Scanning Around with Gene: Barbecues, Bar-B-Ques, or BBQs — We Love 'Em All

Gene Gable

The New York Times recently ran an article called “Pimp My Grill” about the growing size and cost of barbecues, such as a stainless-steel beauty that retails for $35,000. [Free registration required to view the article.] I’m not surprised that quite a few of these top-of-the-line units have sold, because barbecuing has always been part physics and part cooking, but mostly spectacle.

Figures 1 and 2. Barbecuing has always been more than just a cooking method. Here, from a 1950s platter (top), a lively crowd enthusiastically waits for the results. And a happy cooker displays his results in an illustration/photo from the cover of a 1962 cookbook.

For purists out there, I need to note the distinction between “grilling” and “barbecuing.” Grilling is done over very high heat (500 degrees or above) and the food is usually cooked quickly. Steaks and chicken breasts are grilled. Barbecuing, on the other hand, is a lower heat process (200 to 300 degrees) that’s meant to take place over longer periods of time, during which the smoke becomes part of the cooking process. Whole pigs are barbecued. Meat with lots of tough connecting tissue like ribs are barbecued. For purposes of this column, I’ll use the terms interchangeably.

Figure 3. Technically, tender meats are “grilled,” while tougher and larger cuts are “barbecued.” The most popular foods for outdoor cooking are hamburgers, steak, hot dogs, and chicken breasts.

I’m not a big barbecue (or grilling) guy myself, though I’ve certainly done my time trying to light charcoal and over-cooking large amounts of meat. Perhaps it’s because I’ve never used a gas-fed barbecue, but the whole process seems like way too much work for a cold "hot" dog that tastes like lighter fluid.

Figures 4 and 5. Men seem to be more dramatic about barbecuing, as shown in the top illustration from an undated cookbook named How to Keep that Gal in Your Life. Not many people own a barbecue gong (bottom); the most popular barbecue utensils are tongs and long-handled forks.

Of course, like everything else the baby-boom generation has expropriated and overblown, in some circles barbecuing has become a lifestyle and a culinary statement. The burgers of my youth have turned into expensive steaks from Whole Foods, and the weenies we used to love are now mango-infused apple-pesto-chicken sausages with some sort of “famous” barbecue sauce. (They all seem to be famous.) I guess if you’re going to cook up a $20 piece of meat, a $20 barbecue from K-Mart just won’t do.

Figure 6. Cooking a fine piece of meat is not easy. According to a survey by Weber-Stephen, one third of Americans admit to “always, frequently, or occasionally” undercooking or overcooking their grilled food. And while it’s considered a no-no by barbecue experts, almost 48 percent of Americans admit they cut into grilling food to gauge doneness.

However, not everyone looks at barbecues as an outdoor version of a Wolf stove. According to the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, a whopping 85 percent of American families own a barbecue grill, so there still must be plenty of burgers and weenies cooked in relatively humble backyards. And though you may assume barbecuing is a purely male sport, 34 percent of grilling is done by women, and women also are typically the ones who decide what and when to barbecue.

Figures 7, 8, and 9. Men grill more than women by about two to one, and are much more confident about their grilling ability. According to the Weber study, one in four men rate themselves as “better than most” when it comes to the barbecue, while among women that figure drops to 12 percent.

Barbecuing is as American as apple pie and over-eating. United States presidents Thomas Jefferson, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan were big barbecue fans, often hosting large shindigs on the White House lawn. Barbecues can be found at tailgate parties in parking lots of every sort of sports arena, and barbecuing competition are a big deal, with cook-offs held in all 50 states.

Figures 10 and 11. Barbecuing is a popular American icon, used frequently as a way to show family values. Seventy percent of American barbecue owners grill at least once week, and almost 54 percent grill year-round.

From Cave Man to Modern Man
Cooking over an open flame is about as basic as it gets, so in many ways, the history of barbecuing starts with the history of cooking. But most etymologists trace the word “barbecue” to a Haitian term “barbacoa,” which means “frame of sticks.” So any way to elevate meat above the flame on some sort of rack can be considered a barbecue.

Figures 12 and 13. Based on its etymological roots, the term barbecue covers just about anything that raises food above a heat source. Hence the application of the word “grill,” which in an alternate spelling ("grille") is defined as a grating or open barrier.

I’m making a distinction here between barbecue as a verb and noun and barbecue the food product/regional cuisine as, say, Elvis would have known it. The story of Southern and Texas barbecue is an entirely different one, and has its own distinct art and style.
The popularity of the back-yard activity called barbecuing really didn’t take off until a couple of things happened. And therein are two interesting stories.

Figures 14 and 15. The popularity of barbecues took off in the 1950s when cheaper, better equipment became available. Top, an advertising illustration for Sunbeam Bread, and bottom, a page from The Western Auto Coloring Book.

The Charcoal Briquette
Automobile pioneer Henry Ford was looking for a way to profit from the almost 400 tons of scrap wood that resulted from his car manufacturing operation in Michigan. So around 1921 he turned to one of his good friends, E. G. Kingsford, who was a local real-estate agent, to buy land for a massive wood production and charcoal processing plant. Together they formed the Michigan city of Kingsford, where Ford built his plant.

