POTS AND PANS CITY BLOG

Barbeques are an American tradition, and for many of us, summertime and The 4th of July bring to mind visions of barbeque parties in the back yard with friends and families.

There are a number of different methods to prepare and season the meat prior to grilling.
Some cooks prefer to soak the meat first in special marinades and some prefer rubbing the seasoning whether wet or dry prior to cooking. The preparation and ingredients for marinating may be regional; and we now have foreign inspired marinades (Korean, for example) thrown into the mix. The preferred wood that is used can also differ. However, no barbecue will taste as good without the perfect barbecue sauce.

Barbecue sauces can generally be categorized by what they are based on. Common examples are tomato, vinegar and mustard based sauces. To give the barbecue its distinctive taste and prevent the meat from burning easily, barbecue sauces are applied to the meat while being cooked, with the exception of tomato based barbecue sauces as tomato based sauces burn easier than the other types.

Barbecue sauce preparation can either be sweet, sour, tangy, spicy, hot, thick or thin. The varieties are almost endless which makes barbecues popular because anyone can make his own special preparation depending on taste and anyone can create his own way of serving the barbecue.

Recipes for barbecues sauces can sometimes even be a family secret to be guarded and passed down. On the other hand, good barbecue sauces can also be purchased at almost any store. But the only perfect barbecue sauce is the one that you can create for yourself.

The basics of Barbecue sauces…

Tomato based barbecue sauce is the most widely used and probably the most popular. Its popularity however may be due to the simplicity of preparation and besides; tomatoes are ingredients that are easily found. The point to remember in preparing tomato-based barbecue sauces is to cook the tomatoes very well in order for the flavor to blend with the other ingredients.

Tomato based barbecue sauces are acidic. Because of this, they have the property to breakdown all the flavor of other ingredients and blending them with their own. But because of its propensity to burn, limit the usage of tomato based barbecue sauce while cooking. To make it even more flavorful, prepare tomato barbecue sauces a day in advance.

Mustard based sauces are preferred in North Carolina. Mustard based barbecue sauces are great for grilling pork.

Vinegar is agreat meat tenderizer. It is also more acidic than tomatoes. Because of its acidic content, vinegar based sauces have a tendency to penetrate deep into the meat. To make this barbecue sauce more flavorful, experiment mixing it with chili, cider vinegar or red pepper, sugar, salt and all the other ingredients that you want it to have.

Coming up with your own “secret sauce” can be fun and rewarding, but if experimenting with food is not your forte, there are also many great sauces available at the store.

When it comes to barbequing, there are two primary styles that most people use.

The first method, especially popular in backyard barbeques, is the style where the food is cooked directly over the source of heat. This way, the food is quickly cooked on a hot grill suspended directly over the charcoals, the wood, or the gas burners. Usually the lid is kept open. Most types of food, including the most tender cuts, hamburgers, steaks, kabobs of all kinds, chicken, and even vegetables are quickly seared and cooked to perfection using this technique. If sauces are desired, they can be added before hand, during the cooking process, or even after the food comes off the grill. These choices will all create different and enjoyable tastes and flavors.

The second barbeque cooking technique uses heat indirectly. This is more appropriate when you’re cooking much larger or whole cuts of meat, such as especially thick steaks, roasts, a whole hog, or a pork shoulder. When you’re cooking using this method, the food is cooked away from the actual source of heat. This usually requires a water pan of some kind in order to maintain the moisture level of the food. The temperatures generally stay around 250ºF. During this cooking method, the lid of the barbeque remains closed most of the time, and the length of the cooking is much longer than in the first method. When you’re using an indirect barbeque cooker, there is usually an additional fire box that allows you to combine charcoal and wooden logs for burning. This allows the heat and the smoke to rise through the cooking chamber where the meat is, so that it is heated perfectly. The rule of thumb of this technique is a low temperature for a long time.

No matter which method you use, it’s important not to cook your meat too quickly. If the internal temperature of your meat rises too quickly as you cook it, the water and the fat within it will be expelled before the collagen is able to melt. This means that your cut will be dry and tough. However, you cannot cook too slowly or you will risk a bacterial contamination. Though there is a fine line for barbequing properly, it’s important to find that line and stick to it.

If you’re already dealing with a cut of meat that is tough, such as a brisket or a pork roast, consider cooking slowly as the collagen adds flavor to the meat. If you buy a less tough, more expensive cut, you can cook at a higher temperature for a shorter period of time. This is why ribs and steaks take such a short time to cook, while pork shoulders or beef brisket can run up to 20 hours.