Barbecued Pork vs. Pork Barbecue

OK, so I'm still needling through the whole definition of barbecue. Yeah, I know, it's futile. But, please bear with me.

Where I come from, pork isn't considered barbecue unless it is pull tender. Around here, pork barbecue is pulled or chopped (we call it minced) and is tender and moist and tasty.

Now, pork barbecue can be cooked either directly over coals at a relatively low temperature or it can be cooked using indirect heat from coals at a relatively low temperature. Relatively low being between 250F to 300F. Of course, smoke from a hardwood or fruit wood is essential.

To me, the distinction between grilled pork and barbecued pork when cooked over direct heat is pretty clear cut. If you cook a pork tenderloin over direct heat from coals until it is a nice medium rare to medium, it's grilled pork. If you cook a pork butt over direct heat from coals until it is pull tender, it's barbecue.

But, when it comes to indirect barbecuing, I think that muddies up the subject. For example, I can cook a pork butt at 275F with indirect heat from coals until it is pull tender and have pork barbecue. But, I can also cook a pork tenderloin using indirect heat from coals and it is done at a medium temperature of doneness and ready to slice.

So, with all that in mind, I am beginning to settle on a distinction between barbecued pork and pork barbecue.

Barbecued pork is cooked using the barbecue method of a relatively low temperature using indirect heat and smoke from hot coals until it is done to at least minimum safe eating temperature which means medium rare to medium to well done and is sliced and it not pull tender.

Pork barbecue, on the other hand, is pork cooked using the barbecue cooking method of relatively low temperature using indirect heat and smoke from coals until it is done to a minimum temperature that allows it to be pulled and tender. Of course, this would also fall into the category of barbecued pork but more specifically pork barbecue because barbecue is always pull tender. Think Venn diagram here.

So, what think, ye, brethren?

In Virginia, smoked meat is usually pork that has been salted and cold smoked to preserve it like bacon and Virginia ham. So, technically, we really don't think of smoked meat in any other context.

Now, I understand the distinction. Barbecued meats are often referred to as "slow smoked meat" but that is, I think, an imported idea rather than something that I was taught growing up by my Dad that used to raise, slaughter, butcher, and smoke his own hogs.

What I am drawing is a distinction between the cooking technique and the product. Barbecued meat vs. barbecue. Both are cooked using the barbecue method but only one is the food called barbecue.

Barbecue = meat that is cooked until pull tender
Barbecued meat = meat that is cooked using the barbecue method regardless of tenderness

I'm aware of the regional takes on the definition of barbecue. But, big but, there is a well defined cooking method called barbecuing that is universal. What's not universal is the resulting product.

For example, in California, they call medium rare tri-tip barbecue. However, in Virginia, and it's been this way for centuries, beef that is cooked using the barbecue cooking method even just to medium rare is also considered barbecued beef. But, we don't think of it as "barbecue." It may be "barbecued" but it isn't barbecue. It's barbecued beef. Now, a brisket cooked to pull tender is barbecued beef and beef barbecue. A tri-tip or bottom round barbecued to medium rare is barbecued beef but we would never call it barbecue.

lantern said:

Hmmm.... after I thought about my post and your location I came back to say "whoops", but you had already came in and blew up my "smoked meat" as a catchall.

So I'm willing to call anything but pull/chop tender pork cooked with wood/charcoal "barbecued" X.


But, not one inch will I budge on that barbecue is pork cooked with wood/charcoal to pull/chop tender.:hand:


And that leaves "smoked" X to refer to meats and such that are usually preserved or part of a preservation process.


We really do need to clean up this name mess!

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The confusion of what is and isn't barbecue is hundreds of years old. The verb "barbecue" has been used to refer to drying meat in the air, drying meat in smoke, preserving large cuts like hams in salt and smoke, and pull tender and moist meat be it pork, beef, poultry, game, etc. But, all of those definitions are related to the verb "barbecue" not the noun.

The definition of what is "barbecue" as in a noun to describe meat that is served is caught up in the confusion. I'm just trying to make sense of it so that I can discuss it with the least amount of confusion possible.

I disagree. As far as the verb "barbecue" goes, that is well defined and well documented. If there is confusion about that, it's due to ignorance, not regional differences. The noun "barbecue" is where the confusion comes in. There are some people in this country that call grilled hot dogs "barbecue."

Now, I don't know about the UK, and, actually, I don't care as it's outside the scope of my definition. But, in this country, a "barbecue" where hot dogs are served isn't a barbecue and has only become so through ignorant writers and marketers. There is no hot dog barbecue tradition in the U.S. and never has been. The same is true of hamburgers.

So, the real question is "What is barbecue the noun?"

landarc said:

I can't remember where it is, but, there is some region that cooks butts to almost pulling stage, then slice and serve it. I seem to recall they call that barbeque, and folks consider it to be the equal to pulled or chop.

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Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Kentucky is one. But, they are in the extreme minority in the South.