In the 1500, the Spanish first introduced pork to Native Americans in "South Carolina". The Native Americans introduced the method of "slow cooking with smoke" to the Spanish. When barbecuing, the meat should be placed high and away from the hottest source of the heat. If you live or visit South Carolina, you can experience all four styles of barbecue (listed below). South Carolina is considered, by some people, to be the home of "true barbecue". Barbecue is so popular in the South that it's considered a cultural icon.

Today, barbecue, barbeque, bar-b-q, and BBQ all refer to a cooking method, an outdoor gathering with food cooked in this method, and often to any food cooked outdoors. In its purist form, barbecue uses indirect heat and a long, slow process breaking down tough cuts of meat into mouth-watering tender morsels. Different types of barbecue use different meats, spiced sauces and flavorings (added at various times during cooking), smokes, equipment and fuel, and total cooking time. These all affect the final flavor and tenderness of whatever meat is barbecued.

To most Southerners, Barbecue is a cherished example of the cultural heritage of the South. Although barbecue-loving Southerners agree that the "Northern" definition of barbecue "grilling in the back yard" is NOT barbecue, they disagree about what constitutes a true Southern barbecue. State by state, and even town by town, no method is exactly alike. Southerners do generally agree on one point about barbecue - barbecue and pork is "traditionally" synonymous. Barbecue in the South almost always means pork.

Some of the states most well-known for their barbecue are North and South Carolina, Kentucky, Arkansas, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama along with Texas and Missouri, a little farther to the west. The "Pit Cook" is essential in creating good BBQ. In addition to the Pit Cook, the difference between one barbecue and another is the sauce, often a "guarded secret recipe".

Basic Types of Barbecue (Barbeque) Sauce
There are four basic types of barbecue sauce that are used for Basting and as Side Dipping Sauce.

Vinegar & Pepper Sauce is the "original" barbecue sauce. It is the simplest to prepare and the most basic. Scottish families that settled in South Carolina used a basic "Vinegar & Pepper" basting sauce.

Mustard Sauce is often used in South Carolina and can be traced to the early immigration of German settlers in this part of the United States.

Tomato Sauce Light
The first "Light Tomato Sauce" came about in the early 1900s and is simply your basic Vinegar & Pepper sauce with tomato ketchup mixed into the base sauce.


Tomato Sauce Heavy
The second "Heavy Tomato Sauce" is sweeter and is often mass produced and sold at retail stores throughout the country. This is the "barbecue (barbeque) sauce" that is often spread on food grilled at thousands of American homes on summer, July 4th and Labor Day weekend barbecues.

We cannot talk about BBQ sauce without mentioning the hundreds of "secret recipe" BBQ sauces that have evolved in Southern barbecue. Southerners are very proud of their BBQ sauce and believe that no two sauces are alike. Sauces differ from area to area, and sauce recipes are often kept secret. BBQ sauces become legends and the recipes sometimes go to the grave rather than get shared.

Today, the average American uses "barbecue" sauces, purchased in various varieties. Most people "grill" their meats (smothered in barbecue sauce) over high heat. Unfortunately, they are missing out on genuine barbecue. "Real" barbecue is not grilled, but cooked slowly in a barbecue. Although any meat or poultry may be barbecued, Southern barbecue traditionally refers to pork.

"Traditional" Barbecue in the United States
Barbecue requires a temperature of between 210 to 250 degrees over a period of 10 to 20 hours (or more depending on the meat being cooked). In barbecue, cooking time is shorter and temperatures higher than "smoking". As mentioned above, the meat used in Southern Barbecue is traditionally pork. A few exceptions in the South are: Texas barbecue which uses beef, and a Kentucky barbecue often uses mutton.

Barbecue Techniques

Wood Barbecue
The choice and combination of woods burned result in different flavors imparted to the meat. Different types of wood burn at different rates. The heat also varies by the amount of wood and controlling the rate of burn through careful venting. Wood and charcoal are sometimes combined to optimize smoke flavor and consistent burning.


Charcoal Barbecue
This generally begins with purchasing a commercial bag of processed charcoal briquettes. An alternative to charcoal briquettes is lump charcoal. Lump charcoal is wood that has been turned into charcoal but unlike briquettes it has not been ground and shaped. Lump charcoal is a pure form of charcoal and is preferred by many purists who dislike artificial binders used to hold briquettes in their shape.

A charcoal chimney starter is a traditional method for getting a consistent heat from your coals. Another method is to use an electric iron to heat the coals. Another common method is to soak the charcoal with aliphatic petroleum solvent (or use pretreated briquettes) and light them in a pyramid formation. Although this last method is one of the quickest and most portable, it can impart undesirable chemical flavors to the meat. Using denatured alcohol ("methyl hydrate", "methylated spirit") instead of commercial petroleum-based lighter fluids avoids this problem.

Once all coals are ashed-over (generally 15-25 minutes, depending on starting technique), they can be spread around the perimeter of the grill with the meat placed in the center for indirect cooking, or piled together for direct cooking. Water-soaked wood chips (such as mesquite, hickory, or fruit trees) can be added to the coals for flavor. As with wood barbecuing, the temperature of the grill is controlled by the amount and distribution of coal within the grill and through careful venting.

For long cooks (up to 18 hours), many cooks find success with the "Minion Method", usually performed in a smoker. The idea involves putting a small number of hot coals on top of a full chamber of unlit briquettes. The burning coals will gradually light the unlit coals. By leaving the top air vent all the way open and adjusting the lower vents, a constant temperature of 225 can easily be achieved for up to 18 hours.

Natural Gas and Propane "Grilling"
Gas grills are easy to light. The heat is easy to control (via knob-controlled gas valves on the burners), so the outcome is very predictable. They result in a consistent result, although some charcoal and wood purists argue it lacks the flavors available only from cooking with charcoal. Advocates of gas grills claim that gas cooking lets you "taste the meat, not the heat" because it is claimed that charcoal grills may deposit traces of coal tar on the food. Many grills are equipped with thermometers, further simplifying the barbecuing experience. However propane and natural gas produce a "wet" heat that can change the texture of food cooked over such fuels.

Added wood smoke flavor can be imparted on gas grills using soaked wood chips placed in an inexpensive "smoker box" (a perforated metal box), or simply a perforated foil pouch, under the grilling grate and over the heat. Using such smokers on quick-grilled foods (steaks, chops, burgers) nearly duplicates the effects of wood and charcoal grills, and can actually make grilling some longer-cooked food, such as ribs, easier, since the "wet" heat makes it easier to prevent the meat from drying out.