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All Easy Cookin' Recipes
The
History of Barbecues
The
History of Barbecues
by Sue Taylor
Nowadays, barbecue refers to the process of slow-cooking meat that needs
smoke, low temperature and longer periods of time. The most commonly used
meats for barbecue are pork shoulder, ribs, brisket, whole hogs, mutton
roasts and other pork and beef roasts. The word barbecue is used to refer
not only to the cooking process, but also to the whole event when this
type of food is being served.
Barbecue Origins
No one knows for sure where was barbecue invented and who invented it.
There is a chance that the term comes from the Taino Indian word barbacoa,
which means meat-smoking apparatus. Another possibility is for the word
comes from the French expression barbe a queue, meaning whiskers to tail.
However, in America, barbecue originated in the late years of the 19th
century during Western cattle drives. The cowboys used to consume tough
and stringy pieces of meat, often brisket which required cooking for seven
hours before it could be eaten.
Barbecue Cooking Styles
Texas Style Beef Brisket This barbecue cooking style involves one of the
toughest pieces of meat. This is why it can take a very long time to be
cooked. It is served sliced with thick tomato sauce.
Owensboro Mutton This is an unusual tradition traced back to the early
1800s. This is when sheep production became a profitable business in the
United States. It involves sliced meat on white bread with a vinegar sauce
and is cooked mainly in Owensboro Kentucky.
Pulled Pork This delicacy is probably the original American barbecue. Slow
smoked meat from the whole hog or selected cuts turns very tender and it
is pulled apart by hand, then dished up on buns with vinegar sauce on top.
Ribs This is the most popular barbecue style and tastes best when cooked
the traditional way. There are several styles in which the pork ribs are
smoked, but generally they are cooked in whole racks and topped with thick
tomato sauce.
Barbecue Sauces
Barbecue sauce is the sauce that is often poured onto the meat while it is
being barbecued and/or used as a dipping condiment when being served. Most
barbecue sauces are made of mixed spicy, sweet and sour ingredients. The
most popular sauces are made of tomato sauce with vinegar and sugar. In
certain regions of American southern regions, vinegar- and mustard-based
sauces are popular too. Barbecue sauces are often used with other foods
too. Different regions have their own barbecue sauce styles and sometimes
they even keep the recipes secret. Here are some of the most popular
barbecue sauces with their ingredients: " Kansas City: thick, red-brown
tomato molasses " South Carolina: vinegar, mustard, black pepper " North
Carolina: liquid vinegar, pepper flakes " Alabama: white mayonnaise "
Texas: tomato sauce with hot chilies and cumin " Arkansas: thin tomato and
vinegar sauce with pepper and molasses
Built-In vs. Free-Standing Barbecue Grills
Built-in grills are barbecue heads built or framed into a permanent
cabinet, finished with tiles or rocks. Building a grill with all the
accessories you need into a customized cabinet gives you the opportunity
to create the perfect outdoor kitchen for summer barbecues.
However, a free-standing grill gives you more flexibility when it comes to
where you put it. It can be easily moved around and hooked up to a fuel
source. Free-standing barbecue grills come in a wide range of sizes and
accessory options, such as rotisseries, smoker boxes or side burners.
Most people do not distinguish between barbecuing and grilling. While
grilling is a fast cooking process over high heat, barbecuing is a slow
process, over indirect heat or hot smoke. Even though barbecue is
traditionally prepared in outdoor environments, it has also become very
popular in restaurants, where it is cooked on large metal or brick ovens
especially built for this purpose.
About the Author
Sue Taylor is very interested in barbecue food. Refer to her blogs
http://bbq-sauce.blogspot.com
http://bbqsmoke.blogspot.com
and
http://builtinbbq.blogspot.com
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