Did you know where did the word barbecue come from

[Hopefull Romantic]

Hi all

I came across this wonderful explanation and thought of sharing it.

The orginal meaning of "barbeque" was to cook a whole animal in its entirety for a feast. Many contend and assume the origin of the word lies in the French term barbe-a-que (or barbe-a-queue) which means "from snout to tail" Or "beard to tail." The word was used in the state of Virginia before the 1700's. Some say barbeque is derived from barbacoa, the Spanish version of an Amerindian word having to do with roasting. Since the French had more influence in colonical America prior ot the 1700's, I would have to say the word derives from them.

HR

[Caribou]

Thanks HR,
I love learning where words and phrases come from.
Carolyn

[Ka Honu]

I think the generally accepted etymology is from a Caribbean Indian word, barbacoa - a wooden grill for cooking meat over a fire pit.

[Caneyscud]

Interesting question!

CANEY'S COGNITIVE AND CONCISE BUT SOMEWHAT DUBIOUS HISTORY OF BARBECUE!  (Compiled from a lot of sources)  (You knew I HAD to!)

We all know the three little words that make a woman's heart beat faster, but do you know that there are three little letters that will make most men's hearts palpitate? BBQ! (If you thought I meant the other three-letter word --- well you need to go back to your corner) How barbecue came to be identified with male cooking is a bit of a mystery but one assumes it has to do with camping and sports. However, the history of barbecue itself is even more elusive. Theories abound everywhere and almost every regional area has its own story of how barbecue, now called BBQ, evolved.

Until I moved to Nashville, the phrase "good barbecue" meant nothing to me.  In my part of Texas, there was only barbecue — and a food either was or was not barbecue. Barbecue was ultimately good, and there were no degrees to perfection.

First of all the word barbecue is quite often misused.  When you cook steaks, hot dogs, wieners, hamburgers (or whatever) on a grill...guess what?  It is called grilling – that is an important distinction to be remembered when discussing the history of barbecue. Whether you spell it Barbecue, Barbeque, Barbaque, BBQ, B-B-Que, Bar-B-Q, Bar-B-Que, Bar-B-Cue, 'Cue, 'Que, Barby, and just plain Q, the origins of the word barbecue (that's how I, and most American dictionaries, spell it) are a bit hazy.

The first written use of the word was from William Dampier in 1699 when he described the European sleeping platforms which were raised about three feet off the ground to prevent snake bites.  WorldWideWords says, "the first example known is of the verb, in a work by Aphra Behn of 1690: 'Let's barbicu this fat rogue', showing that it was well enough known even then to be used figuratively.

Cooking meat over an open fire has been around since naked men lived in caves. European artists have painted pictures of cooking meat over fires since pig hair bristles were first wrapped around a stick to make a brush.  But it was not barbecue.  Why?  Because they had no rubs or sauce.  LOL  Seriously though, as far as we know, our ancestors only grilled over an open fire – cooking until the meat was "done".  Cooking over an open flame is not, technically, barbecuing but dry roasting.

So just what is barbecuing?  Now pay attention, many might lead you astray, but I won't!  To barbecue is simply this – slow-cooking meat at a low temperature for a long time over wood or charcoal!  Not complicated, but it is an important distinction to the history of barbecue.

Giving an accurate, all-encompassing definition is nearly impossible. I am, with barbecue, like a Supreme Court judge who once tried to describe pornography. In attempting to give a description of the practice he could only say, "I can't define it, but I know it when I see it!" Same with barbecue, I can't exactly define it, but I know it when I see it (and taste it!)

Now for the Academic version of the history

First let's make a distinction here.  Are we talking about the origin of the noun barbecue or the verb barbecue?  What is the historical origin of the word and of the cooking method called "barbecue"?   It is commonly thought that the word and method originating with the Taino Native Americans in pre-Columbian Caribbean, were taken to Europe circa 1500 by Spanish Explorers, spread to England, and thence the word and method were taken back to North America by English settlers.  

Determining the origin of barbecue requires several related studies:  the origin of the word itself; the origin of the cooking method in the Americas; and the origin of the cooking method that in what became the United States.  These three different studies are referred to collectively as the 'origin of barbecue'.

There are many website and newspaper stories that claim to report on the origin of barbecue.  Most of them claim that the word "barbecue" came from the Spanish "barbicoa" which in turn came from a word used by Native Americans (Arawak or Taino tribes) at the time of the early Spanish explorations (circa 1500).

