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How BBQ went global?

Wed, 05/21/2008 - 1:17pm

Mike Brown/Getty Images

FP readers already know the story of "How Sushi Went Global." And it's generally no secret that you can get a spicy tuna roll everywhere from Bangalore to Belize. But barbecue? Yes, apparently slow-cooked pig's butt is starting to go global, too.

The word out of the 2008 World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the world's largest pork BBQ contest held last weekend in Memphis, is that the globalization of barbecue is in the "embryonic" stages.

The trend can apparently lead to some awkward interactions:

At one point this year, a member of the Deominox team [from Belgium] was trying to talk his way in past the gate. The 'good old boy' working the entrance [had to ask for] help.... The language barrier almost got the Deominox team disqualified when it turned in its blind box in the whole-hog contest. Two of the non-English-speakers handled the delivery, but they missed the deadline after walking past signs they didn't understand. A sympathetic official interceded and successfully made the case for giving the team a break and letting their samples be judged...."

Now, before getting carried away about diluting of an American icon, it's important to remember that around two-thirds of this year's contestants still hailed from Tennessee. Perusing the list of winners, I don't see any foreign teams. Nor did I see baby backs on the menu the last time I was in Beijing. Of course, that was two years ago....

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BBQ - us style?

by teodoro on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 2:48pm

It's instructive to note that BBQ doesn't even mean the same thing in different parts of the US. Besides the Memphis slow-roasted pork variety,
In Texas -- brisket, onions and pickles.
In Virginia -- it's heavily vinegared pork.
German heritage upper Midwest -- burgers and bratwurst
and burgers and hot dogs probably everywhere else.

low and slow with lots of smoke

by markljackson on Wed, 05/21/2008 - 3:56pm

Teodoro, BBQ is a method. Although many confuse the term and think that grilling is the same, it's not. BBQ is low and slow with lots of smoke of the least choice cuts of meat (including pork, pork or beef ribs, brisket, etc...).

Texas, of course is the king of BBQ.

My suggestions:

-- Cooper's Pit BBQ in Llano (pronounced lan-o, not yah-no)

-- Kruez (pronounced critz) Market (German style) in Lockhart

-- Smitty's (the original Kruez's Market) in Lockhart (yes there is a family feud, which makes for some goooood BBQ)

-- Burnet (pronounced Burn-it) County BBQ, in Burnet on the way to Llano. Sadly I hear it may have closed.

-- New Zion Missionary Baptist Church Barbecue (God and BBQ; like Mom and Dad, Apple Pie and Ice Cream). Some of you could use the a little meetin' with the Man. Any way this is in Huntsville (where Death Row is for Texas). Don't be scared, they won't "cling" to you; the sauce might. You might want to keep the copy of the NYT in your car, though.

Vegetarians save yourself, eat meat!
~ Mark
http://markljackson.net

As an avowed lover of BBQ

by festivemanb on Thu, 05/22/2008 - 7:57pm

As an avowed lover of BBQ and inadvertent world traveler, I have to disagree about the international ubiquity of BBQ. I have found BBQ to be one of those foods that you can only find in America, and only in certain parts of America. BBQ transplanted elsewhere just, for some reason, doesn't work. I live in South Korea now, and we have the closest thing to tasty foreign BBQ: Galbi, marinated beef (though sometimes pork) ribs cooked on a table based skillet. Though this is nothing like the sauce-drenched-finger-licking joys of American BBQ.

Anyone want to prove me wrong? Where can you get decent BBQ outside of the US?

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