I love reading about barbecue, but sometimes I would like to read something else than recipes and reviews. Being an history addict and enjoying reading history books, this book instantly attracted my attention because there are few books that tale the history of barbecue… and barbecue sauce.

The story begins in the early 18th century, when English colonists started cooking meat above a wood fire, inspired by the Native Americans. Barbecue started spreading from Virginia to the Carolina’s, mostly happening at political meetings and stump speeches. A pit filled with hot coals was dung in the ground and the meat was held above the fire on wood sticks or metal rods. 
The spreading of barbecue through the United States is strongly bound to the Civil War, the Gold Rush and the abolition of slavery.
The book depicts the first pitmasters and how regionalization of barbecue appeared, when the first BBQ joints opened at the beginning of the 20th century. Around WW2, drive-ins and barbecue joints emerged along Interstate highways and barbecue quickly found his way in the backyard. Then it was slowly distanced by hamburger franchises like McDonald’s until the mid-70s. The rebirth of barbecue is mainly due to the first published guidebooks and the first BBQ competitions.

Of course, the history and evolution of barbecue sauce is also part of the book:
From the 17th to the 19th century, barbecue sauce was mainly made of butter, vinegar, pepper and salt and used to mop the meat while cooking to keep it moist.
The first barbecue cook books published in the 20s progressively feature sweeter and even sweeter barbecue sauces. Regional sauces also appear around that period, together with the regionalization of barbecue.
Barbecue sauce became a mass-market product when Heinz (in the 40s) and Kraft (in the 60s) started commercializing thick and sweet barbecue sauce. As fuel used for backyard barbecue evolved from wood, to charcoal and finally gas and electric cookers, smoke flavor was added to barbecue sauce.
Nowadays, due to the explosion of varieties, the regional distinctions in barbecue sauce are beginning to fade.

The book also tales the story of famous BBQ restaurants like Arthur Bryant’s, Stamey’s,… and the story of Weber-Stephen, Kingsford lump charcoal and KC Masterpiece as well.

If you wanna know more about the history of barbecue and the history of the United States, you should really read this book !

Buy it on Amazon

Here’s the recipe of the smoked chicken thighs I cooked  for the Dimples BBQ Sauce review on BBQ Sauce Reviews. The original recipe comes from the cookbook Weber’s Way to Grill (“La Bible du barbecue Weber” in French) by Jamie Purviance but I used Dimples instead of the homemade sauce of the recipe.

Ingredients for 2 persons:

• 2 chicken thighs split in two (drumstick and upper thigh)
• Dimples BBQ Sauce
• 4 medium chunks of wood (I used oak and beech)
• For the rub:
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 4 teaspoons paprika
  • 4 teaspoons Santa Maria BBQ & Grill Mesquite

Procedure:

1. Prepare the rub by mixing all the ingredients in a bowl, rub the chicken drumstick and thighs and let them come to room temperature for 20 minutes while you start the grill for direct and indirect grilling at medium heat (around 200 °C).
2. Put the wood chunks in a bowl of water for 20 minutes.
3. Put the meat on the grill (direct grilling with the upper lid closed) for 8 minutes and turn them over from time to time.
4. Move the meat on the cooking grate for an indirect grilling during 20 minutes (upper lid closed) and put the wood chunks on hot coals.
5. Baste the meat with Dimples BBQ Sauce, continue the indirect grilling for 10 minutes and turn the meat over from times to times.
6. Serve with some more sauce !

Our cat went completely crazy when she smelled the smoked chicken ! She ate all the leftovers and, as you can see, she put sauce all over.

Not only it's possible to buy BBQ sauce in Brussels, but you can also find a couple of places to eat BBQ sauce.

I already talked about the Houtsiplou, which has become pretty famous in Brussels now.

Boston Steak House

This week, we went to Boston Steak House in Ixelles to try out their ribs a friend recommended us.
For 12.90€, you get a nice piece of meat with a small side salad, fries, and some more BBQ sauce.

The ribs are very well cooked, not smoked, but rather caramelized with honey. They are tender, still a bit moist and the meat falls off the bone easily. They’re basted with BBQ sauce just before serving (the same as the one served as dipping sauce).  The sauce is not bad either, rich and thick, classic KC style that does the job well. On the other hand, the fries weren’t tasty at all.

