50 Fun Facts About BBQ

The English word 'barbecue' comes, via Spanish 'barbacoa', from the language of which people?

Spaniards arriving after 1492 found them roasting meat on a wooden framework over a fire; the folk etymology 'barbe à queue' (beard to tail) is a myth.

Which of these is NOT one of the four major US regional barbecue styles usually cited?

The big four are North Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City and Texas; California's Santa Maria tri-tip tradition is a beloved regional style but not one of them.

In North Carolina, what are the two rival barbecue styles that feud light-heartedly with each other?

A 2006 bill to make the Lexington festival 'official' was defeated; a 2007 compromise made it merely the official food festival of the Piedmont Triad.

Lexington-style 'red slaw' is coleslaw made with what in place of the usual creamy dressing?

It is also called barbecue slaw, and it is what a Lexington plate is judged on almost as much as the pork.

Memphis-style ribs come 'wet' or 'dry'. What makes a rib 'dry'?

Wet ribs are brushed with sauce before, during and after cooking; Memphis is overwhelmingly a pork town.

Memphis's World Championship cooking contest is listed by Guinness as the world's largest for what?

It began in 1978 with 26 teams and takes place in Tom Lee Park at the foot of Beale Street.

Who is credited as the originator of Kansas City barbecue, serving near 18th and Vine from 1908?

Two of the city's oldest surviving barbecue restaurants trace their roots to his pit; he had come from Shelby County, Tennessee, near Memphis.

From which unusual profession did Rich Davis, creator of KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce, come?

Historically the city's sauces were not sweet at all; his molasses-heavy recipe changed the popular idea of what KC sauce tastes like.

In Kansas City, 'burnt ends' - the crusty pieces of smoked brisket - are traditionally served how?

Pieces of finished brisket go back into the smoker to make them; Texas prefers its brisket sliced.

Central Texas barbecue is usually rubbed with only which two seasonings?

It is then cooked over indirect heat from post oak, pecan or mesquite - a tradition brought by German and Czech butchers in the mid-1800s.

Which immigrant community is credited with making brisket popular in Texas in the 1800s?

Brisket is the classic cut for Jewish holiday pot roast, corned beef, pastrami and Montreal smoked meat too.

From which part of the cow does brisket come?

It is made of two pectoral muscles: the lean 'flat' and the fattier 'point'.

Pulled pork is almost always made from which cut?

The upper shoulder cut is confusingly called the Boston butt; the meat is dry-rubbed, smoked over wood and shredded.

South Carolina's distinctive mustard-based barbecue sauce is traced to settlers from which country?

The very earliest American sauces were just vinegar, salt and pepper, popularized by enslaved Africans in the Carolinas.

North Alabama's signature 'white sauce' is based on what?

It is thinned with cider vinegar and seasoned with sugar, salt and black pepper, and goes mainly on chicken and pork.

Which major company was the first to sell bottled barbecue sauce, in 1940?

The Georgia Barbecue Sauce Company of Atlanta had been advertising a commercial sauce as early as 1909.

The pink 'smoke ring' under the surface of smoked meat forms when a gas from the fire reacts with which protein?

Nitrogen dioxide from burning wood or charcoal becomes nitric oxide in the meat, which locks the pigment into a stable pink that heat cannot brown.

How deep into the meat does a smoke ring typically extend?

The most important factor is the fuel: gas and electric smokers produce far less nitrogen dioxide, so far less ring.

True barbecue 'smoking' cooks meat for hours at roughly what temperature range?

That is the 'low and slow' that separates smoking from grilling, which uses direct high heat.

George Stephen built the first Weber kettle grill in 1951 from two sheet-metal halves normally used to make what?

An early nickname for the odd-looking grill was 'Sputnik'; Stephen later bought out the Weber Brothers factory entirely.

In which city was the Weber kettle grill invented?

Stephen was part-owner of a sheet-metal shop and simply wanted something better than the brazier he cooked on at home.

Edward G. Kingsford, inventor of the modern charcoal briquette, was a relative of which industrialist?

He turned the wood scraps from Model T production into charcoal sold at Ford dealerships; a Michigan town was named after him.

The 1954 Model AP portable gas grill used 20-lb propane cylinders previously used almost only by whom?

Don McGlaughlin's Chicago Combustion Corporation - now LazyMan - had invented the gas grill itself back in the late 1930s.

In English a 'hibachi' is a small portable grill. What is a traditional Japanese hibachi for?

The word was borrowed for cast-iron and aluminum tabletop grills, and 'hibachi-style' restaurants in the US usually mean teppanyaki.

George Washington recorded attending a 'barbicue' in 1769 in which Virginia town?

