Pellet versus Kamado
Every time I read the marketing materials on a brand of a kamado grill, it boasts the same story of the 3,000-year-old design and ancient craftsmanship. This isn’t really true. In Japan, there are still old-style ceramic cookers used today for cooking rice. In the early days of the US occupation of Japan, servicemen removed […]
Kansas City Barbecue
In 1908, an ex-steamboat cook named Henry Perry settled in Kansas City and started selling smoked meats out of an alley to workers downtown looking for a quick and cheap lunch. In the earliest days, the Perry restaurant was a street-side stand with an open fire pit where common ‘meats of the day,’ like beef […]
Santa Maria Barbecue
In the mid-19th century, ranchers throughout the Santa Maria Valley gathered together to help each other brand their calves. The host of this event would put together a Spanish-style feast. This meal typically included grilled beef roasts, beans, bread, salsa, and salads. Over time, this tradition has evolved. Even though Sunset magazine declared this dinner […]
Seeking a Definition of Barbecue
As barbecue continues to evolve from a rural southern cooking tradition into a global cuisine, more attention has and needs to be paid to its origin and definition. Purists seeking authenticity find themselves hampered by a confused and often false history of the development of barbecue linking its roots to the early colonial Americas. As […]
