Posted on 05/16/2023 6:54:53 AM PDT by Red Badger
(Last Updated On: May 15, 2023)
NATIONAL BARBECUE DAY | May 16
Each year on May 16 we celebrate National Barbecue Day in the United States. Whether you grill at home or grab some takeout, you will find Americans across the country enjoying an assortment of mouthwatering barbeque (BBQ) flavors and sauces.
#NationalBarbecueDay
In the world of barbecue, grillers decide how to cook their barbeque. Whether they choose charcoal, wood charcoal, wood, gas or slow cooking, they consider themselves the culinary expert of barbeque. Traditionally, Americans have four types of BBQ regions:
Kansas City – A variety of beef and pork cuts are slow cooked with a tomato and molasses-based sauce.
Carolina – Slow-roasted pork is cooked with a sauce with a vinegar and ketchup base combination.
Memphis – Dry rub pork is cooked low and slow absorbing the smokey, BBQ flavors.
Texas – Beef is slow-cooked in smoker grills and topped a with smoky, dry rub.
Everyone has their own homemade BBQ recipe. However, many recipes include the same ingredients. Ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire, brown sugar, soy and molasses are common ingredients in BBQ sauce. A combination onion, smoked paprika, ground cumin, crushed red pepper and turmeric are often found in the best dry rub recipes. Perfecting your own sauce or rub by experimenting
When it comes to completing a delicious BBQ, the sides you serve are just as important. Potatoes and baked beans with bacon are considered staples of barbecue flavors. Ideally, a good coleslaw will pair well with a shredded bbq pork and make the perfect sandwich. However, a creamy macaroni and cheese dish is a perfect combination with dry or wet BBQ. Corn on the cob is another favorite side, many grilling it directly with husk on then removing it before eating. Obviously, no barbeque meal would be complete if you didn’t add a slice of watermelon for a light, cook dessert after a big meal.
WAYS TO JOIN IN THE CELEBRATION
Visit your favorite bbq restaurant.
Grill your own BBQ.
Experiment with your own BBQ sauce or rub.
Check out these 7 Hot BBQ Tips.
Share your BBQ adventures using #NationalBBQDay and #NationalBarbecueDay on social media.
NATIONAL BARBECUE DAY HISTORY
Traditional barbeque methods involved digging a hole, placing meat over a pot and covering the hole with leaves. The meat was slow-cooked with the pot catching the juice from the meat, later to be used as a broth.
Some historians suggest barbeque can be found with early Caribbean tribes. However, the first historical notation of barbeque can be traced back to the island of Hispaniola. There is proof Christopher Columbus observed indigenous tribes of Hispaniola cooking meat above an open flame. Years later, Spanish explorers would name the process barbacoa, or barbeque, after their encounters with the tribes.
In 1540, explorer Hernando De Soto document the Chickasaw tribe cooking a feast of pork over the barbacoa. At the time, the Chickasaw were spread throughout the southeastern portion of the U.S. It is uncertain whether the Chickasaw taught the this method of cooking to settlers or if settlers began mimicking the process. However, at some point settlers began using the method of cooking meat over open flame. Thus, eventually establishing barbeque as the traditional practice of grilling we know today.
Years later, early European settlers referenced barbeque as savage preparation of food. Many accused Native tribes of practicing cannibalism. Many settlers referred to Native tribes as barbaric because of they way they lived, hunted and survived. However, history now tells us Native tribes were highly advanced in day-to-day operations, including with preparation and preservation of food.
North Carolina
Today, American barbeque origins point to North Carolina as the oldest place barbeque is found. References to
Barbecue can now be found in places across the country, but its “American” origins are in North Carolina. As barbecue spread across the country it changed in many ways. However, North Carolina BBQ has held true to its definition for generations. References to “a whole Hog barbecu’d” date back to the 1700s, using pork as the original meat of choice because it was plenty and inexpensive. After the meat was cooked, it was often hung in a smokehouse for preservation for use in the coming days or weeks.
Related Observances
Sauce Month
Barbecue Spareribs Day
Picnic Day
Sloppy Joe Day
Pig Day
Macaroni and Cheese Day
There used to be a Cat No-kill Shelter down the street from our house.
One year, someone at the shelter planted a small garden in front of the place between the building and the sidewalk, maybe 10 feet by 15 feet.
They grew collards that were three foot tall and dark green leaves at least a foot wide.
I wonder what they used for fertilizer?.................😉😜
Lol, I wonder!
Where we used to live across town, my wife planted a JFK Rose one year.
I dug the hole pretty deep and went around the yard picking up all the dog poop our Chow-mix had produced and put it in the hole prior to planting the rose.
That rose grew over six feet tall and had hundreds of blossoms on it every year until we moved....................
That is no surprise, too bad you couldn’t bring it with you!
We tried, but my mother-in-law killed it when she broke the roots trying to move it..........🤦♀️
Ouch! That’s a shame.
The Best Bar B que in the world comes from Ridgewood BBQ near Elizabehton Tennessee
One day over the Christmas holidays, myt family visited Ridgewood for lunch. It is not a large restaurant but is always crowded.
We saw the sheriff show up outside then the rescue squad and then an ambulance. There was a commotion at a near by table. They loaded an elderly gentlemen onto a gurney and left the scene. His wife rode along. The guy had a heart attack
But there was something strange. A fiftyish man and woman remained at the table and undeterred and ate their BBQ.
Hey!....... it’s Ridgewood. The best BBQ in the world.
For the record, the next best and nearly equal is Cooper’s Old Time BBQ in Llano Texas.
Both are off the beaten path so you have to actually go there. Neither is really on the way somewhere else
Heresy........
Not in The Southeast.......................
Yes, in the southeast.
SC BBQ is right doen there with Indiana
My next favorite is Hot Texas BBQ...................
Beau made this on the grill last night for supper. SUPERB! Not true BBQ, but a Keeper Recipe for sure:
Grilled Turkey Tenderloin with Brown Sugar & Whole Grain Mustard
Lol, I love that day! It happens with great frequency at this time of year especially!!
Dang! That looks amazing! We will have to try that recipe out sometime.
Hubby grilled a prime top sirloin steak that we’d had in the freezer for well over a year. It got pushed to the back and we unearthed it on Sunday when we were digging around. No freezer burn, cuz it was wrapped very well!! Sides of baked taters, steamed broccoli, and a salad. More good eats!
I did my part today at Hurtado’s in Texas. Pork belly burnt ends, Poblano/Oaxaca smoked sausage, and the best, moist and tender brisket you’ll find. No sauce needed. Ever. And the proprietor is the nicest guy.
Perfection! I am working my way through more Bear and Elk steaks this upcoming week. Marinate. Grill. Done!
I need to continue cleaning out the freezers (yes, PLURAL!) NOW, before he drags home more carcasses for me to cook up for this Summer into Fall. ;)
I don’t think I’ve ever had bear. Definitely have had moose, and maybe elk but not 100% sure on the elk. It would’ve been over 50 years ago, and when I was probably no more than 9 or 10. We have more than one freezer, too. Two with fridges, and one that is solely a freezer, the upright kind.
We bought the upright during covid lockdowns. They were hard to find then. I stood by this one in the store until my husband could come with the long cart. Six other people came by and someone even offered me $100 to let him take that one home. I said no way. I love that upright. It works great. So far.
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