Introduction
Few foods are as uniquely American and cross-regional boundaries as does Barbeque. While not universally local food across the United States, it is embraced in many parts of the United States including the Deep South, parts of the Mid-West (St. Louis), and Texas and parts in between. “Barbecue is a humble foodstuff that has somehow attained the status of a “Southern cultural icon.” (Barbecue: An Introduction para 1).
The aim of this paper is to research the exotic food preparation called barbecue that is now becoming a popular culture among Americans. The study investigates the origin and history of Barbecue. The paper studies the variety of regional styles in which barbecue is used in the present United States of America. Focus is given to the regional style of barbecue and the ingredients used in the preparation. Barbecue is a dish cooked and served diversely. The study also gives insight s to the social implications of Barbecue and its role in American society.
Etymology
Barbecue – in general terms the name implies a slow cooking method for meat, especially pork, in smoke. The meat is cooked in the heat of a slow fire or gases emitting from firewood, charcoal or gas grills. The meat is usually heavily marinated or spiced with different kinds of sauce that are native to different regions. Barbecue usually involves outdoor cooking in open spaces using special barbecue apparatus or just a simple grill over the fire. Barbecues are also available in restaurants across America. In these cases, the meat is cooked in specially made barbecue ovens for retaining the taste and texture of barbecued meat.
The etymology of Barbecue is not still finalized by historians. However, most of them believe that the term came from the Caribbean. “Barbecue derives from the Caribbean Indian practice of drying and smoking strips of meat and fish on lattices made of green wood over slow-burning fires of animal bones and scraps. Spanish explorers in the 17th century referred to these lattices as ‘barbacoa,’ which was interpreted by English speakers.” (Heneberry 4). Although debates are there telling that barbecue is a French term barbe – a – queue, which means cooking whole animals on an open fire and also a combined and formed form of the three words bar, beer and cue, the Caribbean theory is more likely the theory behind the word barbecue. “Barbacoa sounds an awful lot like barbecue, and the West Indian word was associated exclusively with slow cooking over an open fire.” (Heneberry 5). The practice of barbecuing – the slow cooking on smoke – however, remains the same in spite of the various debates on the name origin. “So, to say that the practice of barbecue, as we know it, definitely evolved from one culture, or one area, would be incorrect. More likely, as the world grew smaller and cultures mixed, we combined ideas and methods until, today; we have thousands of different ways to practice the art.” (Lowe para 4).
Most Americans use the term Barbecue as a noun, but in some states, the term is used as a verb. “It is common to barbeque various meats with beef and chicken being probably the most usual but real barbeque can including lamb, turkey, goat and even possum and other exotic creatures. But those animals are termed “barbequed (insert the name of the animal)” where the term “barbequed” in that usage is a transitive verb describing the way the animal was cooked.” (High para 16).
History
Barbecue has a long tradition of evolution. It came to the mainland of the USA sometime in the 17th century and has evolved out as different variants over the years. Before the civil wars “For several reasons, the pig became an omnipresent food staple in the South. Pigs were a low-maintenance and convenient food source for Southerners.” (The History of Barbecue in the South para 2). The pigs were available in the wild and the hunting and slaughtering of pigs started becoming a part of every celebration in the south. The pigs were big enough and can be served for a large number of people. All its parts were processed and made edible. Thus the traditional barbecue meetings started gaining importance in the South.
“There are generally considered to be four types of barbeque in the country and they, by and large, are broken down by the type of sauce used in basting and also as a finishing sauce, used when the barbeque is being served. Those four, in order of historical emergence, are Vinegar and Pepper, Mustard, Light Tomato and Heavy Tomato.” (High para 1). Although there are hundreds of varieties of barbecue, all these generally can be categorized into one of the four types based on the sauce used. It is the sauces used in the barbecue that gives the variants in tastes on the barbecue. South Carolina is considered the hometown of all four varieties.
