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What are the levels of BBQing?
(lemmy.world)
Level 1: just doing it on a regular grill like a Weber kettle grill or similar.
Level 2: a pellet or electric smoker where you’re not really in control
Level 3: a small dedicated smoker where you tend the fire
Level 4: A second, complementary dedicated smoker (e.g., if you have a horizontal one for brisket and the like, maybe you buy a vertical one for hanging ribs and doing stuff like that.) It’s a new level because you’re now an obsessive who buys things you don’t strictly need but now it’s your hobby and you can tell the difference.
Level 5: A professional grade, expensive smoker, possibly welded to a trailer for tailgates or family gatherings. Alternatively, building a brick smoker in your backyard or something like that.
Level 5 (special recognition): The guy who made the filing cabinet smoker
I don't think it's a linear progression where one ingredient is a "step." I don't really use fresh pasta, but I make the food myself instead of buying a canned sauce.
At least for me the progression was like this:
L1 - Sausage on grill
L2 - Meats on grill an getting the heat an timing right
L3 - Rubs and brines and grilled veggies
L4 - Baking bread and pizza
L5 - Serving a complete family dinner with different cuts of meat, fish, veggies and bread from one grill
L0: acting like “grilling” is barbecue.
No one cares.
Then I have only ever done level 5 :-)
(except fish because I don't like it)
At least one of the levels is practicality: The acts of buying and/or preparing every other food, condiment and implement that will be used for the barbecue, then cleaning everything up afterwards without implicitly relying on anyone else.
The grilling might be the fun bit, but there's a lot else either side.
You don't just hand someone a grilled meat patty, however beautifully it's cooked and seasoned. The required bun has to come from somewhere. So did that plate. Maybe there's butter on the bun. Maybe there's salad. Maybe the meat needed marinating, etc.
In most areas of the US that take BBQ seriously, grilling != BBQ.
Grilling means direct heat, BBQ in those areas refers to indirect heat, usually with some smoke component.
Right verb or wrong verb, it doesn't really invalidate the point I was making. If all you do is stand by the barbecue, put things in it and flip the food occasionally while everything else magically happens around you, you're only doing the fun bit.
What is the right word for indirect heat cooking anyway? "Smoking" in that context doesn't necessarily imply making it hot for close-to-immediate consumption, and "cooking" seems far too general.
Likewise, "barbecuing" could mean grilling, so that's too general as well.
I'm from North Carolina. There was a candidate for NC governor once who lost his race because he was heard saying he was "sick of barbecue." It's a THING here.
Likewise, “barbecuing” could mean grilling, so that’s too general as well.
No. No it doesn't.
Grilling is a short duration, high direct heat process.
Barbecuing is a long duration, low indirect heat process.
Those who use barbecuing as a synonym for grilling are objectively wrong and have measurably damaged you and your ability to communicate about food preparation.
Objectively wrong for your part of the world maybe.
I guess my part of the world probably doesn't have a word for the distinction because here it can mean either.
Either that or it's a case of common parlance versus learned parlance, like, for the sake of any example, when people say "theory" but mean "hypothesis" and in learned parlance "theory" has a different meaning.
My part of the world uses the word "barbecue" specifically to mean the kind of cooking we were talking about and avoids that ambiguity you were struggling with, so I think I can confidently say use of the word "barbecue" as a synonym for "grill" when the word "grill" is also in use is uselessly defective.
maybe level 1 is on a grill with gas. another level is a smoker, or wood. another is making your own bbq sauce. another is stuffing a chili pepper with cheese and wrapping it in bacon and painting that with maple syrup.
Having a dedicated smoker is next level. You can smoke on a regular grill and get decent results. But having a purpose-built smoker is better, IMO.
this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2025
26 points (93.3% liked)
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