Salut/Hi Tom S,
le/on Sun, 01 Aug 2004 18:13:10 GMT, tu disais/you said:-
Right... as Mark and Andrew have suggested, talking about Barbecuing ought really to have involved some definition in terms ;-)) (Doesn't it often come down to this when discussing in an "anglo"/american context).
In the USA, much BBQing is really as much of an art form as is an aioli in France, or building a sandwich in the UK. In my strictures, and in my conversation with Marcus, I've taken a Eurocentric view of them, I'd no more want to include a South Carolina pulled pork BBQ, or a Texas smoked brisket BBQ, than I would a "bri" in South Africa or throwing a freshly caught shrimp or a well hung steak on the barbie in Australia or New Zealand. But I would include the grilling of yard upon yard of indifferent "meat" to be found in supermarket shelves in Australia (and in New Zealand too for that matter).
So please don't take these remarks as applying to the _best_ of what is done in the USA, or even to good examples of what we in Europe (and the antipodes) call a Barbecue, that is to say, grilling meats, fish and vegetables over charcoal (or an electric grill, increasingly). You remember the salmon you did for us when we visited you? Well that would class as a barbecue in the sense in which I was meaning the word. And I was criticising the increasing prevalence of this form of food not in and of itself, but as I described. Ie food of uncertain age, certain poor quality, dressed up "ready for the BBQ" with mass produced glop poured over to disguise the lack of quality.
Yes of course. Like the Brits who say they don't like French food "nasty messed around stuff, they use sauces to disguise the poor quality of the meat".
Agreed. Though less so in the case of the Brits. Their arrogant insularity is breathtaking.
I'm not sure how true that is, by the way, though I'm entirely unqualified to say.
Though they HAVE managed also to export some decent pizzas and one or two decent hamburger places too.