“The “original” barbeque sauce, dating back hundreds (yes, hundreds) of years is Vinegar and Pepper, the first and simplest of the four. It is found on the coastal plains of both North and South Carolina and to a slight degree in Virginia and Georgia.” (High para 3). This original Vinegar and Pepper sauce is the contribution of the Scottish families settled in Williamsburg County. “This simple Vinegar and Pepper sauce is the first, and therefore the oldest, of the South Carolina basting sauces.” (High para 8). The second type in the order of evolution is the mustard sauce. It is considered as a sauce distinct to the South Carolinas. Mustard sauce is greatly influenced by German style and attributes its origin to the Germans colonists who settled in South Carolina. In the mid 1700’s, a large number of German families migrated to America and were allowed to settle down in South Carolina by the British. Unlike the plantation culture followed by the British colonists, the German families were more inclined to farm culture and were closely bound. They were a hardworking group with immense family values and believed in the family get-together. “The first German settlements were in present-day Dorchester County, and then successive waves of settlers moved on up the rivers to the counties of Orangeburg, Lexington, Newberry and the northwestern part of Richland County. (The middle and southern parts of Richland were settled by English settlers.) These German settlers brought with them, in addition to their European farming style and the Lutheran Church, the common use of mustard.” (High para 6). Thus the mustard sauce evolved directly from the German immigrants and over the past two and a half centuries, the German families still remain the important mustard sauce vendors in South Carolina for barbecuing.
The third type evolved out of the first type, i.e. The Vinegar and Pepper sauce with an addition of tomato ketchup to add a tangy and sweet taste to the sauce. This is third in the line of evolution and is known as the Light Tomato Sauce for barbecuing. The Light tomato sauce for barbecuing evolved just by the beginning of 1900’s when tomato ketchup started becoming a readymade product available at the counter. “That style of sauce is most famous in North Carolina in the Piedmont region of which Lexington, North Carolina, is the acknowledged barbeque center. It is also popular in the upper middle part of South Carolina and in the South Carolina Pee Dee region which is the upper coastal plain area of the state.” (High para 9).
The most recent evolution of barbecue sauces is the Heavy tomato sauce and it is this sauce that has changed the American perception of barbecue from a tangy and spicy dish to a sweeter dish. The sauce gained its popularity over the last few decades mainly due to the rapid development of logistics and transportation which helped to spread the sauce into almost every grocery shelf. “Heavy Tomato sauce is most often seen in the type of sauce popularized by Kraft Foods.” (High para 11).
With the gaining popularity of barbecue in America, more and more people started using heavy tomato sauce as the means to barbecue their meat because of its impact on television advertisements. Although heavy tomato sauce is a pure type of barbecue sauce, most Americans are ignorant about its usage details, which have resulted in complete variation from the original barbecue. “The most unfortunate thing is that those Americans who live far away from the initial area where barbeque was first introduced by the native Indians to Europeans colonists (South Carolina) and who, therefore, don’t really have any historic connection to the earliest barbeque, are actually misleading into thinking they are eating real barbeque. Regrettably, they are missing out on the true original and the very best types of genuine barbeque.” (High para 13). “If one wants to experience all four of America’s styles of barbeque there is only one state in the nation where that can be done – South Carolina – where the art of barbeque was invented and where it is still practiced in both its purest tradition and its most diverse styles.” (High para 20).
The process of Barbecuing
Barbecuing generally comprises of cooking meat really slowly overheat from smoke or grill. The indirect heating of meat over a long time softens the meat making it more tender and juicy. The addition of flavored sauces adds spice to the meat which makes barbecued meat an appealing dish. “Barbeque ribs – most often pork, are cooked for long hours until the meat is so tender that it is ready to fall off the bone.” (Lowdown on Barbeque-Introduction para 1). The meat of any animal consists mainly of collagen and fat. The cut of the meat determines where the collagen and fat lies and is an important factor in barbecuing. “When meat is cooked slowly with moist heat, collagen softens and becomes gelatine. That is why tougher cuts like brisket and pork shoulder are typically slow-cooked.” (Heneberry 38). The meat that is used for barbecuing includes chicken, beef, ham, pork, sausages, ribs and even mutton.
Memphis in Tennessee is considered the barbecue capital of the country. “In Memphis, Tennessee, barbeque is almost a religion.” (Lowdown on Barbeque-Introduction para 1). The city holds the largest annual pork barbecue contests every year and is enrolled in the Guinness Book of World records for the same. “The contest, part of the celebration called “Memphis in May”, draws some 90,000 cooks and spectators.” (Lowdown on Barbeque-Introduction para 2). The city has over one hundred barbecue joints spread around which is evidence of the love for barbecue.
In Tennessee, the traditional barbecue method is to use slow-cooked pork ribs. The ribs of the pork are either pulled or sliced and are cooked with some extra sauce which gives the dish a saucy texture. Brisket beef is also barbecued in the same style in Tennessee. The Ridgewood barbecue in Tennessee features smoked pork as their barbecue style. The sauce used is light tomato sauce and the meat is drenched in the sauce.
The application of flavorings is normally of two types, wet application and dry application. Ribs are usually wet marinated by adding sauces as flavorings and then basted over the smoke. The sauces are also added after cooking to increase the flavor and spiciness. Another method is the dry method in which the herbs and spices are rubbed onto the meat pieces. The rubbing is usually done during cooking. Some cooks dry rub the cooked meat with herbs after taking them from the oven.
