301539 Fri Feb 17 12:41:15 -0800 2006 13 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1682070 There was a thread on the LA board yesterday about best barbecue restaurants. And someone mentioned Outdoor Grill. Now, I love Outdoor Grill. It's in my neighborhood. But I'm not sure it's barbecue. Outdoor Grill has a grill. Outside. You know, there's a big fire and some guy is cooking the food over it. It's open, it's not a closed barbecue that he opens once in a while. Now, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at the amazing Dreamland Barbecue, that ain't barbecue. There, barbecue is meat cooked so long that it falls apart. I dunno. I'm not being articulate with my question. I guess the simplest way to ask it is this: Is grilling the same as barbecue? Fri Feb 17 12:41:15 -0800 2006 0 PaulF 1 1682073 There are so many threads on this in the archives that you'd be inundated with the search results. There are two answers: lexical and culinary. Lexical: Yes. if you believe in descriptive dictionary meanings. Culinary: No. Fri Feb 17 13:09:29 -0800 2006 1682070 0 Karl S 1 1682074 I think you answered your own question - as cooking techniques they're about as opposite as can be. Grilling is cooking [usually] tender cuts of meat quickly over very high heat. BBQ is cooking [usually] tough and gnarly cuts of meat slowly over very low heat. An oversimplification, perhaps, but that's the essential difference between the two. Fri Feb 17 13:11:02 -0800 2006 1682070 0 FlyFish 1 1682076 I grew up in L.A., where grilling and barbequing are synonymous. Throw any piece of food on a grill, and you are barbequing. But true, very slowly smoke-cooked barbeque, as it is know across the south, is totally different than grilling. -Nick Fri Feb 17 13:31:55 -0800 2006 1682070 0 nja 1 1682082 To be specific about the Outdoor Grill, that is relatively quick, hot grilling over mesquite charcoal. They don't keep much of their meat on the grill very long, even the ribs. It doesn't derive much flavor from the smoke generated by the charcoal they're using. You're mostly getting carbon flavor from contact with the grill itself. It reminds me of casual "backyard bbq" and shares little in common with what they do in the South with bbq pits and smokers. FWIW, OG's tri-tip appears to be vaguely imitative of Santa Maria style BBQ (whose epicenter is about 3 hrs. north of L.A.). Same type of grill (see pic) BUT without red oak wood for flavor or slower and indirect temps to melt down the fat. Consequently it's tougher than it could or should be, even for that cut. Image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v220/petradish/outdoorgrill.jpg Fri Feb 17 14:26:06 -0800 2006 1682070 0 petradish 1 1682085 From a southerner, grilling is a verb and BBQ is a food. It makes me insane to hear someone say, "we are going to BBQ steaks tonight". No you aren't. Who would dump BBQ sauce on a good piece of meat? You are grilling steaks tonight or throwing a couple of steaks on the grill. Fri Feb 17 15:14:49 -0800 2006 1682070 0 BlueHerons 1 1682088 It's about direct heat(grilling) vs. indirect heat(Smoking). Though other heat sources have gained favor, traditionally you're talking about a wood fired, closed smoker when you are talking true cue, whether in the Carolinas, Memphis, KC, or Texas. Woods may vary according to which style, mostly Hickory, or Hickory mixed with Oak; Mesquite and Oak in Texas. The Santa Maria Tri-Tip is different in that it's direct Heat over Red Oak. A crazy California abberation, but really good, no matter what you call it. Fri Feb 17 15:55:29 -0800 2006 1682070 0 pepperanne 2 1682093 Open pit with low, indirect heat qualifies as bbq as well, so it isn't always about a closed smoker - but it is always about long, slow cooking over smoldering wood coals. According to Harold McGee, this low temperature, slow-cooking of meat over smoldering wood coals is a distinctly American cooking method that took its modern form over a century ago. The etymology is that the Spanish word barbacoa originated in the west indies, where