Outdoor Education Research

Growing up in southern California during the 60s, my dad cooked outside over charcoal quite a bit. I thought if something was cooked over a charcoal fire, it had to be, by definition ” barbecued”. After all, it was cooked in a barbecue, right? It was much later, after I finished way too much schoolin’ and was working in my first real, professional-type job in South Carolina, that I heard the term “grillin’” applied to outdoor-cooked meats for the very first time. The term seemed strange at the time – by implication the meat cooked over one of those Weber electric grills in the kitchen was the same as meat cooked outdoors over charcoal. We even feasted on a whole hog, barbecued by one of the South Carolina’s true Low Country gentlemen one July 4th, but at the time I still didn’t make the distinction in the different styles and philosophies of outdoor cooking.

Later, as I grew in knowledge and experience, I learned that there was actually a distinction between the outdoor cooking styles and that what I’d grown up learning to cook, and had became very proficient at, was grilling, not barbecuing. Like many of you, thanks to the proliferation of barbecue shows on TV, I learned about the four main different styles of barbecue: Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City, and Texas. Because I grew up in southern California, I NEVER developed a taste for the vinegar, mustard-based Carolina style barbecue, despite living there for some years. I also learned about the various barbecue societies and along with my business partner here at Miners Mix, I became a certified Kansas City Barbecue Society judge.

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