Dick Foster
Platinum Member
When I lived in S. France in the sixties certain restaurants had large grills and used charcoal made from fruit trees. I seem to recall they would have some parts of the grill that used indirect heat to cook large pieces of horse meat etc. Could these grills be termed BBQs in the strict sense of the term?
To a certain extent yes.
The main indicators are smoke,indirect heat,low temps and a tight smoking chamber to hold heat,smoke and moisture.
As well as good airflow so you dont get stale smoke.
Charcoal is not really used other than to start your log splits or to maintain a temp once the meat has smoked enough.
Of course you're aware that when cooking true pit cooked barbeque in the Carolinas like whole hog barbeque, where it all started only hot coals are used to cook the meat. The wood fire to produce the coals is done in a seperate burn barrel. And if you haven't ever eaten true pit cooked whole hog barbeque, then you've never really tasted true barbeque.