Unfortunately, none of these web sites or other sources provide authoritative citations, whether to primary sources (original historical documents, such as the logs of Christopher Columbus) or to secondary sources (scholarly works which themselves rely on and cite to primary sources).  

To compound the difficulty, the pre-Columbian Native Americans had no written language, so any description of their language and cooking methods must of necessity come from contemporaneous primary sources - explanations by the Spanish and later explorers, in their journals, logs, letters, articles, and other documents.

So this leads to the "Great American Barbecue Question"

The method of cooking meat low 'n slow directly over coals was well known in Europe before 1200 A.D. and in many other regions of the world.

Beginning in 1200 A.D., the use of iron pots in Europe became widespread, and Europeans discovered the ease and speed of using pots to boil meat, usually with vegetables and often with dumplings or pasta.  Iron also permitted cooks to construct permanent or semi-permanent cooking devices, so that cooking and heating could take place indoors.  Other cultures, such as the Chinese, saw a similar evolution in cooking methods away from cooking over direct heat.

By the beginning of the Renaissance in 1453, the low 'n slow method had been all-but-forgotten and ignored for generations in Europe.  Christopher Columbus and his men had never tasted meat cooked low 'n slow over coals.  

When Columbus arrived in the Caribbean in 1492, he "discovered" the Taino Native Americans cooking fish and wild game hung on a wooden structure over coals.  The Taino word for the wooden structure sounded to the explorers like barbacoa. Spaniards described the barbecoa as a lattice framework made of saplings 2-3 feet high and used to hold meat above coals so it could cook, smoke, and dry.

The Spanish explorers returned to Europe with this new word and "new" cooking method.  Because the printing press had come into use, the word of the discoveries - including barbacoa - quickly spread across Europe.

Soon after, de Soto and others who explored present-day Florida brought swine from Europe.  The swine quickly spread throughout the southeast. De Soto is known to have held a barbacoa near Tupelo, Mississippi, in December 1540 with the local Chickasaw tribe. Apparently de Soto and his army traveled with as many as 400 hogs, and Indians loved the flavor.

When English colonists arrived in the present day United States, they brought the barbecue word and method with them, which they perfected in hog barbecue.  Thus, it was the English colonists who taught the technique to the Native Americans in the present-day United States.


The REAL version of Barbecue's History

Simply put – it came from Texas!!!  No Bull (so to speak) – all fact!!!

Some folks think that barbecue, like jazz, is an American invention. Alas, neither - the cooking method nor the word is American – its Texan!!

Remember some of the "facts" about the academic explanation.  Before the Spanish made it to the West Indies/Haiti, indeed peoples everywhere where cooking over fire, but very unlikely they were cooking the meat low and slow in order to render fat, melt collagen and otherwise make tough meat tender.  When the first Spanish explorers arrived in the new world they found the indigenous peoples preserving meats in the sun. This is an age old and almost completely universal method. The chief problem with doing this is that the meats spoil and become infested with bugs. To drive the bugs away the natives would built small smoky fires and place the meat on racks over the fires. The smoke would keep the insects at bay and help in the preserving of the meat. "Meat thus cured kept good for several months. It was of delicate flavour, .... and of a tempting smell. It could be eaten without further cookery. Sometimes the meat was cut into pieces and salted, before it was boucanned - a practice which made it keep a little longer than it would otherwise have done. Sometimes it was merely cut in strips, roughly rubbed with brine, and hung in the sun to dry into charqui, or jerked beef".  Hardly sounds like barbecue – no rubs, no sauce!!  Sounds more like the invention of jerky – not barbecue.  In fact, "the Taino word for the wooden structure sounded to the explorers like barbacoa" (quote from above) – it had nothing to do with the method or the meat!  How could that be the origin?  There is some debate on the matter to say the least!  

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the history of the word, "barbecue" to the influence of french Haitians whose word for a method of open fire cooking was "barbe a queue.  " The 1938 french encyclopedia of cooking, Larousse Gastronomique, naturally claims the word barbecue for the french. It says the term came from the french expression "de la barbe a la queue" meaning "from the beard to the tail" (sounds like goat to me – did not know the french ate much goat). It referred to a technique of impaling an animal on a roasting spit. Larousse suggests there may even be a connection to the Romanian word berbec, meaning roast mutton. It is hard to find anyone who thinks French or Romanian was the origin of the word and I ain't giving this, or much else – for that matters, to the french – they don't deserve it.  Besides when was the last time you see any barbecue listed on any french menu?  

