Hyderabad: National Barbecue Day, observed on May 16 every year across the country, celebrates the age-old cooking practice which is still in trend and the essence of it can never be vanished.
History of Barbecue Day
The roots of barbeque seem to be in the indigenous Haitians encountered by the Spanish when Columbus first arrived. They discovered them cooking meat on wooden sticks and fire, flavoured by the smoke and heat, and took the process back home. Now the barbeque process has spread all over the world and is also used to prepare all sorts of stuff, from every type of meat to fruits and vegetables. And hence it is said that anything is possible with Barbeque Day.
What is Barbecue?
Barbecue, an outdoor meal, usually a form of social entertainment, at which meats, fish, or fowl, along with vegetables, are roasted over a wood or charcoal fire. The term also denotes the grill or stone-lined pit for cooking such a meal, or the food itself, particularly the strips of meat. The word barbecue came into English via the Spanish, who adopted the term from the Arawak Indians of the Caribbean, to whom the barbacoa was a grating of green wood upon which strips of meat were placed to cook or to dry over a slow fire. In Australia “the barbie,” as barbecue is called, is a quintessential pastime, and meat dishes are ubiquitous.
Here are Some Delicious Barbecue Dishes:
- BBQ Chicken
- Reshmi Tikka
- Paneer Afghani
- Murgh Tikka
- Mutton Shashlik
- Mix Vegetables and Cheese Skewers
- Lahori Raseelay
- Cottage Cheese Souvlaki
- Seekh Kebab with Seb Pyaaz ki Chaat
- Tandoori Chicken
Difference between Barbecuing and Grilling
As we know, grilling a basically a method of cooking, where the food is cooked hot and fast at 500-550 degrees Fahrenheit and above. In this, the food items like meat steaks, pork, seafood, paneer, tomatoes, and mushroom are exposed to direct heat via parallel iron-rods (grill). Grilling uses either gas or charcoal to cook the food. The latter gives a smoky flavour, while the former just adds to the texture of the final dish.
Barbecuing cooks foods low and slow. In this method, meats like chicken, mutton, pork, and turkey are slow cooked over low heat of 225 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. They are tough and require low, slow heat in order to turn them tender and juicy. Here, the cooking time is longer that stretches for hours and even a day. In barbecuing, the heat is directed from a chamber, and the food is held at a distance. Charcoal or wood are the most common sources of heat that give the dish a nice texture and smoky flavour.
