Barbeque vs Grilling

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I am curious Raine, for all the NC pics you posted, Is wood the exclusive fuel used?
 
Lump charcoal is the only way to go... However on screen we use gas half the time, just because the camera is rolling and we are under that time constraint thing.

Those briquettes have never entered my yard.

G.
 
This is a term and technique that is way too often misundertood or been diluted.

BBQ no matter how you spell it is a method of long/slow cooking over wood coals.

It is not a device you cook on.

It is not sauce.

Grilling is cooking high heat and fast, no matter what the heat source.

Are you a NC native? NC is the most guilty for called their method/meat/spiced/sauced BBQ. I'm from New England I can still remember when I went to NC being asked if I wanted BBQ, my answer was always "BBQ what?". :)
 
Folks, Raine has been inactive here for some time so its unlikely she will answer any of these questions. Sorry.

Edit: Also please note the date this thread was started...2005, stuff gets resurrected once in a while, I just don't want to see anyone disappointed if they don't get any answers.
 
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Interesting. Of course I know that the demographic here is by far the majority N. american, but I plead you to be merciful with those of us who aren't from N. America to whom a BBQ is indeed the device upon which we cook! In Uk and some of the other commonwealth countries grilling is what you guys call broiling. I try and remember to give both terms when posting here, as I say, I'm concious we are in the minority, but it is still correct for some of we users of this forum!
 
Those of us who regularly cook low and slow over coals and/or wood use the word "barbecue" as either a verb to describe that action, or a noun to describe the food produced by that method. Not in the same sentence, however.

"I can barbecue a great brisket" or "I cook great barbecue".

Before I learned how to barbecue, I, too, used the word to describe grills, cook-outs and burgers and dogs.

Hearing the word "misused" (if you will) is like fingernails on the chalkboard for us bbq'ers. But I've learned that people REALLY don't like being corrected, when everyone around them, all of their lives, has called a gas grill a "BBQ". So I cringe and keep my mouth shut.

Bacardi, I believe that North Carolinians generally limit their use of the noun "barbecue" to barbecued pork, and more specifically, pulled pork butt. Not sure if that's the same in Tennessee, but the Memphis in May competition circuit is all pork.

Lee
 
Lee, I know how it makes some of you cringe. Raine and I had a rather long and involved discussion about this on another board several years ago. Its one of those things that you just have to accept as having more than one meaning. In certain circles and locales it means one particular thing, and in others its something very different. Neither is right, and neither is wrong. We just all have to accept the different meanings a term has. Its wonderful that on a board with so many diverse cultures on it we can all learn to use words interchangeably so that we are all understood.
 
Lee, I know how it makes some of you cringe. Raine and I had a rather long and involved discussion about this on another board several years ago. Its one of those things that you just have to accept as having more than one meaning. In certain circles and locales it means one particular thing, and in others its something very different. Neither is right, and neither is wrong. We just all have to accept the different meanings a term has. Its wonderful that on a board with so many diverse cultures on it we can all learn to use words interchangeably so that we are all understood.

Whoa! :ROFLMAO:

Looks like I'll be taking the high road on this one!

Lee
 
Websters says (a) barbecue can be any of the above, including a gathering where people eat barbecued food or the "portable fireplace" that the food is cooked over.
 
How about this sentence...

I'm going to my friend's BBQ to BBQ BBQ on his BBQ.

Translation: I'm going to my friend GATHERING to COOK LOW and SLOW - MEAT on his SMOKER. :D
 
In my opinion, barbecue is meat cooked low and slow and with smoke and typically in an indirect manner. Meat that is directly cooked over hot coals or gas is grilled.

The social event is a cookout. If the term "barbecue" is used for the social gathering, it should be centered around barbecue as the main course and not grilled items such as steaks and burgers.

One of my former coworkers was invited over to a new neighbor's house for a "barbecue". The main course was grilled chicken breast that had been marinated in Italian dressing. The new neighbor was from "up north".
 
Camp cookie, speaking as someone from even further "up north" I'll just say that makes perfect sense to me. Making my point once again that terms have many meanings, often regional ones.
 
Camp cookie, speaking as someone from even further "up north" I'll just say that makes perfect sense to me. Making my point once again that terms have many meanings, often regional ones.

Even if you accept the term "barbecue" as low and slow with smoke, different parts of the country think of said barbecue being something different. The competition circuit and internet forums are breaking down some of the regional walls slowly, for better or worse.
 
Grilling or broiling infers high bottom heat transferred via a metal grill. BBQing is a long, slow process involving smoke. Sauteeing, Jennyema, involves jumping in a pan at high heat and it also involves moisture in most cases. Microwaving would be more similar to roasting than grilling. You are correct in your logic.
 
I think (as I have said before in this thread and others) that we all need to be tolerant of the way people use terms in different parts of the world. There is no need to insist that your definition is the "right" definition for one particular term. Insisting you are right just leads to folks getting upset at one another. Just be aware that people use terms differently in different places. Another example is "pudding". Ask someone from the UK what that means and you will find it is significantly different from the definition used in North America.
 
Sorry Alix:

I was approaching this in a technical way and giving information as I was taught in culinary school. I am a professional chef and assumed the terminology was universal.

Marko
 
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