Ironically, my journey into the world of barbecue all began with Mexican food. It was one of those days when I had quite the hankering for Green Chile. I came home from work and turned on the Travel Channel, which is frequently my background cooking “music.” The Chowdown Countdown was just starting and was highlighting true American barbecue. To find the best of the best they traveled to locations that are known for being some of the giants of barbecue; the Carolinas, Nashville, Texas, and Kansas City.
Now, being from Colorado, my idea of barbecue has always been grilling hamburgers and hot dogs in the backyard and dipping my chicken nuggets in little packets of BBQ sauce at Wendy’s. I had heard people talk about Southern barbecue, but I guess it never really registered that it was something different than grilling steak.
When the Countdown began explaining true barbecue I was quite surprised to find that it said nothing about backyard parties, gas grills, and dunking chicken fingers in sauce. In fact, I learned that true barbecue is not about the sauce, but about the way the meat is prepared; smoked, slow cooked, at lower temperatures and generally over wood or charcoal. Apparently, true barbecue is an art form and quite legendary in different parts of our country. Americans take pride in their barbecue and, come to find, they take it very seriously. Cooking methods are secret, sauce recipes are locked in safes, and each place has their set of beliefs in what is the “right” way to barbecue.
Little did I know that making green chile that night was just the beginning of my experience with this American classic, and that baseball and business would soon bring Jim and I to Kansas City.
