Here we are almost through another summer and I can think of nothing that I will miss more after it’s gone than barbecue. There’s just something about walking outside on a hot summer evening and smelling meat on a grill. I imagine everyone sitting around and chatting while the cook is turning delicious cuts of meat until they fall apart in your fingers or on your fork. After all, to barbecue is to cook true American cuisine.
So what is the official definition of barbecue? Barbecue is slow cooking meat at a low temperature for a long period of time over wood or charcoal. Most of us tend to use the term barbecue loosely. True barbecuing is not putting burgers on a gas grill. Barbecuing is cooking by using indirect heat. Grilling is cooking over direct heat. It is the smoke from the burning wood that gives barbecue its distinct flavor.
It is said that barbecue began in the 1800s during the cattle drives out West. The bosses didn’t want to feed the cowboys the good cuts of meat, so they fed them brisket, which is normally tough and stringy. To compensate, the cowboys cooked the meat slowly over a long period of time and at a very low heat, resulting in meat that was very tender and flavorful. The cowboys soon began to experiment and found that other meats such as pork butt, pork ribs, beef ribs, venison and goat were great also.
Although barbecue is considered “authentic American cooking”, there are many different kinds of barbecue found in many different regions of the United States and beyond. The basic rule of thumb is that the barbecue of any area is what was common at the time the area was settled. For instance, when the East Coast was settled, tomatoes were considered poisonous, therefore a vinegar-based sauce was used. The jerk barbecue of the Caribbean has hot peppers, pimento trees, allspice, citrus and seafood. The Kansas City area cooks beef and pork with a sweet tomato-based sauce with chilies. Texas has beef, peppers, oak trees and mesquite, giving way to brisket with a chile-based rub, served dry. The Northwest is more in tune to game, seafood and alder trees and smoked salmon. In the Mediterranean, grape wood is used for cooking.
There are two basic methods for barbecuing. One is to use barbecue sauce; another is to use a barbecue rub. Of course barbecue sauce is considered the “wet” method where a liquid-based sauce is applied onto the meat from time to time during the cooking process. The rub or “dry” method is a combination of spices that are mixed and placed onto the meat before and sometimes more than once after allowing the meat to absorb the flavors before cooking. Rubs should be applied at least the night before cooking, although up to three days before is better. Cover the meat generously and then wrap it in butcher paper and leave it in the refrigerator a couple of hours before smoking. The rub can be totally dry or it can have some liquid in it that gives it the consistency of a paste. The advantage of a rub is that it will last in a shaker for months, while a marinade or sauce should be used the day it is made.
Every year, all over the United States, there are many, many barbecue competitions. The biggest one of all is the American Royal, sponsored by the Kansas City Barbecue Society every October. Held on October 5th and 6th this year, the American Royal Barbecue is five barbecue or barbecue-related contests on Friday and Saturday, with prizes totaling over $60,000. Over 600 cooking judges determine the winners, and over 400 choose the “best sauce on the planet”. If you just didn’t get to barbecue enough this summer, or just need some pointers, take a trip to Kansas City, or try some of these great rub recipes I’ve found for your next shindig. Don’t take the easy way out. Barbecue the rest of the summer – really barbecue. After all, someone once said that the worst barbecue you cook at home is better than any “run-of-the-mill” barbecue in a restaurant.
*Note: Because there are a vast variety of barbecue sauces widely available at your local supermarket, I have only included dry rub recipes that you can create at home or that give you ideas on what ingredients you might choose to make your own delicious rub.
This article appears in March 2024.