A History of American Barbecue

[Music] it's late June and we are well into prime barbecuing season and I know I'm not the only one who thinks that because according to a 2015 survey by the industry group the hearth patio and barbecue Association or HPB a nearly three-quarters of American adults on either a grill or a smoker now of course cooking over an open flame isn't anything new the the first definitive evidence of a human ancestor controlling fire goes back from about two million years but the backyard barbecue is a unique cultural phenomenon and it has a unique history in the United States where predates European settlement and has been intimately tied to politics to culture and to history it is history that deserves to be remembered to start in the culinary world and among certain grill connoisseurs there is an important difference between grilling and barbecue the general idea is that grilling is done with the lid up and heat applied only to one side of the food at a time while barbecuing is slow cooking with the lid closed providing heat all around the difference is important if your trend decide what kind of grill you want to use or if you need a conversation starter at the fourth of July barbecue and it does have some historical importance because several different distinct regional styles of barbecue developed in the United States and how the food was cooked is important to those regional styles but the history of grilling and barbecuing is intimately linked and most Americans used the terms interchangeably and of course barbecuing is not limited to the United States that claim would be an insult to the cuisine of Asian cultures Korean bulgogi marinated meat cooked on a grill has been around at least for thousands of years the general idea is that meat was rare and expensive and usually cooked into soup if a family had the luxury of eating meat that wasn't cooked into soups then they wanted to prepare it in the most tasty way possible the meat would be thinly sliced marinated and cooked over fire however what's commonly called Korean barbecue today largely developed since the 1980s deviates from traditional methods and his lots of Western influence similarly cultural traditions of roasting meats over fire were common in China Europe the Middle East and back to prehistory documented recipes instructions for meat roasting date back to the Middle Ages so while of course the United States didn't invent the idea of roasting meat over an open fire it did take on a particular cultural significance here in 1985 author Steve Smith wrote in his article the rhetoric of barbecue us have been right in ritual in the journal studies in popular culture that in the South in many respects barbecue is taken as seriously as religion he refers to the many styles of barbecue in the United States has barbecue cults and while barbecue is particularly significance in the United States the method and tradition in North America well predates the United States the word barbecue which has multiple different spellings that are sometimes a point of argument among the different barbecue cult is derived from the Taino indigenous people of the Caribbean the term referred to a frame made of green sticks the French were used for sleeping but also for drawing or smoking meat in fact early European observers suggested the term referred to in a platform in the earliest known European reference in 1609 was describing a corncrib structure built to dry corn while protecting it from vermin but the references did mention such a platform was used to both dry and smoked fish and the Caribbean word came to be used generally for the process of roasting on a rack over a fire you might have heard other stories for example that it was derived from the French where barbed cue would roughly mean beard to tail or from a restaurant that served whiskey beer and had pool tables and thus was called bar beer cue and you'll sometimes find that sort of nonsense written on menus in different barbecue places but Robert Moss and his excellent book on the subject barbecue the history of an American institution notes that the etymology coming from the Taino word is clear and that the Oxford English Dictionary discounts out those other stories and despite the name being Caribbean and was possibly carried north by slaves who first spent time in Barbados before being moved north the practice of using such a platform to dry smoke or Rosemary's meats was common among Native Americans along the eastern seaboard the Native American traditions of roasting meat were then supplemented when Europeans brought cattle sheep goats and hogs to the New World in 1540 explorer Hernando de Soto attended a feast with the Chickasaw tribe in what is present-day Mississippi where a pig was roasted on a BBQ the practice was readily adopted by the American colonists where the term came not just him in the object the barbecue or the practice barbequing but also came to mean a social event while the practice was popular across the colonies it particularly took root in the south where the immigrants from southern and western England were more used to a culture of roasting and broiling meats practice was also critically popular because the colonists of the south favored pork pigs have been imported from the guinea of the Jamestown Colony where they thrived pigs forage well with minimal care reproduce quickly and are the most efficient of all the domesticated animals in terms of converting feed to meet the cash crop of tobacco requires large parcels of land and that is also particularly suitable for raising pigs by 1860 the estimated value of this house pigs was nearly double the value of the South's cotton although pigs use the left of 412 in the woods were difficult to accurate count the pigs are great for barbecue an animal that can be roasted home provide enough food for a large social event matched with the southern hospitality culture barbecues became common social events in George Washington's dire includes attendance at several barbecues as social events figured prominently in Virginia newspapers from the early 18th century on the events were feasts that most often featured hogs roasted whole although beef quarters might also be included and accounts suggest that they were attended by all levels of society and often included music and alcohol which sometimes might be drunk to excess inevitably the feasts became part of the American political landscape with barbecues coinciding with Election Day becoming a subtle way for candidates to ply voters and display generosity without actively campaigning considered uncouth at the time but the tradition developed differently in different places in South Carolina unlike Virginia the barbecues weren't a family affair they were a friend that were only attended by males and they tended to be hard drinking Affairs whether there was something called the barbecue law which meant that guests had to match each other drink for drink or else face humiliation in my day we just called that college not only where cultural tradition is different but the method was as well with regions basting or spicing the meet with different concoctions the beginnings of the barbecue cults mentioned by Smith according to Smithsonian magazine in July of 2013 these differences were influenced by the tastes of original immigrants with for example North Carolina's vinegar-based sauces being a remnant of Britain's penchant for the tart sauce whereas the muster bait sauces of South Carolina represent the taste of the large population of French and German immigrants in that colony other barbecue traditions developed because