Texas BBQ Creation Myth

You should know there is a lot of mythology and controversy surrounding the origins of barbecue. I am not a historian and it wouldn't be fair to just present one barbecue creation myth as gospel, so I'll recount a popular one and tell you where to find another. Then I'll sit back and watch the flames.

The following is my humorous spin on the legend that is widely accepted amongst Texans -- but I'd be lyin' if I didn't tell you it's just a myth to others...

...The cowboys did not just wake up one morning and say, "Tonight I am a-hankerin' for some a that there barbecued fois gras." No sir. What really happened is more like this. Some smart old German butchers in New Braunfels, Texas looked at the mountain of unsold brisket they had accumulated and wondered if they couldn't make some more money off of it by doing something other than just pureeing it into hot dogs.

So they said, "What the hell" and tossed a few briskets into their sausage smoker one morning. That night they had a few beers and forgot to check the smoker. The next morning when they got to work they found the blackened and shrunken chunks of brisket and were going to throw them out, but someone took a bite and the rest is history.

Feel like questioning your own BBQ creation myth? Find another -- and radically different -- version of the origins of Texas barbecue, as well as barbecue everywhere, at Houstonpress.com.

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Grilling versus Barbecuing
In California the terms "grill" and "barbecue" are used interchangeably. This is grossly inaccurate and nutsmaking to barbecue aficionados. The confusion is compounded when the same piece of equipment is used at home for grilling and barbecue. The two cooking methods are radically different.

Grilling is a relatively fast, direct heat method of cooking. Food is cooked on a grill; just a few inches above live coals or gas flames, often at temperatures exceeding 550°F. Examples of meat that would be good for grilling are steak, hamburgers and hot dogs.

The high heat caramelizes (converts the natural sugars in the meat to a sweet brown crust) the surface of the food and seals in the juices. In the U.S., grilled meat is often served anywhere from blood rare to medium.

Grilling is a popular way to cook, just about everywhere in the world and is prepared using every conceivable combination of marinades and spices.

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Barbecue is a slow, indirect, low-heat method of cooking. In fact, it's the opposite of grilling. Barbecue uses smoldering wood to simultaneously smoke and cook the food at temperatures between 180 and 250°F.

Examples of cuts of meat that are good for barbecue would be the tougher, larger and less expensive cuts, such as brisket, pork shoulder, ribs and even the whole damn pig. That's right - from snout to tail.

Smoldering wood generates smoke that gives barbecue its wonderful sweet and smoky flavor. The heat source should be separated from the cooking chamber to provide indirect heat. In order to circulate a uniform amount of heat and smoke to all the food throughout the chamber a fan or rotating rack is helpful.

Beware of this hybrid: A very unhealthy hybrid of these two processes is grilling a piece of meat that contains fat on a covered grill -- and what meat doesn't contain fat? The thick black smoke that results from fat dripping on live coals is trapped inside the grill and bathes the meat with carcinogenic soot.

This is practiced at home and even at some businesses that claim to do barbecue. You can see the clouds of smoke pouring out from under their covered grills as you drive by supermarkets and delis around the county. Read a Reuters article that explains the relationship of grilling to cancer at www.rense.com

Glossary of BBQ Terminology

►  Baby Back Ribs (or Loin Back Ribs): A small cut of ribs from the pork loin that includes the blade and center section of the loin. Weight should be 2 pounds or less, or as we say in the trade, 2 down.

►  Barbecue: To slow cook meats over indirect heat of hardwood at a temperature of 180 to 250 degrees.

►  Barbecue Sauce: A liquid mixture, usually tomato-based, sweet and sour, with spices. It can be applied to meats during the final minutes of cooking. It is usually served on the side but is not necessary with properly cooked barbecue.

►  Bark: The outside crust of the butt or shoulder or brisket. Bark is enhanced by putting rub and sauce on the meat frequently.

►  Basting Sauces: Thin, flavorful liquids that are brushed onto the meat while cooking to help keep them moist.

►  Burnt Ends: The blackened, somewhat charred pieces of brisket ends that cannot be sliced.