Figure 16. The Ford charcoal factory in Kingsford, Michigan (left). Eventually the product name was changed to Kingsford (right) and is still the most popular charcoal sold.

Henry Ford’s influence on the town of Kingsford was dramatic. Ford sought affordable housing for his employees and so constructed over 100 homes in what is now called the Ford Addition. Kingsford is also home to the Ford Airport, Ford Dam, Ford Clubhouse, Ford Hospital, Ford Park, and Ford Commissary.

Figure 17. In the top photo, Ford (second from the left) is pictured with other titans of industry, including Harvey Firestone (left), Thomas Edison (to the right of Ford), and E.G. Kingsford, founder of the town of Kingsford.

At the new plant, Ford manufactured wood products for his assembly line and made charcoal briquettes from the wood scrap. And though some credit him (along with his good friend Thomas Edison) with inventing charcoal briquettes, that honor goes to Ellsworth Zwoyer, who patented the idea in 1897. Supposedly, Zwoyer was an acquaintance of Edison’s, though there is no record of how the charcoal briquette idea went from Zwoyer to Ford.

Figure 18. The 1897 patent drawings of the charcoal briquette by Ellsworth Zwoyer.

In 1951 Ford sold the plant to a group of local businessmen, who operated under the name Kingsford Chemical. They changed the Ford briquettes to Kingsford briquettes and still dominate the home-use charcoal industry. So Ford not only brought cheap cars to America, he opened the door to an inexpensive, easy-to-handle fuel source that made backyard cooking a breeze compared to other methods.

Figure 19. The most common product used with barbecues is aluminum foil. Here, an illustration from an Alcoa Wrap demonstrates that point.

Of course, like so much rust-belt manufacturing, the making of charcoal briquettes took its toll on the local environment. Even though Kingsford closed that early plant in 1961, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the EPA brought action against both Kingsford and Ford Motor for dumping hazardous material that seeped into ground water. In 1995 a local home in the town of Kingsford exploded due to methane gas buildup from toxic waste in the ground. Ford and Kingsford have since settled with the EPA and have paid for millions of dollars worth of cleanup in the area (and paid for methane detectors for local residents).

Figure 20. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Overcooking is a common barbecue problem. According to traditional barbecue experts, the best way to gauge temperature is to hold your hand, palm down, over the cooking grill. If you can keep it there for five seconds, the heat is low. Four seconds, the heat is medium. Three, medium hot. Two or one is hot.

These days propane-fueled barbecues are more popular than charcoal models, so some of the environmental concerns have been eased.
The Weber Kettle Grill
In 1946, backyard-griller George Stephen was frustrated that wind and rain would often make grilling difficult at his Illinois home. Since he worked at a local business, the Weber Brothers Metal Work, he was easily able to experiment. He ingeniously cut a metal buoy in half, welded on some legs, and fashioned a dome-shaped lid. Thus the original Weber kettle grill was born. It gained an immediate local following.

Figure 21. George Stephen with a modern version of his Weber Kettle Grill. The original version is to the right.

Figure 22. The Weber grill’s unique shape is often the way barbecues are represented in art.

The convenience, unique shape, and better-quality cooking helped his grill take off, and before long the Weber kettle grill became a symbol of American barbecuing. The Weber was quite a bit more expensive than other barbecues of the time, but people took to it and the name of the company was changed from Weber Brothers Metal Work to Weber-Stephen Company. Eventually Stephen bought out the Weber brothers, and 10 of his 12 children (apparently he did more than grill) work at the company today. Stephen died in 1993.

Figure 23. Another example of the popularity of the Weber design.

The Weber line of grills is still very popular today, though a visit to your local barbecue store will dazzle you with choices. Modern grills now have massive grilling surfaces, bread warmers, smokers, rotisseries, and other gadgets.

Figure 24. Grills eventually came in all sorts of shapes and styles, as shown in the photo from a 1965 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

Figure 25. While not seen as much these days, many older homes had built-in outdoor brick barbecues, as shown in the illustration from a metal serving tray of the ’50s.

An American Backyard Tradition
I’m not sure why we like barbecues so much. According to a recent national survey, Americans listed the following as their top reasons:

1. It tastes so good
2. Requires little clean up [Editor’s note: Ha!]
3. Easy, informal way to entertain
4. It’s outdoors
5. Keeps the kitchen cool
6. Personal satisfaction

Figure 26. Barbecues are rarely done alone and are often the centerpiece of entertaining, as shown in these illustrations. Top, an advertising photo from Swift Meats, and bottom, an illustration from a ’50s cooking-utensil cookbook.

But I don’t think those are really accurate. There’s something special about a barbecue. It’s like sleeping outside in a tent made from sheets, or eating a watermelon that’s been chilled in a cold stream. It’s about funny aprons and corn-on-the-cob. It’s about men standing around the grill like they do around an open car hood, all giving advice on how they would do it. It’s about coals glowing for hours after the food has been served.

Figure 27. Barbecuing isn’t only about meat. Above, an illustration of potential young love from a coffee industry ad and below, a photo from 1965 that shows another reason we love barbecues so much — tropical fruit art!

So have a great Labor Day, and enjoy your hamburgers and weenies or your Whole Food steaks and pesto hot links. Either way, you’re partaking in an American tradition, and I think that’s the real reason we like barbecues so much.

Figure 28. Just think: This could be you!