. In Central Texas barbecue is more likely to consist of leaner meats, while East Texans prefer more fatty cuts. It is possible, however, to find both kinds of meats all over the state.

In Texas, barbecue, and the best barbeuce joints, are popular topics both in individual discussions and the media. The documentary film Barbecue: A Texas Love Story depicts the culture associated with Texas barbecue. Texas Monthly magazine periodically performs roundups where they rate scores of barbecue joints across the state. The most recent roundup was in 2003.

Georgia

Kansas City metropolitan area

Caribbean

Australasia

South Africa

Korea

Techniques

Gas grills are significantly more expensive due to their added complexity, and higher heat. They are also considered much cleaner as they do not result in ashes of which must be disposed, and also in terms of air pollution. Extra maintenance may further help reduce pollution (see #External Links below).

Etymology

External links

• Barbecue Food Safety (US Dept of Agriculture)
• Weber Grills
• How to use a Chimney Starter
• Kingsford Charcoal FAQ
• City of Austin Air Quality Program, Grill Maintenance

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