Barbecue

Barbecue is a cooking technique that involves cooking over, or near, charcoal or wood fires, generally outdoors. The cooking process is usually, but not always, lengthy, but it always involves some transfer of flavoring to the food. The flavor can be from fragrant smoke, dry spices rubbed onto the meat, or a basting liquid.

The term can be extended to cover the equipment used or the food prepared this way. It derives from the Mexican Spanish word barbacoa, but many styles, with its partisans claiming it is the best, will be found throughout the Western Hemisphere.

Some Asian styles, particularly from Korea and Mongolia, have enough similarities to be called barbecue. Their cooking process is usually faster and higher-heat than Western methods, but still rely on heat to force flavoring into food.

Style	Aspects of cooking	Flavoring
Traditional Mexican	Wrapped food in a pit; steams and smokes	Smoke, peppers
Texan	Open rack over smoky fire, preferably mesquite wood	Fairly sweet liquid baste; prominent tomatoes
Eastern North Carolina	Smoker/grill	Vinegar dominates the liquid baste; sweet-sour, no mustard or tomatoes
Western North Carolina	Smoker/grill	Vinegar and mustard in the baste; sweet-sour, no tomatoes
South Carolina	Smoker/grill	Tomatoes, mustard and vinegar glaze
Memphis	Open rack over smoky fire	Dry-rubbed with spice mixture
Korean	Grill; sufficiently fast-cooking to make crust	Marinated with ginger, soy, molasses, chiles