When you talk barbecue, most people reminisce about summer days and family picnics. I remember many lazy Sunday afternoons with friends and family in the backyard enjoying succulent meats cooked over an open pit or grill. What most people do not realize is that the word barbecue can mean many different things to many different people. While many Americans feel that barbecuing is as American as apple pie, the reality is that barbecue variations exist worldwide. Every culture around the world has a different way of preparing barbecue. Even "typical American" barbeque can use a wide spectrum of spices and cooking methods depending on your location. Don't ever go to Kansas City and talk about Texas barbecue!
The literal definition of barbeque is "to broil or roast whole or in large pieces over an open fire, on a spit or grill, often seasoning with vinegar, spices, salt, and pepper." Nowhere in that definition does it specify the specific spices to be used or the specific piece of equipment to be used. That is where the fun and the creativity come into play based on your personal taste or heritage. There are three specific techniques that have become the most commonly used here in the United States.
The first technique involves high heat and quick cooking over a char broiler, while the second technique utilizes low heat and slow cooking, creating a typical smoking process. Both of these cooking processes are popular today and commonly used by restaurateurs. Lastly, there is an Asian style of smoking, slightly different than the typical American style of smoking, and proving to be extremely popular. The Chinese, through hundreds of years of modifications, have developed a fast and hot method of smoking, which gives Americans the taste that we are used to without the time commitment.
Before a restaurateur can decide to bring any type of barbecue method to their restaurant, they should be familiar with all of the different techniques, as well as the equipment necessary to accomplish their desired result. Even in today's high-tech world of computerized cooking equipment, the same cooking techniques have not radically changed much over the years. Smoking and barbecuing today has developed a cult following. With customized cooking equipment, and the mastery of different ingredients, chefs have taken the traditional back yard recipes and created signature flavors using different woods, spices, rubs, sauces and cooking methods. The ingredients alone won't guarantee that great sought-after barbecue taste, the right cooking equipment is as important as the right ingredients. The equipment consists of either a char broiler or a smoker and require different cooking techniques.
Commercial equipment manufacturers invest serious dollars on research and development to improve the entire cooking process. Old world technology has transformed brick, stone or steel into highly engineered pieces of cooking equipment, with char broilers being one of the least expensive.
A Char broiler is a piece of equipment that uses high heat to quickly sear juices and flavors into the meats. They use ceramic or steel radiants and char rock. While the meat juices and fat is drawn away from the meat, the drippings land on the extremely hot radiant or char rock, vaporize and rise up as smoke permeating the meat with flavor.
A Char broiler is a staple piece of equipment found in most steak houses or commercial kitchen. A char broiler is the quickest and easiest way to get that back yard taste with the least effort. The char broiler applies 400`F degree to 600`F degree of heat to the meat. The high temperature quickly sears and cooks the outside of the meat, while the inside slowly cooks. Depending on the type of rub or sauce and the cooking style, the high heat caramelizes anything on the meats surface to produce that backyard taste. Char broilers are available in infrared, char rock, or radiant versions and in electric, gas and solid fuel types (wood).
Char boilers are also available with different factory options. For example different cooking surfaces are available for cooking different types of meats. There is a fish grate which has finer grates to protect the delicate meat, and course grates are available for cooking beef, mutton, and chicken. Most broilers also have cold and hot zones. The grates are raised up in the cool zone adding distance between the meat and the source of heat, while the hotter zones are closer to the heat source and radiants or char rock. The grates are also designed to draw the grease away from the cooking surface and into a grease drawers or trough. Other options such as smoke or chip boxes are also available.
The most common char broilers are radiant or char rock broilers. The radiant char broiler uses ceramic or steel grates placed under the cooking grates. The radiants are heated. As the meat is cooked, the juices and fats drip onto the radiants. The juices are vaporized and as the smoke rises, the smoke flavors the prized meats above. Char rock broilers use the same technique, but use lava rock or ceramic instead of radiant. Radiant char broilers are typically a lot cleaner to operate and create less of a mess. Char rock broilers are known to create more flare-ups and are used most often in show cooking or in a place where the restaurant patrons can see the kitchen as the flare-ups create a dramatic cooking effect. There are dozens of manufacturers of char broilers: APW, MagiKitch'n, Southbend and Vulcan-Hart, just to name a few.
An important note about charbroilers is that they require proper ventilation. I recommend that a hood over a char broiler have an air flow of between 300 to 350 cubic feet per minute per linear foot of hood. The hood must also over hang the char broiler by at least 6 inches on all sides. In addition, if the hood is to go over a battery of equipment it is recommended to place the char broiler in the middle of the line up, as it will most likely produce the greatest amount of smoke.
