Had a barbecue beef hamburger for lunch. They had this new guy working so hard in front of the grill, & oh poor boy, you call that piece of dry tasteless rubber a meal, I'd rather call it an artwork. (exaggerating) It reminds me of this documentary series called American Eats launched in the History Channel, about the 'history's of American popular foods/snacks. There was this episode about barbecue, quite interesting and informative. What are the four places historically known for making good BBQs? ---- Texas, Kansas City, Carolinas, and Memphis... Texas's bbq emerged right after the civil war ended when the cow industry boomed in Texas. So their bbq features beef, cooked in a smoke chamber, eaten with bread or even crackers, + really hot sauces ---- the Taxas way, or the Cowboy bbq. Kansas City's on the other hand use both beef and pork and virtually any part edible, and cooking was done with oak wood fire. Kansas City also has the very popular bbq sauce Masterpiece originally 'invented' by a doctor, who, I donot know how good a dotor he was, loved bbq really badly -- that you can tell for sure. Carolinas like using ribs for their bbq parties, while Memphis like steak better(? if I remember correctly)... They all have different tastes and flavors. Who invented the charcoal beads? I was rather surprised to know that it was Henry Ford. Yeah, the same Ford who started the Ford automobile business. Actually the popular KingsFord charcoal briquettes in the market today was named after him and one of his far relative and of course his bbq buddy as well. The whole idea that he had was that you donot have to bbq at home only, with a bag of charcoal briquettes and a compact grill packed in the trunk of your Ford, you can enjoy it anywhere you want.----wasn't he a smart a$$ or what? The easies and most effective way to check if the temperature on your grill is good or not? Put you palm right on top of the grill, if you can stay there for 5+ sec, the heat is low; 3~4 sec, medium; 1~2 sec, high. If you want to cook some good bbqs, this is something you got to remember, coz although all the bbqs from the four places have many different features, they all share one same big cooking secret---slow, slow, and more slow cooking. Ever stop by one of these places in future, don't forget to try their bbqs... They really look darn nice and inviting on TV, freshing, tender & juicy... I watched the program calm and cool, but my mouth just could not keep itself from watering and watering... Back to reality, for now, my stomach is complaining to me loudly, "I dont work on rubbers"... I hear you buddy, I hear you. |