Barbecue: A Global History

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Description

A concise yet comprehensive account of the origins, varieties and technology used for the quintessentially red-blooded pursuit, barbecue, examining the customs and curious activities associated with this predominantly male activity. The authorslook at the varieties of barbecue around the world, from the New Zealand Maori's hangi, to Hawaiian kalua pig, Mongolian boodog, Mexican barbacoa de cabeza, and Spanish bull roast, as well as discussing why barbecuing is seen as a manly activity, the evolution of cooking techniques, the technology of barbecuing equipment, and competitive barbecuing in the USA. The book also contains mouth-watering historical and modern recipes, from an 1877 Minneapolis recipe for a whole roast sheep, to a 1942 pork spare rib recipe from the Ozarks, to tandoori lamb chops, Peri Peri chicken and Chinese roast duck.

Reviews

Deutsch and Elias infuse their short, light-hearted history with anecdotes and recipes that will appeal to the more general reader. For example, Cantonese barbecued pork was allegedly invented by a careless young man who burned down a house with nine piglets inside. The destruction was, apparently, a small price to pay for the joy of eating charred pig flesh . . . While seeking to entertain, Barbecue urges us to undertake a deeper analysis, considering how a subculture of barbecue has transformed the process into a competitive sport played around the world, most notably in the US. Descriptions of the beer-drinking, posturing, psychical exertion and technical gadgetry that now accompany barbecuing point to excess, as do the photographs of hundreds of splayed animal remains. * TLS *

Author Bio

Jonathan Deutsch (Author)
Jonathan Deutsch is the editor of They Eat That (2012).

Megan J. Elias (Author)
Megan J. Elias is the author of Food in the United States, 1890-1945 (2009).