Comparisons · Two ways of cooking
Grilling or Low-and-slow smoking
Two techniques that share almost nothing but a cooker. What separates them is which tissue you are trying to change.
What each one is
Grilling
Fast cooking over direct heat. What most of the world means by barbecuing, and what American barbecue specifically does not mean — a terminology collision worth knowing about before reading any recipe.
Low-and-slow smoking
Many hours at low temperature with smoke, until collagen-rich cuts become tender. The method that gives American barbecue its name and its arguments.
What actually differs
| Aspect | Grilling | Low-and-slow smoking |
|---|---|---|
| The fire it needs This is the difference. Everything else about the two techniques follows from where the fire is relative to the food. | Direct heat | Smoking, Low and slow |
| What it suits | Thin cuts that cook through before the surface burns; Anything wanting a hard surface char | Brisket, pork shoulder, ribs — high-collagen cuts; Any cut that toughens before it tenderises |
| What it does not suit The more useful half of the comparison, and the half most published guidance leaves out. | Anything thicker than roughly 4 cm; Collagen-rich cuts, which need time rather than heat | Lean cuts, which dry out long before anything useful happens |
| Cookers that can do it | 7 of the 11 modelled | 11 of the 11 modelled |
Which one, for what
Conditions rather than a verdict. Each line below is a thing one of them can do that the other cannot, or does without arrangement where the other needs it — taken from the what each cooker is documented as doing, rather than from a preference.
Grilling, if:
- Thin cuts that cook through before the surface burns.
- Anything wanting a hard surface char.
Low-and-slow smoking, if:
- Brisket, pork shoulder, ribs — high-collagen cuts.
- Any cut that toughens before it tenderises.