Some think the origins of barbecue are in China where some early kitchens had special devices for smoking.  Speculation on the discovery of the delights of fire-roasted pork was written by the English essayist and humorist Charles Lamb and published in 1822. He tells of Chinese peasant Bo-bo (hyphenated name – could be southern) who, long ago, accidentally burned down his father's cottage and the pigs within. Bo-bo was distraught until he smelled the carcasses. "He next stooped down to feel the pig, if there were any signs of life in it. He burnt his fingers, and to cool them he applied them in his usual fashion to his mouth. Some of the crums of the scorched skin had come away with his fingers, and for the first time in his life (in the world's life indeed, for before him no man had known it) he tasted - cracklins!"

Ain't going there – not going to attribute barbecue to China, even though it involved a southerner with the name Bo-bo.  Besides China has enough of our debt, control of the Panama Canal, and owns so much of America now.  Besides Bo-bo doesn't discover barbecue but "cracklins!"  He then embarks on a career of arson burning down the neighborhood to sate his hunger for cracklins!

The word 'barbecue' may come from South American where a now extinct tribe had a practice to torture and roast captured enemies. This sounds good but I haven't found strong evidence – so again NOPE, and again for so many reasons.

Does it have to do with the type of meat?  No, even though, we ALL know that true barbecue is beef brisket, but, in abiding with the strict definition of barbecue, it cannot be limited to beef.  By definition any meat can be barbecued. In the early part of the century, the area of New York was well known for barbecue turtle. New York does not now spring to mind when one thinks of barbecue.  Nor does turtle, for that matter.   Remember those Caribbean's?  According to John Masefield's 1906 book On the Spanish Main, "The meat to be preserved, were it ox, fish, wild boar, or human being, was then laid upon the grille [yes, they were cannibals]. The fire underneath the grille was kept low, and fed with green sticks, and with the offal, hide, and bones of the slaughtered animal. "The name is derived from the arrangements which the Caribs made to cook their prisoners of war. After being dismembered, their pieces were placed upon wooden gridirons, which were called in Carib, barbacoa".  I don't know about you, but it does not please this Texan, slightly turned Southerner, to recognize a gruesome origin for my favorite meal.  Uhhhh – NO!!! and in so many ways!

Now, getting closer to the truth is this: Robb Walsh, in his excellent book "Legends of Texas Barbecue", reports that cookbooks in Texas tell the fanciful tale of a wealthy Texas rancher named either Bernard Quayle or Barnaby Quinn (depending on who you talk to).  Apparently he loved serving his friends whole sheep, hogs, and cattle roasted over open pits. His branding iron had his initials, B.Q. with a straight line beneath. It was common for ranches to be named for their brand, "Thus, the 'bar B.Q.' became synonymous with fine eating - or so the story goes".  A myth it surely is since the word barbecue had been in common use for many years before the hypothetical Quayle or Quinn.

The fact is 'barbecue' did in fact originate in Texas – the word covers the cooking device, the style of cooking, the event, and the food itself.  I know this is so because every Texan I have ever met tells me it is true (including myself, my dad, my granddad – ad infinitum).  Not only did it start in Texas, real barbecue is found only in Texas, unless cooked by a transplanted Texan using "official" methods and meats!  Smart people, people who care for their well-being do not dare to question this in front of a Texan.

"As we tasted the succulent meat, we commented on the juiciness inside and the crispness outside. "What you try to achieve is the outside part of the brisket they call the bark.  You get that by mopping," she said, and we had visions of a brush frantically painting a piece of meat.  "Barbecue is very serious. It's the staple of Texas life.  Barbecue and chili can get you in a lot of trouble in Texas.  There are so many ways to cook it, so many cuts of meat, though beef is king and brisket is generally the chosen cut."  

Barbecue as an entity in Texas is different.  For years people thought it came from the German meat markets (Germans settled in Central Texas in the mid 1880's) since they were all great sausage makers back in Germany and did many cured meats.  All of the meat markets opened stores on the side where they smoked meat and people could eat there.  They took a hint from Mexican vaqueros and emphasized beef, not pork in their food offerings. They hand-rubbed the meat with salt, pepper and spices and cooked it at a distance of three feet from the fire in pits filled with available hardwoods, including oak, hickory, pecan and mesquite. The taste was as distinctive as it was delicious.  Others say the real Texas barbecue came from the Texas plantations.  The slaves were given poor quality meat and they dug pits in the ground where they cooked the poor cuts of meat or pigs that they were allowed to raise.  After the emancipation of the slaves in Texas, the freed slaves gathered in their churches.  Every Sunday, they cooked and the whole congregation would come together, so they built huge pits and did incredible barbecue.  

