| Cooking food over an open flame is older than | | | | is where barbecue sauce comes in. |
| written history. One of the first uses of fire was for | | | | All barbecue is generously and often coated with |
| cooking and humans - mostly men - have argued | | | | tangy barbecue sauce. The sauces used vary from |
| over the right technique for scorching animal meat | | | | region to region and even from cook to cook. |
| over an open flame since. | | | | Sometimes the sauce is sweet, sometimes spice but |
| The modern era of grilling and barbecuing has a much | | | | it is almost always tangy. The "dry" or "wet" |
| shorter history than all of human civilization. Indeed, | | | | distinction of barbecue is not as bright a line as one |
| while most cooking has moved inside to the kitchen, | | | | might suspect. A wet barbecue is one where a |
| a dedicated few remain willing to brave a sunny | | | | generous coat of sauce is applied at the end of the |
| Sunday afternoon in order to put meat on their | | | | cooking time; this step is skipped for a dry barbecue. |
| family's paper plates. Barbecuing is easily the latest | | | | The heat source is also important. While some |
| innovation in this tradition. | | | | professional and competitive barbequing is done |
| Two distinct types of barbecuing developed in the | | | | today with gas, most purists prefer to use wood or |
| United States - pork and beef. Not surprisingly the | | | | charcoal or both. While gas can provide steady and |
| two types developed in areas where their respective | | | | predictable temperatures, wood and charcoal heat is |
| meats were at hand. Pork barbecue rose out of the | | | | more traditional and greatly adds to the quality of |
| Southern states while beef barbecue was more | | | | flavor of the barbeque. The choice of material is |
| popular in Texas. In both cases large chunks of meat, | | | | important because whatever is burned to produce |
| if not the whole animal, were placed over a low | | | | the heat will impart a unique quality to the barbeque. |
| burning heat source. While you will still find fanatical | | | | The art and skill of barbequing has come a long way. |
| devotes of both styles all types of barbecue are | | | | Enclosed cookers, precise thermometers and a wide |
| available in most areas these days. | | | | variety of sauces makes barbequing today much |
| Unlike grilling meat which is usually done by quickly | | | | different than it was in the beginning. But little has |
| cooking over direct heat, barbecuing involves long | | | | changed, too: a heat source, a large chunk of meat |
| periods and indirect heat. It is not unusual for a good | | | | and lots of sauce that is, more often than not, based |
| barbecue recipe to require hours of cooking. Normally | | | | on a secret recipe. |
| this would dry the meat out and leave it inedible. This | | | | |