do you consider brisket to be bbq?

[Stumpy]

Nope. Brisket is brisket. To me, that would be like saying a roast is BBQ.

I heard a radio show once that claimed that Missouri, I think it was, considers BBQ to be mutton! I abhor the stuff, personally. It seems to me that Texans often mean beef when referring to BBQ, but here in Alabama it's definitely pork.

 

[Davaroo]

If it is meat, cooked over low, indirect heat - then it is BBQ.

Our word, "barbeque," originated in Mexico as "barbacoa" and generally refers to meats slow-cooked over an open fire, or more traditionally, in a hole dug in the ground.

Brisket is a cut of meat and is made better by this method of cooking, since it is a tough, lower grade portion.

Sliced cross grain after cooking and eaten with tortillas, relishes and veggies it is the core of 'fajitas.'

Is it barbeque? Oh yeaaaaah!

 

[EweSheep]

 

[Xtina]

To me, brisket is barbecue if it is barbecued. But then again, North Carolina's barbecue rules are vastly different from any other place in America. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's not called barbecue there. On the same token, I'll never be fooled into trying North Carolina style barbecue again. The once was enough. ;-)

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
"The best seasoning for any food is hunger."

 

[Xtina]

Good point! If I were starving to death, I'd probably eat it again. The story is this:

I never thought there'd be such a thing as barbecue I didn't like. Nice and tart and sweet and tomatoey...I grew up eating Country's Barbecue in Montgomery, Alabama. And of course, the sauce is what makes the barbecue. I wanted to try every style of barbecue from across the country so that I would know what I was missing from Texas or Kansas City. When my husband and I were moving from Virginia to Oregon, we stopped to eat in North Carolina. He woke me up and asked me if I wanted barbecue, and it sounded SO heavenly. I woke right up and got really excited. We went into the restaurant and I ordered what I thought would be barbecue. When I got the food, in my tired, delirious from travelling state, I almost started crying to see no sauce. Just plain meat, covered in vinegar and peppers. Now, I don't like vinegar or peppers very much. I ate about two bites and had to resort to eating my side dishes and leaving the barbecue untouched.

Barbecue is about the sauce as much as it is about the slow cooking over some kind of fire. Vinegar and peppers might taste good to North Carolinians, but to someone who grew up with the firm notion that "barbecue sauce" is always at the very least red and thick, watery vinegar is NOT barbecue sauce.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Here in Texas brisket IS barbeque, and ribs and such are an afterthought. I actually prefer ribs, and pork but in Texas, brisket is king.

edited for major typo

 

[Xtina]

That's the thing about barbecue...every place has its own ideas and the fervor makes it practically a religion. We should just view the topic of barbecue as something equal to politics and religion for its incendiary qualities, since it's so close to the hearts of the people who grew up eating it. There's no sense in quibbling. My husband likes peppery vinegar poured over slow cooked pork. I love sweet and tangy and tomatoey sauce over pulled pork or chicken. I bet if I tried mutton barbecue, I'd love it since I love lamb. The point is, it's meat, cooked over fire. Something humans have been enjoying for millenia. We should all be grateful we've got meat, because they don't have it in lots of places. My husband just had to throw out a bunch of barbecued ribs from last weekend that went bad before we could eat the leftovers. I bet in Ethiopia we'd be seen as heathens for not having eaten that meat.

 

[gritsar]

I didn't know what brisket was until I moved to Arkansas from NC. Now I adore it!

When I try to explain it to the folks back home the only description I can come up with is that it's like london broil, only with better flavor and barbequed.
Next I suppose you'll want to debate which barbeque is better - vinegar based or tomato based. I've had both, having lived in eastern NC and the mountains of NC. I love em both, but vinegar based has to have cole slaw on top to taste the best.

 

[Imp]

Here in Washington BBQ is about the sweet tomato sauce. But we also call anything cooked on the BBQ, Barbeque. So corn on the cob, zucchini, tomatoes, pizza and so on are all called BBQ.

Imp loves BBQ pineapple