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.
How the heat is arranged
1. Smoking
Cooking in a chamber where smoke is a deliberate ingredient rather than a by-product, with the fire well away from the food.
Fire separate chamber · convective heat · lid closed
2. Low and slow
Sustained low temperature for many hours, so that collagen has time to convert. Time is doing work here that temperature cannot do faster.
Fire beside · convective heat · lid closed
What it suits — and what it doesn't
Suited to
- Brisket, pork shoulder, ribs — high-collagen cuts
- Any cut that toughens before it tenderises
Not suited to
- Lean cuts, which dry out long before anything useful happens
Cookers that can do this
What it is called elsewhere
- Barbecue — US
In American usage this, specifically, is what 'barbecue' means.