they used a frame work of green sticks as corner posts and laid meat, fish, and other foods over fire and coals. I realize that BBQ is used interchangeably with grilling in many parts - but the distinctiveness of the American BBQ, as McGee describes, deserves to be recognized with this name. As such, I will always correct people who use the term to mean grilling and insist that in conversations with me, they reserve its use to mean this very specific type of cooking. I even tell my Korean friends that it's Korean Grilling, not Korean BBQ! I realize that I'm probably putting fingers in the lexicographical dyke, that common usage has already insured that the term is no longer unique, even if so many food experts agree with me. But let me ask this of those that would simply acquiesce to the hordes - what term would you use to distinguish this unique American form of cooking once BBQ is usurped? Do you expect people to go around saying ridiculous parentheticals, like, "BBQ, by which I mean the southern American slow cooking, not grilling.", every time we want to simply say "BBQ"? Let's all act as informed chowhounds/foodies and agree that every time we hear someone use the term BBQ to mean grilling, we will correct them. Maybe we can stop the flood, after all. Fri Feb 17 16:41:12 -0800 2006 1682088 0 applehome 3 1682110 Bravo Fri Feb 17 19:29:00 -0800 2006 1682093 0 FlyFish 1 1682102 cooking 101: you don't bbq a burger or a hot dog, you don't grill a brisket; you need a beer in your non utensil hand to achieve either cooking technique with any excellence and to merit a curtain call from the people you are feeding. Fri Feb 17 18:10:19 -0800 2006 1682070 0 byrd 1 1682111 The meat from that place in Tuscaloosa most emphatically *IS* barbecue. Falling apart is not absolutely necessary, but long cooking IN (rather than OVER) heat, the development of a good deep smoke ring, and a depth of flavor and juiciness to the bite...yup, that's 'cue, all right. What I do on the Weber, even over indirect heat, is not really barbecue. It might be grill-cooking instead of grilling, and sometimes it's pretty good, but a couple bites of the real thing will dispel any illusions. Fri Feb 17 19:50:47 -0800 2006 1682070 0 Will Owen 1 1682117 Absolutely, if you live in NC. Grilling for the most part is cooking out and will encompass anything cooked on the grill. Inside grills included. Barbeque, however, is pork, cooked long and slow over hickory and coals, flavored with vinegar and pepper based sauce. Yankees, mostly, (and you know who you are), have coined the term "barbeque" for any event pertaining to outside grilling. Where we are from, that is "cooking out" or "grilling out". This is not posted to incite a riot, or belittle anyone, but is just how it is here. Granted, I am a true Southerner, born & raised in NC and am proud of it. Thank goodness I know a little about barbeque as well. As for our state, in western NC they have barbeque as well, but it is smoked pork flavored by ketchup, of all things. And please, don't get me started about the lost souls in South Carolina that put mustard on what they call barbeque. :) . Fri Feb 17 21:50:12 -0800 2006 1682070 0 raleighfoodlover 1 1682133 BBQ's all about length of time (measured in HOURS not minutes) needed when cooking the meat (beef is the best product regardless of how Raleigh fantacizes (G)), using a dry-rub to enhance the smoke, and indirect heat. Grilling is quick-n-dirty direct heat. Uncle Frank's, Mimi's Cafe, and Flint's (RIP), in the SF Bay Area are good examples of true Que. There are two places in Texas (Dallas and Austin) where you can see the different styles of cooking (grilling vs. Que) and become convinced. There are a few websites available but the one I always return to is listed below. Link: http://www.bbq-porch.org/faq/ Sat Feb 18 11:09:43 -0800 2006 1682070 0 The Ranger 1 1682147 Big difference. BBQ is food. Grilling is a verb and a noun. I cooked on my grill. We grilled out steaks. We got BBQ to go at Piggy Park. Sat Feb 18 15:51:17 -0800 2006 1682070 0 BlueHerons