"Only smoking is proper barbecuing." Discuss

[Chris__M]

Not claiming them as an authoritative source, but according to Rhett & Link: "Barbeque is not a verb, and barbeque is not a grill. Barbeque is meat, prepared in a very special way; which varies, depending on where you go."

Works for me.

[Davy]

Q. If you cook a burger on a gas grill in the kitchen is it BBQ?
Q. If you cook a burger on a grill outdoors does it then become BBQ?
Q. If you cook a brisket indoors with a gas oven and serve it with BBQ sauce is it BBQ?
Q. If you cook a brisket outdoors with wood and / or charcoal and serve it without BBQ sauce is it BBQ?
Q. If you cook a brisket indoors with wood and / or charcoal and serve it without BBQ sauce is it BBQ?
Having answered these questions correctly you should be able to define what is ''proper'' BBQ.
That is BBQ as a noun. As a verb that may be a totally different question...or answer!

Going slightly off topic here but highly related

Q. If you cook a burger on a gas grill in the kitchen are you pitmaster ?
Q. If you cook a burger on a grill outdoors are you a pitmaster ?
Q. If you cook a brisket indoors with a gas oven and serve it with BBQ sauce are you a pitmaster ?
Q. If you cook a brisket outdoors with wood and / or charcoal and serve it without BBQ sauce are you a pitmaste ?
Q. If you cook a brisket indoors with wood and / or charcoal and serve it without BBQ sauce are you a pitmaster ?
Having answered these questions correctly you should be able to define what is ''proper'' pitmaster.

[keith157]

[quote=".................Having answered these questions correctly you should be able to define what is ''proper'' pitmaster.

Okay in all honesty I could cook every conceivable type of meat sauced or dry on gas or charcoal indoors and out and NEVER consider myself a pitmaster. I may, at the end, consider myself a good bbq cook, assuming I've not killed anyone. To be a pitmaster is to master a pit, a large area or piece of equipment for cooking huge quantities of food (usually pig and cow) to feed a large number of people for soicialising or profit.
To digress slightly more, I could never claim (nor would I) to be a Chef De Batterie (Escoffier's term for the head of a kitchen) as the only person I have who assists me is the food taster (and I remember to ask nicely) so I have no experience of running a "proper" kitchen. That being said I doubt if a series being aired as Mastercook would have got off the ground.
It was mentioned earlier on that when people talk about "Proper BBQ" inevitably they mean US style BBQ, grilled, smoked, sauced or dry. From what limited reading I've done they came to the fire last of all. All the older cultures of the world, and I include the UK & Europe, were BBQ'ing way before Leif set foot in Vinland The joy of the new country was the mingling of cultures and that eventually people would look outside their own structure of cuisine and try, adopt and adapt what they found to enable us to have tried what we have and to be where we are (trying to find 10 consecutive dry daylight hours to use the "daleks" sitting around by soggy garden).
Cook what you can, eat what you want and above all ENJOY it

This has been a great topic, and one of the best I've read on any forum keep going.....

[Pecker]

I never knew that's what 'pit master' meant - you learn something new every day.

Steve W

[KamadoSimon]

Ok - i am prepared to be shot down / challenged....

I started answering with:

'For me BBQ is a combination of the method of cooking & the food. The food should have been cooked over coals / fire - it doesn't matter whether it is grilling or smoking.'

BUT

I realised that none of my home-made BBQ sauces have ever see the BBQ itself - mostly saucepans & gas hob - but I consider them to be BBQ....

So maybe my definition is that the main component of BBQ has to spend some of its cooking time over fire / charcoal.

To me cooking pulled pork / brisket in an oven (completely - not just finishing off) is not BBQ, however good it tastes. Why? Well, a) you haven't used a BBQ and b) without artificial elements (liquid smoke) you don't get the smoke components which, to me, are an essential part of the taste of BBQ food - whether low n slow or grilling.

Out of interest is the use of an oven like this allowed in BBQ competitions?

[Davy]

I never knew that's what 'pit master' meant - you learn something new every day.