►  Finger Meat: The meat between baby back ribs is called "finger meat".

►  Finishing Sauce or Glaze: A sweet finishing sauce applied to meats during the final minutes of barbecuing.

►  Marinade: A blend of liquids, spices and herbs that meat is soaked in for flavoring, and sometimes tenderizing, prior to cooking.

►  Mop: A cotton mop used to baste meats while cooking.

►  Pit: The cooking unit used to barbecue. May be a closed container, cement or brick structure, or even a hole dug in the ground.

►  Rib Tips: The breast bone at the top of a slab of spare ribs.

►  Rub: A bbq seasoning with lots of spices that is usually rubbed onto the meat dry, but sometimes liquid is added to make a thick paste that's slathered onto the meat. Paprika is often the predominant spice, which is why most rubs have a red color. Rubs can be tailored to the type of meat, fish or foul you are barbecuing.

►  Short End Spare Ribs: The last seven or eight ribs in a slab of spare ribs.

►  Spare Rib: One of about 11 ribs from the belly section of the pig.

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Regional American Barbecue
Like all types of cuisine, the roots of regional barbecue have evolved based on the types of animals and produce commonly available to an area.

Mix in the cultural influences of the predominant ethnicity and that's how there came to be different styles of barbecue. That means pork shoulders and whole hogs in the Carolinas, beef in Texas, and chickens in Louisiana; its all hardwood smoked barbecue, but with different methods and ingredients in their preparation.

Not that there aren't worthy variations that deserve attention, but the four main styles of barbecue in the U.S. are Texas, Kansas City, Memphis and Carolina.

Texas Style: The State where beef is king and brisket is the crown prince. Beef ribs aren't bad either. Texans like their barbecue "naked", or with side sauces that tend to be a blend of tomato thinned with vinegar and Worcestershire. They are the least sweet of the tomato based sauces.

Memphis Style: Memphis style barbecue is known for wet marinated pork ribs that are also basted while smoking. Another style of ribs is to apply dry rub during or right after they've been cooked.

Pork shoulders, and butts are done the same way. Mild, sweet and spicy rubs, as well as mopping sauces, are basted on periodically during cooking. Want more about Memphis style barbecue? Check out Memphis: The Great BBQ Debate.

Kansas City Style: This is where southern barbecue influences are artfully combined with Western Beef and Pork. The meat is liberally seasoned with savory spices, sweet rubs and sauces then smoked in a hickory-stoked pit for hours.

Thick and sticky sweet sauces are slathered onto pork ribs and tangy briskets. You can learn more about Kansas City barbecue at www.experiencekc.com

Carolina Style: The State that's gone whole hog over barbecue. More signs with dancing pink pigs are found here than anywhere else! Pig pickin's and pulled pork are mixed with thin vinegar based sauces to make an incredibly flavorful and juicy barbecue! (You can tell its one of my favorites.)

Sauce variations are heavily laced with secret spice blends of salt, pepper, red pepper, cayenne pepper, onion powder, garlic, nutmeg, molasses, whiskey, and brown sugar.

We favor the Eastern variety of North Carolina sauce. The Western North Carolina sauce has a wee little bit of tomato in it, and for me, its not as distinctive as Eastern. You can learn about North Carolina barbecue at www.nctravel.com.

South Carolina style barbecue sauce contains mustard, which was first added by the large contingent of Germans colonists that were among the first Europeans to settle there. You can learn more about South Carolina Barbecue from the president of the South Carolina BBQ Association.

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More Great BBQ Articles

Barbecue Taboos: "...Most of the taboos listed above have one or two exceptions that will keep you from getting hung, but this one..."

Barbecue in Black and White
"I take a huge bite leaning over the trunk of my car. "Damn, that's some smoky brisket!" I mumble to myself. Black East Texas barbecue doesn't need any help from affirmative action..."

Lone Star State of Mind
"All meat-struck homilies aside, one does wonder how a classically trained five-star chef who has cooked with a pantheon of culinary celebrities ends up smoking meat in a small-town theater parking lot..."