The eastern parts of Tennessee use vinegar-based, east Carolina style of barbecuing. The vinegar and pepper sauce is applied after cooking the meat on smoke. In Robertson County, towards northern Tennessee, pulled pork shoulders or chicken are used for barbecuing. The chicken is usually barbecued as whole or as half-pieces. They use pure apple cider vinegar and cayenne pepper powder as the flavorings for the barbecue. Tomato ketchup and other sweet ingredients are omitted from the barbecue.
Barbecue in most places is served along with Coleslaw, bread, buns, or crackers. Another set of side dishes for barbecue in Tennessee are baked potato, French fries, common salad, barbecue beans, and various types of rolls and buns. Memphis also features sandwiches and burgers with barbecued meat. A new addition in serving barbecue is spaghetti, pizza and nachos. Most restaurants offer a choice of sauce and type of marinade that is used for cooking the barbecue.
Famous names in barbecue
There are several families, mostly the European immigrants who settled in America, who are still famous for their barbecues. “The Bessinger family is the most prominent in the mustard-based barbeque business, but other German names are legion in the South Carolina barbeque business – Shealy, Hite, Sweatman, Sikes, Price, Lever, Meyer, Kiser, and Zeigler are other examples and there are many more.” (High para 7). Some Scottish families like the Brown, McKenzie, Scott and McCabe in the South Carolina area are also famous for their traditional barbecue.
“Bobby Flay is one of the most successful chefs who specialize in grilling and barbecues. In 1991, Flay’s restaurant, Mesa Grill opened and was dubbed as the Best Restaurant by New York magazine.” (Famous names in Barbecue para 2).
Larry Gerber also known as the BarBeQue Man, on behalf of his company with the same name, is another name that is popularised by a barbecue. “Apart from being a personal chef, he also writes for different national culinary publications, hosts a TV show called Culinary Adventures, and can be heard on many radio stations in the upper Midwest as he talks about the fine art of barbecuing and grilling.” (Famous names in Barbecue para 3).
Apple City BBQ team and its head Mike Mills are famous for winning numerous accolades for barbecuing and grilling competitions worldwide during the last decades of 1900s’. “They even hold the record for being four-time World Champions and for being three-time Grand World Champions, which no other team has ever been able to beat so far.” (Famous names in Barbecue para 4).
Barbecue and society
Due to its immense popularity through the media of television and feature films, barbecue has become synonymous with outdoor parties where food is served in America. In his book The Little Black Book of Barbecue: The essential guide to grilling, smoking and BBQ, Mike Henneberry says that “Of course purists will insist that barbecue is a term that should only apply to classic, Southern Style slow-cooked pork or beef, and they have history on their side. But through years Americans have come to refer to any get-together with fire-cooked food like barbecue, whether you are devouring down-home pulled pork or Thai grilled chicken with peanut sauce.” (Heneberry 1). Barbecue has brought about a new culture into the Americans where good food is served in casual meetings with family, friends, or co-workers. This has brought about a new kind of tradition that helps to keep the bonding between families and friends. The European families who brought the art of barbecuing into America also brought the traditional close-knit family patterns and get together along with it. This has helped to increase human values of sharing and love in society.
Barbecue is historically a celebration of hunting and gathering food. It involved the trading of stories and regards between individuals while the food is being cooked. In the olden times when a large animal is hunted down, the meat has to consume fast as refrigeration methods were unavailable. This led to the idea of inviting families, friends and neighbors to take part in all celebrations. “Though most Americans no longer live on the farm, barbecuing remains a powerful social lubricant, as much community ritual as a way to cook.” (Heneberry 6). Barbecue has now become woven into the culture of the Americans.
Works Cited
Barbecue: An Introduction. 2009.
Famous names in Barbecue. Buzzle.com: Intelligent Life on the Web. 2009. Web.
Heneberry, Mike. The Little Black Book of Barbecue: The Essential Guide to Grilling, Smoking, and BBQ. Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 2004.
High, Lake E. A Very Brief History of the Four Types of Barbeque Found in the USA. Scbarbeque.com. Web.
Lowdown on Barbeque-Introduction. Buzzle.com: Intelligent Life on the Web. 2009. Web.
Lowe, Cliff. All About Barbecue, BBQ-Barbecue History and Barbecue Tips. IN Mamas Kitchen.com. Web.
The History of Barbecue in the South: Barbecue before the Civil War.