But in my opinion barbecue started back in the chuck wagon era in the late 1880's, cowboys adopted a method of cooking meat over fire while on the cattle drives.  The chuck wagon had one cook responsible for cooking for everyone who was on the drive.  The trail bosses and owners were cheap – they did not want to feed their cowhands the best, so they would usually butcher the tough, stringy strays – not the best of the herd. The cowboys complained about the tough chewy meat.  The trail cooks didn't want to hear the complaining so they developed ways of preparing the meat. They perpetuated the barbecue, chili, the Dutch oven kind of cooking, chicken fried pounded steak, chili stews and things they called son-of-a-bitch stews.  The best that came out of the old chuck wagons was the barbecue – although arguably chili and chicken fried steak comes in a very close second.

I am one of those, who likes to freely and ungrudgingly impart a share of the good things of this life, which fall to their lot (few as mine are right now) to friends.  I take as great an interest in my friend's pleasures and proper satisfactions, as in mine own.  My most precious gift to be shared is my recollection and recommendation of Texas barbecue.

"Barbecue may be our nation's most democratic food. (Think small d-democratic, as in of the people, by the people, for the people.)"

As it turns out, barbecue in Texas is the ultimate soul food.   Often when eating barbecue in Texas you see a poster: You might give some serious thought about thanking your lucky stars you're in Texas.  I get misty every time I think of those posters.  Texas barbecue is great food - food with history, food with character and food with soul.  To Texans, barbecue is elemental.  Succulent, savory, perfumed with smoke and spice, it transcends the term "comfort food."  It's downright heavenly, and it's also a staff of Texas life.  Like a dust storm or a downpour, barbecue is a force of Texas nature, a stalwart tie to the state's cultural and culinary history.  Though the word is often shortened to "BBQ," the tradition of barbecue stands Texas-tall.

"The best places look like they should have been closed down by the health department," said Gov. Ann Richards.  

The Texas barbecue experience is not complete without the shabby appeal of the joints themselves, from huge, concrete-floored dining halls to tiny, un-air-conditioned shacks.  They convey the primal physicality of barbecue--the heat of fire, the heft of meat, the slickness of juices--and also records ubiquitous touches such as ancient scarred carving blocks, torn screen doors and peeling linoleum, and toothpicks in a recycled pepper sauce jar.

When in a Texas joint, I order it all – that is, brisket and sausage.  First I sample the brisket, taking what looks like the thickest, juiciest slice, and ripping into it with the primal fury of a starved cave-man ravaging a fresh-cooked beast.  Once I bite into the brisket, I contemplate suicide, instantly realizing that up until that point my life had been a complete waste, and that a life spent not constantly consuming such glorious meat is hardly a life worth living.   Next I tackle the sausage.  I want the casing perfectly smoked, and perfectly filled, resulting in the intense pop that defines a good sausage.  The pop combined with the instant explosion of juice, spice, and ground meat spilling into my mouth simulates what I imagine shock therapy must feel like.  Each bite had the effect of completely wiping out all mental processes, and leaving me peacefully satiated.

Whew, I'm ready for a nap!

[mikecorn.1]

Me too.  ;D

[West Coast Sausage Maker]

I nearly burned out my retinas reading that. ;)

[Habanero Smoker]

Depending on the source, there are several versions on the origin of barbecue. I for one lean more towards what Ka Honu has stated.

[Ka Honu]

I for one lean more towards what Ka Honu has stated.

...a major advantage of which is succinctness.

Pretty good pontification, there, caney. I may even try to read it again after I've had my coffee.

[Hopefull Romantic]

I for one lean more towards what Ka Honu has stated.

...a major advantage of which is succinctness.

Pretty good pontification, there, caney. I may even try to read it again after I've had my coffee.

Hi there HS

you probably need a whole pot to gobble the info down. Informative nevertheless.

HR

[Roadking]

I think the generally accepted etymology is from a Caribbean Indian word, barbacoa - a wooden grill for cooking meat over a fire pit.

Ditto on that.......