BBQ vs Smoking

[jdavidson]

Is there a difference ?
my thoughts and opinion is…BBQ is prepared directly over the coals so that the drippings from the meat and sop fall and make a wonderful flavor that can’t be duplicated by merely allowing hot smoke to do the work .

And I’m not preaching…simply asking

[SHSU18]

Ditto! I like both.

[Smart]

BBQ is a noun in the south.

Smoking is a verb....

[Texas Grown]

You can smoke your BBQ before BBQing. But it's really hard to smoke BBQ after BBQing.

[bboswell]

Grilling is direct over the coals while indirect is BBQ/Smoking.

[Geezy Rider]

Different methods in the same spectrum. One is low and slow and using some kind of sauce and the other is low and slow (hot or cold) but with plenty of smoke and just a rub.

[Greenheadless]

I agree with the OP’s summation.

BBQ and smoking are two different things with vastly different outcomes.

[TxBowHntr]

BARBECUEING is the act of cooking meat to be eaten. It must have smoke to be considered barbecue. This is usually done at higher temps than smoking, and is not done as preservation of the meat. The finished product still has a limited time before it spoils. This can be done direct or indirect, sauced or no sauce, spritz or no spritz, etc... It is still all barbecue as long as it has some form of actual smoke used in the process and is intended to be eaten relatively close to when it comes off the pit.

SMOKING is the act of preserving meat using smoke to lengthen the time before it spoils. This is usually done at temps lower than barbecueing as the intention is not to render fat/cook to tender but to impart as much smoke as possible.

Many times the term "smoking" is used when referring to "barbecue" since it is a requirement in the process.


At least this is how I see it...

[rolylane6]

Here's at least one opinion on the origin of "barbecue" from Cinders Barbecues where "slow" over an open flame seems to be the theme but not necessarily, indirect, which is generally the method of "smoking" meat.

"THE ORIGIN OF ‘BARBECUE’ The history of the word barbecue goes back to the indigenous people of North and South America, the Spanish word barbacoa was used by the Taínos who inhabited Hispaniola, Jamaica and Cuba. Barbacoa was used to describe the slow cooking of meat over an open flame.

Gonzalo Fernández De Oviedo y Valdés, a Spanish explorer, was the first to use the word "barbecoa" in print in Spain in 1526. After the Spaniards & Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, they found the people of Taino roasting meat on a wooden framework resting on sticks above a fire. The conquerors from Spain then embraced this style of cooking and spread it to more areas of America & beyond.

There have been many instances across history of similar words being adopted into the English language, these include ‘barbacado’, ‘barbacu'd’ & ‘barbaqued’ until finally we ended up with ‘barbecue’ or ‘BBQ’ for short."

[Burntorange Bowhunter]

A BBQ is grilled hot dogs and hamburgers outside of Texas. Lol.

[Walker]

Smoke in a smokehouse not on a pit or grill.

[Aetheling]

Worlds first BBQ.

A new study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggests that early humans first cooked food around 780,000 years ago. Before now, the earliest evidence of cooked food was around 170,000 years ago, with early Homo sapiensand Neanderthals using fire to cook vegetables and meat.

[Bdub25]

Some Yankees call a grill or pit a BBQ.

[Michael]

Grilling is direct over the coals while indirect is BBQ/Smoking.

I agree with this. To me, BBQ and smoking are used interchangeably. It is usually indirect heat, smoked low and slow.

Cooking directly over coals at high temp is "grilling." Steaks, burgers, hot dogs, etc. are grilled.

[AntlerCollector]

I agree with this. To me, BBQ and smoking are used interchangeably. It is usually indirect heat, smoked low and slow.

Cooking directly over coals at high temp is "grilling." Steaks, burgers, hot dogs, etc. are grilled.

Yep