The Key Difference between Grilling and Barbecue
• Barbecuing
and grilling are completely different cooking techniques.
• Grilling
is usually small foods, heated quickly, smokeless, usually without a lid, and
the temperature is very high.
• Barbecue
is usually in large chunks, cooked low and slowly, covered with a lid, just
like roasting meat, but usually with smoke.
Barbecue is Different from Grilling in 4 Ways
Leaving
aside the potential differences in the equipment used (discussed in our Smokers
and Barbecue article) these cooking methods have in common the fire and grill
grate. From there, the style diverges in four different ways:
• Cooking
time
• Cooking
temperature
• The Cuts
of meat
• Smoking or
non-smoking
Every animal has different types of meat, and different preparation and cooking methods are needed to make them soft and delicious. This is the main reason why we have two cooking styles to handle all kinds of cuts.
Let’s
look at each method in turn:
Features of Barbecue
• Cooking
time-long, low, slow. Four to twenty-four hours
• Cooking
temperature-low temperature, approximately 225 °F (107 °C)
• Cuts of
meat-large, tough, fatty meat rich in connective tissue, such as ribs,
shoulders, buttocks, and breast meat, are the most suitable meat for smoking.
• Smoke-the
main ingredient is smoke from aromatic woods, such as pecans or mesquite
Features of Grilling
• Cooking
time-short, hot and fast. Five to fifteen minutes
• Cooking
temperature-high temperature, 500 °F (260 °C) or higher
• Cuts of meat-thin
or minced meat, such as steak, burger, or chicken breast
• Smokeless-The
meat hasn’t been on the grill long enough to let the smoke give off a lot of
flavor.
Use of Marinades and Spices
Almost every chef and pitmaster will sprinkle a little salt and pepper on anything they grill or smoke. However, when using dry spices (abrasives) and wet marinades, there is a big difference between grilling and grilling.
Compared with grilling, you will find that the seasonings for grilling, whether wet or dry, have a stronger taste. The longer cooking time allows the taste to enter the meat, while the lower temperature does not burn, carbonize and make the surface spices bitter.
The dry rub on the barbecue tends to burn, so instead of adding flavor, it tastes bitter and uncomfortable.
In
addition, for most roasts, we want to avoid using wet marinades because
moisture can prevent browning, especially roast marks, which are common signs
of perfect roasts.
Add Barbecue Sauce when appropriate
Barbecue sauce can add sweetness and spicy flavor to any meat or poultry. Because it usually contains sugar, it will burn above 350°F (177°C). If you are grilling, you will not add it until the last hour.
Usually,
barbecue sauce is not added at all when grilling, because it burns quickly.
However, you can add it in the last few minutes of cooking to get a beautiful
glaze.
Where is the fire?
The biggest difference between grilling and grilling is the location of the fire.
By grilling, your meat can be placed on coals for very hot, fast, direct cooking.
Grilling uses an
offset or 2-zone fire for indirect heating, which means that food is cooked
slowly by convection or indirect heating, just like an oven. Food is not cooked
directly by a heat source.
Two ways of cooking for two types of meat
Hopefully now you can see the difference between grilling and grilling, and why you need to learn these two methods if you want to cook all the meat.
Large and hard incisions require slow cooking for a long time to break down connective tissue. For example, if you cut a piece of sirloin and pat it on the grill like a burger, you can hardly chew it.
Barbecuing provides the right amount of heat and plenty of time to soften any hard, strong cuts. You only need to wait a few hours to eat it.
The
high heat and fast cooking means you can finish your meal in minutes instead of
hours. This is why we like our steaks, burgers and hot dogs because they cook
very quickly and can be eaten quickly. You can quickly feed the crowd directly
from the grill.