of the nature of the economy in the location thus Texas barbecue emphasizes beef such as slow smoked brisket traditional Tennessee barbecue is exclusively pork intends to be sweet a development of the river trade which allows easy access to molasses Kansas City style barbecue was developed by a man from Memphis who brought the tradition of a sweet tomato based barbecue sauce but combined it with the Western availability of using beef and other meats along with pork making it an amalgamation of east and west as Americans move West that took barbecue tradition with them a new barbecue culture rose the naturalist and famous Peter Birds John James Audubon wrote of a 4th of July barbecue in Kentucky all appearances conspired to predict the speedy commencement of a banquet such as may suit the vigorous appetite of American woodsmen no personal invitation was required where everyone was welcomed by his neighbor and from the governor to the guider of the plow all met with light hearts and merry faces barbecues were especially used to celebrate Independence Day still the most popular barbecuing day in America these traditions also started to include other celebrations like parades and were followed by patriotic speeches and toasts these not only reinforce the sense of community but allowed ambitious men the opportunity to put themselves in the front of the public to demonstrate their patriotism thus barbecues became an essential part of the early American political landscape as the franchise expanded and a greater amount of the populace was allowed to vote campaigning went from uncouth to essential and barbecues allowed a forum where candidates for office could meet and understand the voters political barbecues became a part of significant political movements through the US throughout the 19th century including women's suffrage and prohibition while the production of wood charcoal for industrial uses like producing metals had existed from ancient times the invention of a machine to press charcoal briquets by Ellsworth be a wire in 1897 made a convenient fuel for outside grilling Henry Ford used the press process on wood byproducts of automotive manufacturing port acquired significant Timberland in Michigan for the wood used in automobile parts like the frame dashboard and steering wheel looking for a way to monetize byproducts like tree stumps and sawdust he had a plant designed by Thomas Edison installed in his lumberyard which produced pillow shaped charcoal briquets in the 1930s Ford started marketing picnic kits which included Ford charcoal briquets and a portable grill through his car dealerships capitalizing on the idea about motorcars a means of outdoor adventure eventually Ford charcoal was bought a named after the man who managed the operation Edward Kingsford today Kingsford Charcoal is the largest maker of charcoal for outside grills with an 80% u.s. market share while barbecue sauce was initially homemade the commercially produced sauce was marketed in the US as early as 1909 today commercial barbecue sauce is a two billion dollar a year industry the barbecue culture of the u.s. took a significant turn after the Second World War when increased prosperity and suburban living combined with the millions of GIS who got used to cooking on a fire to create the suburban tradition of the backyard barbecue many suburban homes had elaborate brick grilles installed in the backyard with him a primary method of bringing together neighbors the tradition changed further in 1951 a Chicago metalworking company was filling contracts to make marine buoys for the Coast Guard a company salesman named George Stephen who was an aficionado of outdoor grilling cut a boy in half and used the top for a lid he mounted three legs to it and invented the kettle shaped portable grill eventually he scraped together enough money to buy a controlling stake in the metalworking company Webber Brothers Metalworks renamed it Weber Steven and began selling Weber grills still the nation's best selling brand competitors hasty bake and char-broil also produced portable grills although they did not quite match the popularity of the kettle design in 1932 Louie McLaughlin started the chicago combustion company focusing on burners that were fired by gas he adapted the burners for commercial cooking creating a gas-fired broiler called broiled burger for use in restaurants by 1954 he'd adapted the design create a portable gas cooker that was fueled using a 20-pound propane cylinder that was used by plumbers today gas grills represent about two thirds of US household grills the industry flourished in 1952 commercial barbecue device sales were $1,000,000 by 1959 sales were 75 million dollars in 1958 one third of American families had a barque yard grill or fire magazines representing American life started including grilling recipes and new regional styles were born such as in California state where weather is amenable to grilling and we're grilling took on aspects in both Mexican and cowboy culture or in Hawaii with their unique Polynesian flavors the institution facilitated other social changes since grilling was generally seen to be a man's province grilling allowed the 1950s housewife to take a break from cooking on the weekend even though gender roles had changed in America 2015 survey still found that men are twice as likely as women to describe themselves as the households grill master while the percentage of US adults who own grills has remained stable for a couple of decades grill sales continue to increase and let's lodge it because there's simply so much more available these days in addition to huge numbers of different kinds of charcoal grills and gas grills there's also now wood pellet grills and infrared grills and they're even high in grills that you can operate with a smart app that will send you a text when it's time to flip your meat the market for grills and accessories in the United States is expected to be about 2.6 billion dollars in 2021 even though American makers are facing increasing competition from foreign sources barbecue is an integral part of American culture dating from before the nation's founding it combines the taste of European colonists and Native Americans has become intimately tied to regional history and pride and the backyard BBQ continues to be one of the most popular cultural events in a nation that consumes an estimated fifty billion hamburgers and 20 billion hot dogs a year in a 2018 survey some 72% of us groaners cited flavor as one of the reasons that they grill but more than half in addition cited lifestyle 40 percent in addition cited entertainment and some eighteen percent cited health Jack Goldman president of the HPB a noted the cultural significance when he said barbecuing is no longer just a pastime it is an integral part of North American living I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets a forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section I will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on Facebook the Instagram Twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring comm and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe [Music]

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 273,953

Rating: 4.9558506 out of 5

Keywords: history, the history guy, history guy, us history, food history, barbecue, bbq

Id: zeM6j0vO71g

Length: 13min 47sec (827 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 29 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/ImplausiblyObvious]

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[u/Cdub7791]

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