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Traditional Barbecue - Barbecue Grill
The two basics of
authentic barbecue are a low cooking temperature and
plenty of wood smoke.
You need enough heat to cook the meat
(which is the difference between smoke curing and barbecuing)
but you need to keep the temperature a bit above the
level that meat will register inside when done.
So, let's take pork for example; it
needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of at
least 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so you must barbecue it
at 180 degrees to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. This same
principle works very well for other foods as well.
Grilling is what many inexperienced,
"want to be pit masters" call barbecuing.
Actually, grilling in concept is the opposite of barbecuing
because of heat. Much of the time you want the highest
temperature achievable in grilling, because the purpose
is to sear meat on the outside to make it crispy and
brown on the surface. This method is best when used
with tender cuts, such as a good steak or chop, which
are pretty much free of connective tissue. Usually,
meat used to barbecue is really tough. Spareribs, beef
brisket, as well as other cuts require slow cooking
at low temperatures to break down their stubborn tissues.
This is the exact reason why they are ideal for barbecuing
in the first place. When you barbecue steaks, fish,
or vegetables, you do it to add smoky flavor and not
because the slow cooking is needed for tenderness.
The smokiness that you desire in barbecue
should come from smoldering wood, not from fat or oil
dripping on coals or hot metal.
The use of water or other liquids is
a bit controversial in barbecue circles. People in the
past didn't add water to their pits in any fashion,
and many experts don't like the idea today. They say
that barbecuing has to be a dry cooking process. The
truth is that most methods of barbecuing have always
involved the circulation of moisture laden air over
food. This makes the process much wetter than cooking
in a traditional oven. Water has a proper place in barbecuing,
depending on how it's used and what you're cooking.
Traditional barbecue meats benefit from
losing moisture as they cook, shrinking their size,
but many non traditional foods can benefit from increasing
humidity inside the smoker. As long as you avoid cooking
the food with steam instead of smoke, extra moisture
can help to prevent lean meat and fish from getting
too dry.
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