First i would like to do a shout out to my AWESOME Dad!!!!
As you all know my computer was on the fritz, and over the holiday weekend my lil sis went home to visit our folks. So i sent my crazy computer home for it to get a check up with Dad. it was just what the doctor ordered....Now my computer is all tuned up and running great. Thanks Dad your Awesome!!!!
I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend of fun and all the holiday trimmings. Of course i worked, nothing different than any other holiday, with the exception of a butt load of BBQ.
First of all, the word barbeque is misused. When you cook steaks, hot dogs and hamburgers (and whatever else you want) on the grill, well hello.....guess what? That is called Grilling!
Cooking meat over an open fire has been around since the cave man. But the cave man didn't BBQ. Why? Because he had no sauce. LOL! Actually, as far as we know, the cave men just grilled over an open fire.
So just what is barbequing? Now pay attention. It will probably end up being a question on "Jeopardy" someday!
To barbeque (going to use BBQ from now on since it's so hard to type) is slow-cooking meat at a low temperature for a long time over wood or charcoal. Not gas! Although, most of us without a discerning culinary palette don't know the difference.
BBQ began in the late 1800's during cattle drives out West. The men had to be fed (cowboys) and the boss (cattle baron) didn't want to feed them the good meat. So, other disposable cuts were used to feed the men. The main choice for this was Brisket, which is a very tough, stringy piece of meat. However, the cowboys learnt that if you left this brisket to cook for a long period of time (5-7 hours) at approximately 200 degrees (although I don't know how they knew the temperature over a fire?) that wha-la! A super yummie meal was to be had. Besides Brisket, other meats that they found to BBQ well, were pork butt, pork ribs, beef ribs, venison and goat.
The basic BBQ grill is a cooking chamber with an offset firebox or a water smoker. The average KMart gas grill is not for BBQ, but for grilling. Today BBQ is a hobby -- or passion with some -- and enjoyed by millions of Americans each year. I guess it's one of the things we as Americans can claim as "authentic" and part of our culture and not a cooking style that has been brought from another country.
To BBQ is to truly cook American.
You know what they say? "When in Rome...do as the Romans." This can apply to BBQ also. Different areas of the country have different meat priorities and preparations. For example, in the Southeast, pork is the preferred meat to BBQ. Digging a pit (to concentrate cooking heat and smoke) goes back to European culture. Then it was forgotten until the Jamestown colonists arrived. Since pigs were running around freely to fatten themselves up, (only to be captured and eaten later) pork became the sustenance meat of Virginia and later the southern states. This also was a blessing when crops didn't produce as they should for whatever reasons.
But, the sauce is what seems to define a BBQ chef or restaurant. In the South they seem to like thinner BBQ sauces, with a more vinegary tone. Other parts of the US prefer the thick, sweet, tomato BBQ sauce. But in Texas they season their beef with a dry-rub mixture of seasonings.
There are even quirky BBQ's in some restaurants or areas of the United States. In the early 1900's, New Yorkers loved turtle BBQ. I think that got replaced by New York pizza or cheesecake?
It's undeniable that BBQ is popular and well-loved in American society. But, BBQ tastes and cooking differ. Real BBQ purists claim that a restaurant that offers its customers a grilled piece of meat slapped with some sauce later isn't eating real BBQ at all. Others say it is, as long as the sauce is there, then it's BBQ!
(Information source for the above information on BBQ is from posts I read on the American Cooking Bulletin Board and my own personal experiences.)
I hope found this info fun and interesting. Remember folks its the summertime...thats right bbg season is offically here...so light some fires and get cook'in!!!!!!
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