Barbecue, (also spelled barbeque, or abbreviated BBQ) is a method of cooking food with the radiant heat and/or hot gasses of a fire, the cooking of food in a sauce that includes vinegar, the end-result of cooking by one of these methods, or a party that includes such food. Barbecue is usually cooked in a covered environment heated by an outdoor open flame of wood, charcoal, natural gas or propane. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in large brick or metal ovens specially designed for that purpose.

In the South and Midwest of the U.S., many consider "barbecuing" to include only relatively indirect methods of cooking, with the more direct high-heat methods to be called "grilling". In the parts of the U.S. where slow, Southern or Midwestern-style barbecue is not to be found, barbecuing is grilling, and grilling is barbecuing except when it means double-sided frying with something like a sandwich toaster or George Foreman Grill.

The word "barbecue" is often used today to refer to a casual party, usually outdoors or with an outdoor theme and usually with food that has been grilled. For this reason many people consider any outdoor cooking, including grilling, as barbecue, which is frowned upon by purists in some areas. The device used for cooking barbecue can usually be used for both barbecuing and grilling and is often called a "barbecue grill" by those unaccustomed to slow barbecue, thereby adding to the confusion.

The origin of the word "barbecue" is somewhat obscure and controversial. Some assume that it comes from the French term "de barbe et queue" or "from beard to tail" (especially buccaneers who would roast and smoke whole goats, impaled on a stick "from the beard to the tail") and refers to an animal cooked whole. Others believe that the Caribbean Arawak Indians taught the Spanish sailors the art of "barbacoa" (means: wooden sticks). The Arawak Indians placed the meat on green wooden sticks over an outdoor fire. Others claim that the Taino Indigenous Nation of the Caribbean used a term "Taino barabicoa" which means "The sticks with four legs and many sticks of wood on top to place the cooking meat." There is also the Taino word "barabicu", which translates as "sacred fire pit".

For those that distinguish the terms, grilling is almost always a fast process over high heat and barbecue is almost always a slow process using indirect heat or hot smoke. For example, in a typical home grill, grilled foods are cooked on a grate directly over hot charcoal; while in barbecuing, the coals are dispersed to the sides or at significant distance from the grate. Alternately, an apparatus called a smoker with a separate fire box may be used. Hot smoke is drawn past the meat by convection for very slow cooking. This is essentially how barbecue is cooked in most genuine "barbecue" restaurants, but nevertheless many consider this to be a distinct cooking process called smoking. Regardless of the method, the meat should be turned several times to ensure complete cooking.

The slower methods of cooking break down the collagen in meat and turn tougher cuts into easy eating.

Barbecue Sauce Recipe

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