Barbecue is known in various names like Barbeque / BBQ / Barby etc. It is a method of cooking as well as an apparatus. Barbecue is similar to grilling, the difference being the type of heat and the duration of cooking. There are a lot of variations in barbecuing depending on the geographies. When you barbecue, you cook the meat on ‘low & slow’ indirect heat. The flame does not touch the meat and the fuel is usually a high-smoke one. Grilling involves ‘Hot & fast’ direct heat cooking, where the flame does touch the meat.
The equipment used to barbecue is called ‘barbecue’, ‘barbecue grill’ or ‘grill’. Various types of grills are available for barbecuing. You can choose from a wide variety depending on the fuel type, the capacity and whether the usage is indoor or outdoor. The grills can run on gas, charcoal or electricity. The portable grills are convenient to use when you take trips and barbecue on the same.
The gas grills make use of propane or natural gas, which heat the food directly with flame or heat up the grilling elements. Sometimes a smoker box is added to the gas grills which can be used to give a smoky flavour to the food being grilled.
Infrared Grills also make use of gas to heat up ceramic tiles which then emit infrared radiation by which the food gets cooked. The temperature that is achieved using this technique is very high, almost 500 degrees Celsius which helps in searing the meats quickly. The food cooks quickly and thus prevents in drying up of the meat. The heat is uniformly spread and the food remains juicy.
Charcoal grills are more traditional which make use of charcoal as the source of heat, and radiates heat from the embers. There are various types of charcoal grills available, in a variety of shapes, with and without venting system for heat control. Some of the more popular types of charcoal grills are – Brazier, Pellet grill, Square Charcoal, Shichirin, Kettle, Cart, Barrel, Ceramic Cooker, Tandoor Oven and Portable Charcoal grill.
Hybrid grills are the ones which use Charcoal as well as natural gas, which gives the benefit of having the flavour of cooking with charcoal and wood grills and the convenience of an outdoor gas grill.
Barbecue involves the use of various techniques. Originally barbecuing involved cooking at low temperatures with smoke for long duration. This process was called as smoking. It helps in flavouring, cooking and preserving the food using smoke from wood. The food traditionally smoked was meat and fish, however, vegetables and cheese are also smoked.
Another technique of barbecue is Roasting or Pit Barbecue. A masonry oven is used, where open flame cooks the food using the convection method in this particular technique, besides meats, breads, casseroles and desserts as well. The next method is braising, where a gas or electric charbroil grill is used to barbecue-braise.
A lot of food products are available in barbecue flavour. For example, sauce, potato chips etc.
