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what is the difference between barbecue and grilling?

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Ktim
Ktim Posts: 364
in EggHead Forum
We are having a disagreement about BBQ and grilling.
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  • EggNorth
    EggNorth Posts: 1,535
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    Here (Canada), if you cook outside it's BBQ.  According to the web (so must be true)  Grilling is cooking fast, BBQ is slow.  So grill a steak and BBQ a brisket.


    Thanks



    Dave
    Cambridge, Ontario - Canada
    Large (2010), Mini Max (2015), Large garden pot (2018)
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  • Tjcoley
    Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
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    In NE PA, where I grew up, a BBQ was also referred to as a Cookout. Hot and fast on a metal grill. Burgers, dogs, maybe chicken or if times were good, steak. Lots of lighter fluid involved. Baked potatoes wrapped in foil with great tasting burned skin, chicken done in foil, also with great burned skin. Never heard of low and slow.
    __________________________________________
    It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
    - Camp Hill, PA
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  • Wolfpack
    Wolfpack Posts: 3,551
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    BBQ is a noun- grilling is a verb.
    Greensboro, NC
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  • Ladeback69
    Ladeback69 Posts: 4,482
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    BBQ is used a lot as a general turm. To me it depends on how it is used. If someone wants to go out for BBQ I think of low and slow, then you will get someone that ask you over for BBQ I think of grilling burgers or steaks. Its what ever you think it it.
    XL, WSM, Coleman Road Trip Gas Grill

    Kansas City, Mo.
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  • SteveWPBFL
    SteveWPBFL Posts: 1,327
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    150F - 250F is smoking, 250F - 350F is BBQ, 350F - 450F is grilling!
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  • td66snrf
    td66snrf Posts: 1,822
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    It depends on where you live.
    XLBGE, LBGE, MBGE, SMALL, MINI, 2 Kubs, Fire Magic Gasser
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  • berndcrisp
    berndcrisp Posts: 1,166
    edited March 2014
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     My understanding is that grilling is anything hot and fast, BBQ is low and slow of meat chunks 5 pounds or more. 'Steve WPBL's comment seems accurate.
    Hood Stars, Wrist Crowns and Obsession Dobs!


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  • coffeeguydenton
    coffeeguydenton Posts: 138
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    SteveWPBFL said:
    150F - 250F is smoking, 250F - 350F is BBQ, 350F - 450F is grilling!
    Then what am I doing when I cook a steak at 650?  To me, that's grilling!
    Justin in Denton, TX
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  • coffeeguydenton
    coffeeguydenton Posts: 138
    edited March 2014
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    Per Merriam Webster's Dictionary
    Barbecue (verb)
    1.  to roast or broil on a rack or revolving spit over or before a source of heat (as hot coals)
    2.  to cook in a highly seasoned vinegar sauce

    We all seem to mean different things when we say "barbecue."  As stated, in some places it refers to anything outdoor cooking, other places only low and slow, others only high heat.  But if we are going to go by what the word actually means, I would stick with the above.
    Justin in Denton, TX
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  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
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    8-} grilling Apple Pie, pizza, calzones etc I call that baking. The ability of using one egg to grill, smoke, bbq, bake etc is what drew me to the egg to begin with. With its efficient and quite controllable heat it makes it a very effective means of making many dishes.
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
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  • MJLivingston
    MJLivingston Posts: 66
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    In these parts barbecue means pulled pork.
    Lexington TN
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  • Mattman3969
    Mattman3969 Posts: 10,457
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    Didn't you know that eggin is the new BBQ/grilling. :D I think the terms are very loose because some would say what some of us do with butts now isn't bbq because we have a cooker that can smoke hot n fast and still have moist meat while o'l school guys still think it takes 20hrs to make the perfect pulled pork, but there are things like brisket that shouldn't be rushed. I guess definition is in the eye of the cook.

    -----------------------------------------

    analyze adapt overcome

    2008 -Large BGE. 2013- Small BGE and 2015 - Mini. Henderson, Ky.
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  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
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    Bbq is cooked meat. Grilling is what I got from my step father when I came home drunk.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
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  • td66snrf
    td66snrf Posts: 1,822
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    Technically anything cooked directly over the heat source is grilling. BBQ is what most people would call smoking where you cook with the smoke such as an offset smoker. Some parts of the country it's only pork, other parts it's gotta be beef. In New Orleans bbq shrimp is a dish that doesn't even see a grill. Here in SoCal it can mean many things. Would you like to come to a BBQ next week? (Event)  I got a new BBQ. ( an appliance) The steaks were  BBQed. (verb)               Gas BBQ (oxymoron)!
    XLBGE, LBGE, MBGE, SMALL, MINI, 2 Kubs, Fire Magic Gasser
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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
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    Kinda like roasting or baking, guess you roast meat, bake a pie - but if it is a meat pie, do you roast it or bake it?

    Another one is grate vs grid. A grate is where the charcoal sits (like a fireplace grate) a grid is where the food sits - we tend to use those interchangeably. 

    How can such a simple cooking appliance pose so many questions? 
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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  • RGBHV
    RGBHV Posts: 1,318
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    I was once told (on the other forum) that you cook outside on a grill and you eat BBQ.  

    In Cda the term BBQ relates to several things;  the outdoor cooker  (as in I just bought a new BBQ), a description of an event (as in I'm having a BBQ this weekend) and the food you cook on your outdoor cooker (you gotta check out this BBQ'd [steak, ribs, chicken, etc]).

    Michael

     
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  • Ktim
    Ktim Posts: 364
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    Thanks everyone,based on all of your answers,I win this disagreement.I am going to go get my prize now.
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  • cortguitarman
    cortguitarman Posts: 2,061
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    You got a definitive answer from this thread? :-?
    Mark Annville, PA
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  • Cookinbob
    Cookinbob Posts: 1,691
    edited March 2014
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    According to my sister who lives in Charlottte,  barbecue is something you eat.  Grilling is something you do.    As for me,  I grill steaks and burgers and chicken.  I Smoke pork butts, ribs, and brisket.  I do not normally use the term barbecue unless it in the name of a restaurant I am going to (Dinosaur BBQ).  I don't think it matters, unless of course there is a wager involved ;)
    XLBGE, Small BGE, Homebrew and Guitars
    Rochester, NY
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  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
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    Where I grew up, BBQ usually meant loose ground beef, pan simmered and then drowned in Hunt's sauce. Maybe a few bits of onion and carrot tossed in. Served on a bun. A few years ago, I asked an elderly lady what BBQ meant, and she answered "With sauce?" :P

    From reading around, it appears that most people think BBQ is a word that comes from one used by several Caribbean native tribes to describe cooking meats on a rack over a bed of smoking coals. Based on that, a general description is that BBQ is meat cooked in the presence of wood smoke, at a temperature higher than a smoke cure, but lower than what an open flame produces. I came across a def. not to long ago where a fellow added that the meat must be spiced in some way, and that the smoke flavors were the base level of spice.
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  • coffeeguydenton
    coffeeguydenton Posts: 138
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    Gotta love the internet.  Now we get to make up our own definitions for words and have them mean whatever we want.  Who needs a dictionary?
    Justin in Denton, TX
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