The first recorded American mention is from 1672, in the writings of explorer John Lederer.

According to the OED, the first recorded modern English use of 'barbecue' appeared in a 1661 book about which island?

Edmund Hickeringill's Jamaica Viewed described flesh 'forthwith Barbacu'd and eat'.

In Australia and New Zealand, what is a barbecue commonly called?

The alternative spelling 'barbeque' is also more common there than in most other countries.

In South Africa, National Braai Day is celebrated on 24 September, which is also which public holiday?

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was appointed the day's patron in 2007; 'braaivleis' is Afrikaans for grilled meat.

At an Argentine asado, what is the grill itself called?

The person doing the cooking is the asador or parrillero, and quebracho is a hardwood favoured for the charcoal; in Uruguay they skip charcoal and grill straight over embers.

Which two native Caribbean ingredients form the heart of a jerk marinade?

The technique came from the island's Arawak and Taíno peoples via the Maroons; 'jerk' comes from the Quechua-derived word charqui, which also gave us 'jerky'.

What is the most representative dish of Korean barbecue, made from thinly sliced marinated beef?

Galbi is marinated short rib; the Korean term gogi-gui literally means 'meat roast', and it is often cooked on a grill built into the table.

Japanese yakitori is skewered chicken seasoned in one of two basic ways: 'shio', or what?

Shio is plain salt; the other is a salty-sweet glaze, and the skewers themselves are called kushi.

Traditional Hawaiian barbecue, kalua, cooks food in an underground oven called what?

It reached international fame through 20th-century tourism and the luau feast built around it.

Kansas City's American Royal, which hosts the world's largest barbecue contest, began in 1899 as what?

The Kansas City Royals baseball team took its name from the event.

South Texas-style pitmasters marinate their meat in what, to keep it moist after cooking?

West Texas, by contrast, cooks over direct mesquite heat in a way closer to grilling, and East Texas cooks the meat until it falls off the bone.

Central Texas pit barbecue grew up in Lockhart, Luling and Taylor along which famous cattle route?

USA Today later dubbed the loop east of Austin through Elgin, Lockhart, Luling and Taylor the 'Texas Barbecue Trail'.

What is the traditional centrepiece of a Carolina wedding or church barbecue?

Eastern-style cooks use the whole animal; Lexington-style pitmasters use only one cut.

Which two primary seasonings make Gates Bar-B-Q's Kansas City sauce spicier than its rivals?

Arthur Bryant's, the city's other landmark, is descended directly from Henry Perry's original pit.

Which Brazilian style of barbecue is the South American cousin of the asado?

It is most associated with the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul; picanha is a cut, not a style.

In which year did Memphis's World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest begin, with just 26 teams?

In 1989 organizers discovered a Honolulu feast held the Guinness 'largest barbecue' title and set about measuring their own output.

California's Santa Maria-style barbecue is built around which cut of beef?

Local butcher Bob Schutz perfected the triangular cut in the 1950s; it is grilled over red oak coals and served with pinquito beans.

Which president queued at Franklin Barbecue in 2014 and bought lunch for those behind him?

The restaurant started in a trailer in 2009 and has sold out of brisket every single day since.

In 2015 Aaron Franklin became the first barbecue specialist ever to win which honour?

He took Best Chef: Southwest; his brisket uses post oak smoke and Meyer Angus beef seasoned with nothing but salt and pepper.

The name of Cantonese barbecued pork, char siu, literally means what?

The traditional red colour came from fermented bean curd and red yeast rice, though food colouring now does the job.

Which archbishop became patron of South Africa's National Braai Day in 2007?

The day was launched by the Mzansi Braai Institute in 2005 and has been promoted under the Braai4Heritage banner since 2008.

A boozy braai is jokingly called a 'dop en tjop'. In Afrikaans slang, what is a tjop?

Dop means a drink, literally a 'cap' or 'bottle top'; the word braaivleis itself simply means grilled meat.

Which cut is most associated with Chicago-style barbecue, served over fries and white bread?

The style came north with the Great Migration and relies on the 'aquarium smoker', an indoor glass-fronted smoker built for Midwestern winters.

Owensboro, Kentucky's International Bar-B-Q Festival is famous for which unusual meat?

Pork is by far the most common American barbecue meat, followed by beef, so sheep on the pit marks Owensboro out.

Satay is considered a national dish of Indonesia and which neighbouring country?

The word ultimately traces back to the Tamil 'catai', meaning flesh, reflecting the Indian traders who helped shape the dish.

Texas Monthly, arbiter of the state's BBQ rankings, ran its first barbecue article in which year?

The magazine's 'Golden Age of BBQ' package by Daniel Vaughn and Patricia Sharpe won a National Magazine Award in 2018.