Cool Bun

We also went to Cool Bun “Burger & Wine Bar” in Saint-Gilles. I’d wanted to go there for a long time to try out the Apple Jack burger (hanger steak, lettuce, tomato, cheddar, onion rings and BBQ sauce - 14€) and I haven’t been disappointed! It’s the best burger I’ve ever eaten in Brussels !
It comes with fries, a small side salad, ketchup and mustard mayo in separated small bowls. The burger is served with the upper bun aside, and the onion rings topped with BBQ sauce sit on top of the meat. A feast for the eyes (too bad, I forgot to take a picture, it will be for next time).

You have to eat the crunchy but light onion rings before putting the upper bun in place and enjoy the burger. The meat was perfectly seasoned and grilled, the homemade bun had the right consistency, and the fries were incredibly good !

And the sauce ? It’s homemade and you can choose between regular and spicy (I went for the spicy one). It tastes a bit like an asian sauce, with flavours of soy sauce and ginger. It has a nice red color with a good consistency and chunks inside. Unfortunately, there’s sauce on the onion rings only so I had to ask for an extra !

They have a nice range of differents and originals burgers wich looked as good as the Apple Jack one:
My wife got a jalapenos/avocado/cheddar/lettuce and tomato one and it was delicious ! Our friends tried some others of the range but… you just have to go for it and make your own mind !

I won’t talk about the dessert which was as outrageous as the burger, you have to taste for yourself. Furthermore, all the ingredients are organic and the staff is really friendly.

Boston Steak House
2, Avenue de la Toison d'Or
1050 Ixelles
http://www.bostonsteakhouse.be 
Read the review (in French) on Zone02

Cool Bun Burger & Wine Bar
34, Rue Berckmans
1060 Saint-Gilles
http://www.cool-bun.be
Read the review (in French) on La cuisine à quatre mains

I’m launching a new category of articles on the site: rub and BBQ spice reviews, and here’s the first of the series.

Santa Maria has recently launched a new range of spice mills with interesting flavours like Lime Pepper, Chicken & Steak and BBQ & Grill Mesquite.

This rub is composed of white pepper, mesquite-smoked chipotle, onion, garlic, green and red bell pepper, mustard seeds and Mediterranean salt. It’s really nice to see all those big chunks inside the mill !

And it smells gooooood ! The blend of onion, garlic and smoked chipotle is totally mouthwatering.

I tried it on chicken together with paprika and olive oil and it gave a great smokey and slightly spicy taste to it. It’s also great as a seasoning for various food: from ground beef to vegetables and eggs.

You can find the rub at Delhaize supermarkets (around 2.50€)

Following my interview on BBQ Sauce Reviews, Kimberlee Foy from Hoosier Daddy kindly sent me her sauce.
I was really curious to taste it, because it’s a kind of a hybrid between a tomato-based and a mustard-based barbecue sauce… and I admit I’ve never tasted mustard-based barbecue sauce !

 
It’s quite different from what I’ve tasted so far. This sauce is not really smokey and vinegarish, but rather sweet, fresh and fruity. If you close your eyes when it’s on your tongue, you almost have the feeling to eat jam – that’s maybe due to the peach nectar.
It has a nice deep orange/red color but it would have been great to see some chunks. The sauce is rather liquid without being watery.

The sauce is a good dipping sauce but also great when heated: I basted some ribs with it and it resulted in a nice caramel layer, I also tried it warm on a ham steak and I really enjoyed it.

I also like the flip-top and squeezable bottle – that’s handy to avoid wasting too much sauce.

There’s a cool story behind the sauce: “Hoosier” is the demonym for a resident of Indiana, where Kimberlee’s family is from. She wanted to keep the memory of her father alive and decided to produce a sauce based on her father’s secret recipe (“Daddy”).
Furthermore, a portion of the proceeds is donated to various organizations such as cancer research, diabetes and autism.

The boar on the label reminds me a bit of Bebop in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Their new sauce “Ghost Roast” has been launched lately, can’t wait to taste it !

More information on: http://www.hoosierdaddybbqsauce.com