BBQ. Barbecue. Barbeque. Bar B Que. No matter how you spell it, it is a phenomenon that has a fanatic following in all areas of the country and around the world. Barbecue is basic to cooking. Meat sizzling over open flame or slowly cooked in smoke. In this section you will learn where it all began and how people in different regions practice this ancient art.
Barbecue is a hotly debated topic. Read here about a new definition of BBQ that is distinct from its legal definition. This new definition includes explanations of grilling, smoking and other terms, as well as a brief history of barbecue around the world
How did barbecue originate? There are many mythical stories of neanderthals coming upon burnt animals after a forest fire. Here is a similar explanation of the ancient Chinese discovery of barbecue told in an engaging, fanciful, and humorous tale in 1822 by English essayist Charles Lamb.
Barbecue was not invented in America. Here is the true story of where barbecue came from and how it evolved, including the evolution of BBQ cooks, cookers, restaurants, and foods. You may be surprised to learn that the history of barbecue goes further back than China and even further back than homo sapiens.
Barbecue competitions have become big business with prizes ranging up to $100,000 and some getting national television coverage. Here is the fascinating story of how these contests started in Hawaii "For Men Only," and how they became a popular sport with more than 500 annual events.
If you're a BBQ team interested in finding ways to better your scores, judging contests is a great way to see the other side of the turn-in table. I had the chance to judge four of the country's most prestigious contests and here is a breakdown of my experiences testing some of the best and worst competition BBQ.
How was barbecue sauce invented? By whom? When? Learn the fascinating history of how BBQ sauce evolved from Chinese sweet and sour sauce. You'll find out about the first written mentions of barbecue sauce (in the 1800s), the first written recipes, and the evolution of today's best loved commercial bottled BBQ sauces.
Chicago's barbecue heritage migrated from southern blacks of the Mississippi Delta, their unique Aquarium pit design. Rib tips and hot links are specialties.
President Lyndon Johnson loved barbecue and with his chef, the self-proclaimed "Barbecue King" Walter Jetton, LBJ invented barbecue diplomacy. Read the historical tales, see the photos, and get some recipes from LBJ's West Texas barbecues that featured whole animals cooked over open pits and plenty of greasy palms.
The humor magazine/website, The Onion, has done it again. They've nailed a spoof of the travel food show with an eight part series called "Porkin' Across America."
In northeast Spain, Catalonia is a land of culinary riches and the heart of the Mediterranean diet. For centuries, Catalans have fought to maintain its unique cultural identity. Every spring Catalans celebrate the local vegetable, calcots, with a neighborhood BBQ. Read more about this venerable Catalan tradition.
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High quality websites are expensive to run. If you help us, weโll pay you back bigtime with an ad-free experience and a lot of freebies!
Millions come to AmazingRibs.com every month for high quality tested recipes, tips on technique, science, mythbusting, product reviews, and inspiration. But it is expensive to run a website with more than 2,000 pages and we donโt have a big corporate partner to subsidize us.
Our most important source of sustenance is people who join our Pitmaster Club. But please donโt think of it as a donation. Members get MANY great benefits. We block all third-party ads, we give members free ebooks, magazines, interviews, webinars, more recipes, a monthly sweepstakes with prizes worth up to $2,000, discounts on products, and best of all a community of like-minded cooks free of flame wars. Click below to see all the benefits, take a free 30 day trial, and help keep this site alive.
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