Where broiling differs from smoking is in the length of cooking time, and the heat. The American style of smoking whether Carolina style, Oklahoma style, Tennessee style or Texas style all encompass a low heat and a long slow cooking process. The meats are prepared with a signature rub or sauce and slow smoked for up to 10 hours at low temperatures that range from 100`F to 325`F degrees. The smoke from wood chips, wood chunks, or logs typically passes over the meats for extended periods of time at low temperatures. This adds flavors to the meats while the low temperatures assure a minimum amount of shrinkage and the greatest yield. In addition, the natural meats fats help produce a moist and tasty prize, but require long cooking times. The long and slow cooking process produces a moist product with a minimum of loss that you would expect from cooking at high heat.
Barbecuing is considered serious business in the south. Whether it's a vinegar sauce in the Carolinas or a spice rub from Texas, the sauces seem to thicken as you move west. In addition to the sauces changing, the meats vary as well. Smoking in the Carolinas, Tennessee and Oklahoma primarily consists of pork. You will also see mutton, poultry and in some places venison. In Texas however, smoking beef is serious business, especially the brisket cut.
Smokers are available in gas, gas-assisted and wood burning models. The theory behind these smokers is that at one end of the smoker heat and smoke is generated. The smoke passes over the food products for several hours which cook the meats. The cooking process could take up to 10 hours. The downside to this is knowing exactly how much meat to prepare. If you cook too little then of course you will not be able to meet consumers demand, and if you smoke too much meat then you will have waste. Since the cooking process is slow, there is no room for error. The 2 most well known slow smokers available are made by Southern Pride and J & R Manufacturing which can run upwards of around ,000 fully loaded with all of the bells and whistles.
In most cases the location of where the smoker will ultimately be installed must be predetermined before the building is constructed as these units are large and do not go through doors very easily. These units can also be heavy and may require a crane to install. We also recommend adding a micro-switch controlled fan that goes on the moment the smoker's door is opened.
Contrary to our typical idea of "long-time smoking," the Chinese have perfected a high heat and fast smoking style. Developed hundreds of years ago, the Chinese smoker uses extremely high heat (440`F to 550`F) for short time periods. The smoker uses water and moisture to prevent the meats from burning, and a smoke box with wood chips are added near the end of the cooking process to give that smokehouse flavor.
In short, the Asian method of smoking is fast and hot, where the western method is slow and at a much lower temperature. The Asian style of smoking uses the same high temperatures as char broiling, but the smoker is nothing like a char broiler.
The most innovative of the three methods and the best kept secret is Asian smoking. I recently had the good fortune of sampling meats cooking in a smoker by a company called Town Food Service. The smoker that Town Food Service manufactures is based on century-old technology. Both the Cantonese and Peking styles of barbecuing are very simple in theory. A box with meat is placed over hot coals with a pan of water under the meats. The high heat and moisture cook the meat. The end result is a smoked product that is cooked in an hour or two with the same succulent taste as something which has been slow smoked for 10 hours! The high heat and short cook time results in a difference in yield of approximately 2% as compared to slow smoking. Because of the speed of cooking and high temperature, there is a very small amount of shrinkage.
The Town smoker is very modestly priced at around 00, there is no computer system or confusing timers and complicated programming as there are in the long and slow smokers that have become popular. Because the smoker does not require overnight cooking, and long-term cooking there is no computer needed. It never has to run unattended. The Town smoker is so simple to use that it is ingenious. While the other manufacturers have digital timers and controls to minimize variances in cooking, the Town Food Service smoker has no need for that. In today's high turnover work places, it has become costly to train and re-train kitchen staff, all while trying to maintain a high standard of food quality. The Town smoker eliminates those headaches.
But you would be foolish to confuse easy with poor quality. The Town Food Service smoker has a lot of options as well. There are meat hooks, skewers, duck hooks, roasting bars, racks and grates available. The proper tools are available to easily prepare beef, pork, poultry, mutton, and so on. You can even smoke cheeses with this unit.
The Asian smoker is simple to use. There is a water pan which sits in the bottom of the unit. The pan must have water at all times. Then the unit is brought up to 550`F degrees. Once the meats are loaded the temperature is dropped down to 440`F degrees. Most meat is cooked within an hour or two, depending on the size. During the last 15 minutes of the smoking process, a chip box can be introduced to produce that smoked flavor of your choosing. In typical Asian cooking, it is very popular to add green tea leaves to the water pan as well, to season the meats even further.
This smoker is so versatile that it can even cold smoke. This is achieved by bringing the smoker up to 500`F degrees, and then turning it off before the food is placed inside. Delicate fish and cheeses can be cold smoking, producing that sough after smoked taste. In addition, the same smoker is also available as a pig roaster where gas burners are installed along the side of the unit. These burners produce a prized crispy pig skin, Asian style.
Next time you create a barbecue dish, think about the flavor and tastes that you want to impart.
