Is BBQ a grill or sauce?

[Halford1]

hello there,

I am sure that the Southerners know what I am talking about (not non-southerners who moved to the South).

Funny how I grew up in NC and lived in Georgia and Alabama before moving to California, hearing people say "BBQ" and I asked, "Which BBQ sauce is your favorite?" They looked at me like I am crazy and said "BBQ is a thing you cook food on". I proceed to ask them questions if they ever saw the word "BBQ" on the grill when they bought it.. The answer is always the same - NO.

Hailing from the South, I never call my grill a "BBQ". When I say, "Lets have a BBQ", I really mean the meat covered with BBQ sauce, not the grilled meats.

Logically and rationally, grill is a grill and BBQ is BBQ sauce only.

What sayest thou?

[ROBERT CROSS]

It has little to do with the sauce, it is smoke that differentiates barbecue from other types of cooking.🥩👍

Bob
🇺🇸

[lsbrodsky]

Clearly Q is a food, a smoker or grill is used to cook it and in Eastern NC the sauce is not even BBQ sauce, it's mostly vinegar. And, I grew up a Yankee.
Larry

[Halford1]

Originally Posted by lsbrodsky

Clearly Q is a food, a smoker or grill is used to cook it and in Eastern NC the sauce is not even BBQ sauce, it's mostly vinegar. And, I grew up a Yankee.
Larry

I love the vinegar BBQ in Lexington.

[lsbrodsky]

Originally Posted by Halford1

I love the vinegar BBQ in Lexington.

I gotta say Lexington Q is the best in the country and I have had Q everywhere that is famous for it(meaning I never had Q in Nebraska). I grew up around the sauced stuff in KC, Memphis, and St. Louis, with trips out West for the stuff that is cooked whole in the ground. The hog they do here in NC is my favorite.
Larry

[Hittenstiehl]

"Barbecue*or*barbeque*(informally BBQ*or the Australian*term barbie) is a cooking method, a style of food, and a name for a meal or gathering at which this style of food is cooked and served. ...*Barbecue*is practiced in many areas of the world and there are numerous regional variations."

I guess in our case we've often said we're going to have a barbecue not so much we're going to be grilling.

DH doesn't care for vinegary or mustardy things so he is particular on sauce. I would much rather you don't slather a bunch of sauce on it at all. Spices and smoke then I'll decide what sauce to dip it in myself.

[Mollysdad]

By definition, BBQ is cooking with smoke.

You can grill without BBQ'ing and you can have BBQ without sauce.

[Halford1]

Originally Posted by Mollysdad

By definition, BBQ is cooking with smoke.

You can grill without BBQ'ing and you can have BBQ without sauce.

I grill every week to grill the meats for my lunches at work. The meat fats melt and flares up which gives out smoke even without the BBQ sauce slathered on em.

[mikeinca]

I use "BBQ' multiple ways. We're going to a BBQ. We have a favorite place where we go to get BBQ. I have a built in back yard BBQ.

I also use "grill" multiple ways. Let's grill that salmon. I just got a new portable grill for the Airstream.

Despite using the same words for different things, context usually avoids confusion!

[perryg114]

Technically, it is beef or pork smoked on a grill. I still don't consider it BBQ unless it has red sauce on it. They do strange things in N Alabama with sauces. Some have a white sauce and some have some watery red stuff. I prefer old fashion BBQ thick red sauce.



Perry

[A W Warn]

Y'all come to NC to find out.
Everyone here argues which style is best ("eastern" whole hog, "Lexington" pork shoulders). Or, which sauce is best , every restaurant makes their own (red catsup or yellowish mustard) all include vinegar and sweetener . And then there is the dip, for moistening the meat, sort of like a sauce but thinner. The better restaurants still use wood smoke. Though some use gas or electric, no smoke. It's about low temperature and slow cooking.
Google "Lexington BBQ Festival". Join the thousands that show up.

Ps:
IMO Lexington style, wood smoked, with dip, no sauce is best. It also has to have red slaw, not cole slaw. Hushpuppies, not corn bread.

[lsbrodsky]

Originally Posted by A W Warn

Y'all come to NC to find out.
Everyone here argues which style is best ("eastern" whole hog, "Lexington" pork shoulders). Or, which sauce is best , every restaurant makes their own (red catsup or yellowish mustard) all include vinegar and sweetener . And then there is the dip, for moistening the meat, sort of like a sauce but thinner. The better restaurants still use wood smoke. Though some use gas or electric, no smoke. It's about low temperature and slow cooking.
Google "Lexington BBQ Festival". Join the thousands that show up.

Ps:
IMO Lexington style, wood smoked, with dip, no sauce is best. It also has to have red slaw, not cole slaw. Hushpuppies, not corn bread.

Amen!!
Larry

[rmkrum]

No matter where you get regional BBQ they are all good.

In Alabama the joke is “ really good BBQ means you have to strip to the waist to eat it” messy, but amazing flavors.

Traditional Alabama ‘Q is pit smoked over hickory, only pork, served pulled or chopped, and always served with a couple slices of white bread, vinegar slaw, and pickle chips. Sauces we could argue over all week.

Saw a couple of sweet grandmothers almost come to blows over whether hush puppies were supposed to have onions in them or not. The compromise was to make both versions and let the folks decide. It was a dead solid draw...

[Al and Missy]

The answer is neither. As pointed out above it is a method of cooking, traditionally over open fire or coals. It can be cooked on a grill or not, have sauce or not.

A pulled smoked pork sandwich with vinegar sauce and slaw (on it) can't be beat. But I would add slow smoked brisket with a tomato-based sauce as a close second, along with baby back ribs.


Al

[HiHoAgRV]

I got a chuckle from this thread. A co-worker used to invite us over, to BBQ steaks. Nope, but I will take a grilled one.

[rmkrum]

Yup. I have a gas grill in the back yard. No BBQ setup here.

Purists would blanch at the heresy.

[mikeinca]

Originally Posted by rmkrum

Yup. I have a gas grill in the back yard. No BBQ setup here.

Purists would blanch at the heresy.

I have too many other things to blanch over....

[A W Warn]

Talk talk talk made me hungry.
Dinner tonight ->

[Kevin245]

Yes a grill is a grill, and grilling is not Barbecuing. Grilling is cooking out. For me Barbecuing is the low temperature, long exposure time process associated with cooking ribs, butts, etc. We dry rub and use little to no sauce. Just personal preference. YMMV.

[A W Warn]

I recently read a book (for the third or fourth time) that was published ~1710-1711, "A New Voyage to Carolina" by John Lawson. The book is a journal of Lawson's travels in the Carolinas between 1700 and 1710. It was first published in London and has been republished under slightly different titles. It is available to download for free online at several location. A transcript version here> https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/lawson/lawson.html

The first portion of the book is a description of Lawson's travels in the year 1700, first by canoe from Charleston SC northward along the tidal marshes, then upriver. After he passed most of the lowland swamps he started on foot toward present day Charlotte, NC, then northward toward Salisbury, NC, then eastward to Bath, NC. He passed really close to Lexington NC. This was prior to the existence of any of todays inland towns. This is the first written record of inland natives, flora and fauna of the Carolinas.

His route has been recreated and documented based on landmarks he noted. A documentary video is available at UNCTV, the state's public TV channel. https://www.pbs.org/video/lawsons-vo...olinas-d5u5hk/

The reason I am mentioning this here is because the word 'barbeque', or some similar spelling, was used a couple times in this book. It was a Native American word that described a cooking method, roasting meat over a fire. Barbeque venison and barbeque shad were specifically mentioned in this book.