What’s your minimum definition for barbecue?

I think of "grilling" and "barbecuing". To me, they are not the same. Grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, steaks, chops, chicken, etc is not BBQ. Smoking brisket, pork ribs, lamb shoulder, sausage,pork butt, pork shoulder, pork belly, chicken, etc is BBQ.

Whatever you call it, it is good........:thumb:
 
I come from a time and a place (70s in SW Missouri) when and where "barbecue" meant anything that was cooked outside. 99% of what I was told was barbecue was grilled. We visited family in Southern Illinois once and Dad's cousin was making "barbecue". Dad asked, "Barbecued what?" He wanted to know whether his cousin was making steaks, chops or chicken. He was in fact, making pulled pork...some of the best I've ever had. Dad didn't get it. He wondered why it took all day.

With that background, I'm pretty liberal with my definition of "barbecue". When I'm in Louisiana, I don't turn my nose up at barbecue shrimp, which isn't cooked over live fire, is rarely cooked outside, and has nothing that resembles barbecue sauce on it. If you live anywhere near St. Louis (or Springfield) pork shoulder steaks grilled kind of slow and slathered with barbecue sauce are "barbecued pork steaks" and I'm pretty sure you could start a fight if you tried to explain to someone who has perfected that cook that it "isn't barbecue".

Don't care what you call what. Don't care what your fuel source is. Don't care if you take all day or get done in 10 minutes. If it's delicious and I'm invited you can call it whatever you want. :thumb:
 
Smoked tofu is not BBQ.

Cook a meat over indirect heat.

I like to eat

...and it shows.
 
My Grandpa and Great Uncle doing some open pit BBQ, taken in the late 40's or early 50's.

VF2DDNb.jpg
 
BBQ hamburgers covered in Pig Stand bbq sauce with deer sausage for lagniappe. I’m good for this anytime!!!
 
thirdeye said:
My Grandpa and Great Uncle doing some open pit BBQ, taken in the late 40's or early 50's.

VF2DDNb.jpg
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Looks like our Farmyard as a kid, old indiginous fella use to cook Roo like that
 
BBQ in South East Virginia is all about pulled pork. When I first had bbq, I thought all bbq was pulled pork. I had no clue about ribs or brisket. I still call pulled pork "bbq" and when I talk about ribs and brisket, I specifically call it brisket and ribs.
 
The more I read and learn about bbq. I do think there is a difference between grilling and bbq.

Bbq has to have wood and fire. You can smoke meat with propane, but that isn’t bbq. Grills can be either gas or charcoal.

Now that you are down in Georgia, teach them how to cook brisket in that fancy box of yours!
 
thirdeye said:
My minimum is one main meat, ribs, chicken, pork butt, brisket, sausage, turkey, or even a meatloaf. The cooking is indirect, or raised direct over live fire, and there is some flavor wood in some form added to the coals.
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this ^^^^^
 
Czarbecue said:
My work had a barbecue lunch day and by noon I was pretty hungry. I keep forgetting I’m in Georgia now and it seems pulled pork is all they needed to satisfy the barbecue requirement. I was hoping for ribs, sausage, or even brisket (that’s a stretch in GA).

I ended up going to QuikTrip for a slice of pizza.
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Something cooked over wood/coal/pellets low/slow in the presence of smoke. Also sides. Sadly because a lot of Q comes from places where everyone is a raging alky until they see someone else of their "faith" booze is optional.:doh:
 
Moving from SC to GA I've been pretty disappointed with a lot of the barbecue here - especially in Atlanta. A lot of the places here served shredded up pork pre-mixed with a sickly sweet ketchup sauce and declared that, 'BBQ'. Sometimes they had ribs that they baked (or OMG boiled) then tossed on a hot grill to heat them up and caramelize some of that same sickly sweet ketchup sauce on them when you ordered. Thankfully this seems to be changing as people are starting to demand better quality from all of their restaurants.

Growing up, barbecue was almost always chopped pork - either whole hog, butts or a mix of butts and shoulders. Some places had ribs, some places sold sliced bbq sandwiches, sides varied - but if you called yourself a bbq restaurant you sold chopped pork.

We always made the distinction of grilled vs barbecue - barbecue was smoked low and slow. Now that I've been exposed to a lot of different traditions I like most any of them if they're done well but I still tend to think of barbecue as big hunks of meat that are smoked - but I'll happily eat some bulgogi seared over a fire at my table and not argue if you want to call it Korean BBQ.
 
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Well if its based on how I grew up... My dad use to turn burgers to charcoal on a gasser. A cheap gasser. Clearly I am thankful for being re-educated.

I didn't grow up with barbecue. I don't have any tradition that I grew up with.
Pennsylvania, especially western pa, is not a traditional barbecue area. That being said it is catching on. 50 or 60 years from now the north east will have barbecue traditions. This is the infancy imo of barbecue in the North East.

I figure bbq is smoked food. Hot and fast or low and slow with a rub on it. Sauce is optional.
 
BBQ in the south is pulled pork. That's what they served and what I would've expected. That said, I've lived in many different places and have low expectations and standards, especially when it comes to work food. Most of the places I've worked, bbq meant hot dogs on the grill, not even hamburgers.
 
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I grew up in a very plain jane place for food: the northwest. German food was as ethnic as it ever got. No spice, no heat, and not a lot of outdoor cooking outside of burgers and hot dogs. I've since lived all over the country and traveled all over the world : eating as I journeyed. Its helped open my eyes to great foods and cooking methods.

Cooking = food + heat + time. BBQ is a form of cooking, so each of those elements is what gets varied for the individual dishes. If you play music and throw in a steel guitar, its probably country. If you cook meat, and use smoke and wood, its probably BBQ.
 
BillATL said:
Moving from SC to GA I've been pretty disappointed with a lot of the barbecue here - especially in Atlanta. A lot of the places here served shredded up pork pre-mixed with a sickly sweet ketchup sauce and declared that, 'BBQ'. Sometimes they had ribs that they baked (or OMG boiled) then tossed on a hot grill to heat them up and caramelize some of that same sickly sweet ketchup sauce on them when you ordered. Thankfully this seems to be changing as people are starting to demand better quality from all of their restaurants.

Growing up, barbecue was almost always chopped pork - either whole hog, butts or a mix of butts and shoulders. Some places had ribs, some places sold sliced bbq sandwiches, sides varied - but if you called yourself a bbq restaurant you sold chopped pork.

We always made the distinction of grilled vs barbecue - barbecue was smoked low and slow. Now that I've been exposed to a lot of different traditions I like most any of them if they're done well but I still tend to think of barbecue as big hunks of meat that are smoked - but I'll happily eat some bulgogi seared over a fire at my table and not argue if you want to call it Korean BBQ.
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Well, you just had the good karma to be born in SC! ;-)

Imagine growing up in CT!
 
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