So interesting! I grew up in CA and barbecue to us meant firing up the grill with briquettes and cooking chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers. And the chicken was naked, not soaked and covered in red sauce. We basted the chicken as it cooked and in my family we used Mom’s recipe of butter, lemon juice and garlic. A number of years later when I was living in WA, one of our friends went on a trip to the South and was confused by the “barbecue” he had there. It was just meat with a whole bunch of red sauce on it. So he, too, grew up with a different definition of barbecue. That was in the late ‘80’s. I finally decided that on the West Coast we were “grilling” because “barbecue” in the South means something entirely different! Thanks for the history!
So interesting! I grew up in CA and barbecue to us meant firing up the grill with briquettes and cooking chicken, hot dogs and hamburgers. And the chicken was naked, not soaked and covered in red sauce. We basted the chicken as it cooked and in my family we used Mom’s recipe of butter, lemon juice and garlic. A number of years later when I was living in WA, one of our friends went on a trip to the South and was confused by the “barbecue” he had there. It was just meat with a whole bunch of red sauce on it. So he, too, grew up with a different definition of barbecue. That was in the late ‘80’s. I finally decided that on the West Coast we were “grilling” because “barbecue” in the South means something entirely different! Thanks for the history!