The Future of BBQ

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

These prices keep rising and beef isn't gonna be in the conversation, even for TX... select t-bones at Wally world in my part of NC are 15 per lb here right now, this is insane.

[Polarbear777]

Definitely. BBQ may get priced out as all cuts of meat become unaffordable.

[TripleB]

I have not paid full retail on meat in 10 years. I always buy it either on sale or get it out of the 'managers special' section. Kroger just had trimmed tri-tip on sale for $4.99/lb. I'll be dead before meat is unaffordable.

[FireMan]

Bottom line, there are some ethnicities to bbq, open fire cookin. And, you can put differnt dresses on it & change the lipstick, all in the quest of the dollari or the being novel, but the low n’ slow pit Q will remain, as will the various real styles from other countries. BBQ is BBQ.

[STEbbq]

Good topic.

As an example, here is a place trying something different and cool. Anyone been? Thoughts on the menu?

https://yelp.to/sWH3UGPF7jb

[Draznnl]

Sure, get me all excited. A local guy is posting a menu for someplace I've definitely never heard about. Gotta get there and try that Vindaloo Pork Butt, I think. Click the link. The place is in Texas. Another interesting joint in Texas. Fat lot of good that does me. Excuse me while I sulk.

[STEbbq]

Draznnl LOL. Well, I do share your pain. Maybe we can get a visit from a real local guy and do the usual live vicariously thing.

[jhoskins]

I like looking at Menus for inspiration, great link!

[TripleB]

As King Solomon said, "there is nothing new under the sun". We just rearrange and redistribute cooking styles and ingredients.

[radiodome21]

When I got into smoking meats my kids were not interested. They didn’t like ribs and you can imagine the look when I took them we were having a pork butt for dinner. Pork shoulder didn’t win them over too much either as far as names are concerned. Now they love my food. They are 11 and 13 respectively but now when we make ribs we need 2 slabs. My parents never made BBQ when I was a kid. So as far as the future of BBQ is concerned I’d like to think that I’ve made a difference by exposing them to fantastic food. Not just for me but for my future children in law and grandkids. And will expect them to become better at it than me and then feed me every time I come over. I also brew beer but Those same goals are more down the road.

[ecowper]

Literally every culture and cuisine in the world has slow cooked foods in them. Most have something that would appear to be BBQ, meaning slow cooked with some kind of live fire or in an oven, not slow cooking by braising or stewing.

Over the years, we have seen the evolution of all of these slow cooking traditions as new techniques were discovered, new equipment invented, and innovation as different traditions were mingled together.

The changes are going to continue and create great new ways to cook, with new and improved equipment and the continuing mash-up of the various cultures. And that is a great thing!

If you read Raichlen's Brisket Chronicles, you discover a wealth of different ways to cook brisket. Some familiar and some very different.

The greatest thing about all of this is that the average household is rediscovering the beauty of meat slow cooked using fire, heat, and smoke. A thing that was lost in many cultures with the advent of indoor kitchens and modern appliances. The return of that is what has driven, in my opinion, the great rise in BBQ across Europe, North America, Australia, etc. And like every other great cooking style, it is going to innovate, mature, improve, and change. Just as it has been doing for thousands of years before now.

It's not something new, this change. It's just that we happen to be living through one of the times when the change is happening quickly.