Amazing how the commentators here seem to have totally missed the message of the original viz. "How to avaoid a pointless argument". Or is it just that I've missed their irony?
Gee -- when I think of barbecue I don't think of grilling or open pit -- I think of the way the meat is prepared before it gets cooked -- the dry rub and vinegar marinade or the sauce you soak the meat in. Barbecue takes days to make and can be smoked, grilled, roasted, broiled, or spit fire cooked and still be barbecue (at least, that's what I think), it's all about the flavor in the meat.
As any true Aussie knows, BBQs (not 'barbeques', this is merely a common misconception) involve chucking a sausage/steak/chop or two on the BBQ and leaving it there until it's black and crunchy and you can see the smoke rising from the BBQ. Then you grab it with tongs, put it in a bun on your best paper serviette and smother it in tomato sauce, BBQ sauce and maybe a bit of mustard if you're feeling fancy.
Checking it up on Wikipedia, it seems the guy on the left is using the US definition of barbecue, while the guy on the right is using the UK definition of barbecue. So they're both right,
(But why am I bothering to post a comment on a comic that's close to four years old?)
@Brian-M Because now anyone who reads the comments won't have to go to wikipedia to find the truth :)
Although I'm confused..."Over here in Britain, barbecuing is your grilling - direct heat from below." Yes ok, I agree. "Our grilling is your broiling" What is broiling? I assume you mean boiling, in which case I'm more confused... boiling is 'stick it in hot water' ...If Americans call something else 'boiling' then that really is just retarded... I'm British btw in case you hadn't gathered
and @Kat hahaha I hadn't even noticed :P (Just for the record I'm not argueing I'm clarifying ;) )
I'm from Upstate New York (not The City). Around here BBQ is grilling outside. But I understand that people in the southern states have strong feelings about the meaning of the word.
Broiling is cooking with direct heat from *above*. Which is done underneath the flames in a gas oven, or near the top (directly under the heating element) of an electric oven. You can't broil on grill because you can't put the food under the heat source.
Try cooking hot dogs by hooking the ends up to an electrical power source and sending a current through the dog - you'll be surprised! In more way than one!
"Barbecue" originally refers to a wooden rack for suspending meat over a fire. That describes a grill about as well as it describes a pit, but I would never have called a grill "a barbecue". In my dialect, "a barbecue" means an event where food is cooked outdoors, normally on a grill.
At this page an image allegedly from a 1583 engraving shows such a rack being used, with no pit. So if you want to insist on going back to the ultimate source of the word, a pit apparently is not necessary.
December 3, 2006
Reader Comments (19)
ok getting grilled and barbecue wrong is a common mistake
but come on! boiling the hotdogs?!!?
GTFO PLEASE
Obviously shopped. I can tell by the apostrophes being too far sideways, and I've seen a lot of 'shoppings in my days.
@Lolursonub - Ummm...if that is what you get out of the comic, you probably aren't the target audience for the website.
Over here in Britain, barbecuing is your grilling - direct heat from below. Our grilling is your broiling.
I was puzzled because of this.
And thats why all Brits are completely fucked in the head...
AARGH! That guy makes me so angry!
Actually I like boiling hotdogs, then quick-cooking hte outside on the barbie, nice and crunchy with a tasty center.
Also I like burning childrens dolls.
I have a way we can all have fun cooking and not worry about what counts as grilling, barbecuing or boiling.
Flamethrowers.
Simple as that...
im with N.
finally cooking can be fun. and i would want to "cook" a nearby car
Amazing how the commentators here seem to have totally missed the message of the original viz.
"How to avaoid a pointless argument". Or is it just that I've missed their irony?
I hate barbequed, grilled, etc. hotdogs. Boiled only
@ drj0n3z
So are your pants.
Gee -- when I think of barbecue I don't think of grilling or open pit -- I think of the way the meat is prepared before it gets cooked -- the dry rub and vinegar marinade or the sauce you soak the meat in. Barbecue takes days to make and can be smoked, grilled, roasted, broiled, or spit fire cooked and still be barbecue (at least, that's what I think), it's all about the flavor in the meat.
As any true Aussie knows, BBQs (not 'barbeques', this is merely a common misconception) involve chucking a sausage/steak/chop or two on the BBQ and leaving it there until it's black and crunchy and you can see the smoke rising from the BBQ. Then you grab it with tongs, put it in a bun on your best paper serviette and smother it in tomato sauce, BBQ sauce and maybe a bit of mustard if you're feeling fancy.
Checking it up on Wikipedia, it seems the guy on the left is using the US definition of barbecue, while the guy on the right is using the UK definition of barbecue. So they're both right,
(But why am I bothering to post a comment on a comic that's close to four years old?)
@Brian-M
Because now anyone who reads the comments won't have to go to wikipedia to find the truth :)
Although I'm confused..."Over here in Britain, barbecuing is your grilling - direct heat from below." Yes ok, I agree.
"Our grilling is your broiling"
What is broiling? I assume you mean boiling, in which case I'm more confused... boiling is 'stick it in hot water' ...If Americans call something else 'boiling' then that really is just retarded...
I'm British btw in case you hadn't gathered
and @Kat hahaha I hadn't even noticed :P
(Just for the record I'm not argueing I'm clarifying ;) )
I'm from Upstate New York (not The City). Around here BBQ is grilling outside. But I understand that people in the southern states have strong feelings about the meaning of the word.
Broiling is cooking with direct heat from *above*. Which is done underneath the flames in a gas oven, or near the top (directly under the heating element) of an electric oven. You can't broil on grill because you can't put the food under the heat source.
Try cooking hot dogs by hooking the ends up to an electrical power source and sending a current through the dog - you'll be surprised! In more way than one!
"Barbecue" originally refers to a wooden rack for suspending meat over a fire. That describes a grill about as well as it describes a pit, but I would never have called a grill "a barbecue". In my dialect, "a barbecue" means an event where food is cooked outdoors, normally on a grill.
At this page an image allegedly from a 1583 engraving shows such a rack being used, with no pit. So if you want to insist on going back to the ultimate source of the word, a pit apparently is not necessary.