If you've ever made the mistake of calling a barbecue a grill in front of a bunch of outdoor cooking enthusiasts, chances are you got an earful! You see, there are many differences between a barbecue and a grill. I'll outline three key differences in the following text.
The first and biggest difference between a barbecue and a grill is the type of food that each unit prepares. Examples of food that is grilled would include steaks, pork chops and chicken. You can also grill trout or salmon as well as hot dogs and hamburgers. Barbecued food, on the other hand is stuff like ribs and pulled pork. But it's not so much the type of food as it is how it's prepared that makes for true BBQ...
You see, barbecued food is cooked longer than typical grilled meats. This brings us to the second difference between these two devices - Length of cooking time. You can grill a steak in 12 minutes usually. Chicken might take 40 minutes or so, but it can still be done on a standard grill. If you want proper BBQ pulled pork, for example though, you're going to have to put some serious time in. The barbecuing process can take up to 8 hours sometimes, depending on the size of the cut. So why doesn't the meat burn?
Well, the final difference between these two products lies in the temperature. Grilling is typically done at high temperatures. Steaks and pork chops, for example, are usually cooked at about 400 degrees. When you're using a BBQ smoker to cook ribs, though, the temperature is more in the 200 degree range.
This combination of low heat and long cooking times is really the essence of Southern BBQ!
