Barbecue Recipes

Some say it originated centuries ago in the province of Mongolia, the Mighty Khan's hunting parties would camp on the banks of the great river Khan-Balik. After days devoted entirely to hunting, they would prepare slivers of meat and vegetables by slicing them with their razor sharp swords. They would then cook their food by searing it on their overturned shields that were heated by a blazing fire.

Others Columbus found the Caribbean cooking on stick racks over fires

When the Spanish arrived in the Americas, they found the Taino Indians of the West Indies cooking meat and fish over a pit of coals on a framework of green wooden sticks. The Spanish spelling of the Indian name for that framework was "barbacoa".

Others claim that barbeque actually comes from the French phrase barbe a queue, meaning from head to tail. Proponents of this theory point to the whole-hog cooking method.

To Texans BBQ began in the 1800’s cattle drives out West. The cowboys had to be feed and the cattle owners didn’t want to feed them the good cuts of meat. They usually got the tough stringy cuts like the brisket. BBQ Brisket slow cooked over a fire for 5-7 hours is one of my favorites.

The United States Department of Agriculture identifies barbecue is any meat "cooked by the direct action of heat resulting from the burning of hardwood or hot coals.

That probable means Mother Nature made the first barbecue as the accidental by-product of some ancient forest fire. And, man has been eating the delicious stuff in one form or another ever since.

There are almost as many histories of barbecue as spellings.

Noah Webster's dictionary insists that the one and only correct spelling is barbecue, but over the years folks have been enjoying barbicue, barbique, barbeque, Bar-B-Que, Bar-B-Cue, Bar-B-Q, BBQ, Cue, and just plain Q.

Indeed, barbecues have long been a popular social occasion in the South. But, done in the traditional way, the making of barbecue was hard work. A pit was dug in the ground the day before the gathering and filled with hardwood. The wood was burned down to coals before whole hogs, skewered on poles, were hung over the pit. The pit-masters sat up through the night, turning the hogs on their spits. The following afternoon when the guests arrived, the crisp skin was removed and the cooked meat was pulled in lumps from the carcass before being slathered with a favorite finishing sauce. That's why, to this very day, a social affair centered on pork barbecue is affectionately called a Pig Picking or Pulled Pork.

Historically, Kansas City's first recorded barbecuer was Henry Perry. Perry started working out of an old trolley barn at 19th & Highland and, by 1908, was serving up succulent slow-cooked ribs on pages of newsprint for 25 cents a slab.

The United States patent library reveals the original inventor of charcoal briquette was Ellsworth B.A. Zwoyer. At the time he designed and patented the original briquette (1897), he was living in Reading, PA

I’m getting hungry for some BBQ so let’s pick one of the delicious recipes from one of the Links Below

BBQ Tips

Recipes