Steve W

Is that what a pitmaster means, as I have found this


Noun
pitmaster (plural pitmasters)
One who operates a barbecue pit. Sometimes a term of respect for someone who is skilled at barbecuing.

Again this is all open to debate and I would have to kindly question Keith's definition of a pitmaster. Does it have to be a large pit and does it have to be large quantities of food. Its like what Steve W said earlier about higher and lower definitions. If I cook once over a pit am I a pitmaster.

[Tiny]

Chaps,
I believe bbq to be a broad church, but I think the debate hinges on one word "proper".

Somantics abound, it is similar in everyday cooking, I can boil water fling some pasta in and stir through aa sauce through. Not sure the river cafe will be signing me up too soon.

So it is with only smoking is "proper" barbecue, it is a snobbery that follows a logic that - I as a smoking pitmaster really understand the cut of meat, I prepare it by hand, specially select a rub and apply this in a special way and leave for just the right amount of time, I then take the time and trouble to spend hours in the cooking process managing to maintain a temperature using variable natural ingredients, adjusting for rxternal temp, wind, the variability of the charcoal, I use complex smoke flavours to enhance the meat, I am able to create texture and moisture....In essence I am an absolute GENIUS so how dare the sausage murderers on the disposables suggest they are the same as I,, how very dare they.......

I think the lo and slow pitmasters are genius, the michelin starred of the bbq world, I aspire, but may never reach these dizzy heights.

So whilst I would concede smoking lo and slow to be the pinnacle they do not possess exclusive rights to bbq.


Thems me thoughts
Tiny

[Pecker]

Geat stuff this.

So, let's say for the sake of argument, we want a definition of barbecue. Cooking shoulder of pork in the oven and pouring a bottle of warmed barbecue sauce over it doesn't count - that's be low redefinition. Only allowing low & slow smoked too limiting - high redefinition.

A few boundaries, then. It has to be cooked with coals or wood. But what about gas? I've no time for gas myself, but I think I'd accept you can barbecue on gas. Indeed, some gas barbecues are water smokers, which is arguably closer to the high re-defined idea of barbecue. It should be outdoors, but there are plenty of Argentinean steak houses with coals burning in them.

Starting point is that it's cooked with wood or coals outside, but there are exceptions.

Steve W

[Pecker]

To me cooking pulled pork / brisket in an oven (completely - not just finishing off) is not BBQ, however good it tastes. Why? Well, a) you haven't used a BBQ and b) without artificial elements (liquid smoke) you don't get the smoke components which, to me, are an essential part of the taste of BBQ food - whether low n slow or grilling.

I'm with Charles Campion on smoke: "...closer to the bludgeon than the rapier".

Smoked food can be very nice, but more often than not it just completely destroys any other flavours, in both meat and sauce/rubs.

Rather than saying you have to use smoke, I believe smoke is vastly over-used, and should only be applied for specific recipes.

As we're using the word 'proper', I'd say that proper cooking means that every ingredient, every flavour has to be there for a reason, and must be in balance with all the other ingredients and flavours. It makes me angry when I see carefully constructed, researched and balanced recipes, and someone thinks you can cook that on the barbecue and just nonchalantly throw a handful of wood chips on it.

That’s not barbecuing. Unless the true definition of barbecuing is “A crass indifference to the flavour of food”.

Steve W

[KamadoSimon]

Rather than saying you have to use smoke, I believe smoke is vastly over-used, and should only be applied for specific recipes.
Steve W

If we are talking about smoking, yes i'd agree. As i continue to learn about low n slow, i am as guilty as most beginners in starting off over-smoking food so it becomes the main flavour rather than using it as an addition to the flavour.

But

Grilling a steak in a cast iron pan on a gas hob is not BBQ. Grilling a steak on a cast iron grill on a BBQ is. For me the difference is not just the use of a BBQ. Even in short high temperature grilling you get a smoke flavour added to the meat. This was what i was meaning when talking about a smoke flavour i.e. it apples equally to low n slow as it does to grilling.