Is grilling meat considered barbecue? This is a hard question and depending on who you talk to, you often get different answers. For the real die-hard barbecue aficionados, in the strictest sense, they would say NO. Why?
BARBECUE, COOK LOW AND SLOW
For most folks, barbecue usually refers to cooking meats at lower temperatures for much longer times. For us, we typically cooked at 225F– 275F range; no higher.
The big distinction between barbecuing and grilling is that barbecuing meat uses indirect heat coming from a wood chamber. Grilling, on the other hand, cooks the meat directly over the fire.
The reason you want to cook it low and slow is because this process allows the smoke flavor to slowly infuse into the meat that creates the complex flavors that everyone raves about. The longer cooking time at a lower temperature also allows a typical tough piece of meat like a big brisket to render and tenderize into melt-in-your-mouth pieces of beef-from-heaven.
WHAT ABOUT THE WOOD?
One of key components of successful BBQ involves choosing the right types of wood to smoke the right type of meat. Different woods create different flavor profiles; It is quite an art. There are some wood that are universally great for anything we’ve smoked so far, like hickory wood. When our restaurant was opened, we strictly used hickory wood logs, nothing else. Using the wrong type of wood on the wrong types of meat can spell trouble. For example, one time, our vendor accidentally delivered almond wood instead of hickory wood to us. Our staff didn’t realize it and smoked a bunch of meat with it. They tasted so bad that we ended up had to throw them all into trash, losing a lot of money. Only the best for our customers.
GRILLING, OVER THE FIRE AND FAST
Grilling is quite the opposite from barbecuing. It is often cooking the meat over the fire at a much higher temperature and much faster to prevent burning and/or overcooking of the meat. The typical grill temperature is around 350F and up range.
While having a smoke flavor in your meat is never a requirement for grilling, some grills come with a slot like below, where you can put small amounts of wood chips to create smoke for your grill meat.
For those that do not have the built-in slot in your grill to put wood chips in, you can purchase a small cast iron smoke box like below to put it on top of your grill. This works fairly well to generate some smoke for your meat too.
With the above solution, it is feasible to convert your grill into smoking chicken, ribs, sausages, and fish that don’t require a long smoking/cooking time. However, don’t expect you can turn your grill into a full-blown smoker to cook a whole pork butt or a brisket with it. Why? Smoking a protein that large needs at least 10 hours of cooking (In our case we cook overnight, at least 14 hours) that requires a lot more wood than those built-in or portable smokebox can accommodate.
If you want to be a serious BBQer creating all kinds of delicious, complex flavored smoked meat, we believe having a smoker is a MUST.
AT THE END OF THE DAY
BBQ is all about having fun with food! Ignore what everybody says. Regardless of whether you choose to grill your meat, smoke your meat, or do both, as long as you create awesome food to share, great beers and wines all around, exciting stories with joyful laughter with your friends and family, your BBQ party is a huge success story. The fond memories you created will last for years to come. Drink Up! Chow down! Have a great time!
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