Do you 'Grill' or do you 'BBQ'?

smoked chicken and sweet potatoes

People use the words grilling and BBQ interchangeably to describe what they do outside on a grill. However, ask anyone serious about their grill (commonly someone who uses charcoal ) and they will tell you that there are serious differences between the two.

For me, 'Grilling' refers to cooking food over a direct flame, while 'BBQ' will invove cooking food using indirect heat or very low temperatures. Grilling may take a few minutes to prepare the food, while BBQ may take hours or even days depending on the type of meat you are cooking. The long periods of cooking time allows the flavors to fully develop in the meat and for the connective tissue in those tougher cuts of meat to fully break down. In addition, true BBQ allows you to infuse flavors from wood like hickory. This is why thicker cuts of meat and less expensive cuts of meats are more suited for a 'BBQ' style of cooking than 'grilling' which will leave the meat tough.