I am planning a few up coming cook outs and I wanted to do some research. What are the top four meat dishes at a BBQ? Some examples are ribs, different steak, burgers, chicken, fajitas, salmon, and kabobs. What is your favorite thing to have at a cook out?
First off, are we talking grilling or are we talking BBQ? Because anyone who thinks the terms are synonymous is dreadfully mistaken.
Grilling - chops, steaks, burgers, brats, chicken
BBQ - brisket, ribs, pork shoulder
Either I will be doing two on a grill and two on a smoky bbq.
Can you devote long hours to cooking? Low and slow is the essence of barbecue.
up to 4
ITYM “Cook-out”. Be warned, you’re going to see a lot of people, like me, who will be expecting a discussion of something totally different.
At a cook out,it partly depends on who we are inviting - some people adore salmon, and others detest it, and whinge about the stench of cooking fish :rolleyes:
I like pork ribs, nice thick steaks grilled and then sliced like london broil, skin on bone in chicken and lamb kebab[either ground or chunks] as it gives a nice variety for people to pick and choose from. Make the portions small so you can try multiple things [really - like 2 or 3 mouthfuls]
With the ribs - start them early in the day in the oven, wrapped in foil to get mostly cooked. [We don’t like over-flavored ribs so we don’t tend to use much in the way of rubs normally, we use the bbq sauce as the flavoring, or eat them plain with a little salt and pepper. Sometimes good meat doesn’t need lots of crap on it] You finish them off on the grill so you get the perfect balance of tender insside and nicely browned outside without lots of burned charcoal bits.
Chicken gets parboiled early in the day to get it mostly cooked, then grilled to finish it off, again to get crispy skin outside without carbonized bits. Sometimes all we do is toss a bunch of mixed herbs on the coals and give them a bit of herbal smoke. BBQ chicken is not always gloopy sauces.
Pick a good slab of steak, grill it and present it in slices. Small portions so you can try everything =)
Lamb is great in kebab - as regular chunks or as kefta - add some cherry tomatoes and frozen [precooked] pearl onions, nobody in the house likes bell peppers so we don’t use those, and being allergic to mushrooms, they are never allowed at the house - but you can thread anything on that will stay on the skewer. With the kefta the flavoring is mixed into the ground lamb, with chunks we marinade in lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper, touch of salt, oregano, rosemary, garlic and mint for 4-6 hours.
I tend to keep quorn patties or faux chicken breast slabs in the freezer, ok for egg eating variant vegetarians. If there is a vegan coming that is absolutely no nonvegetable types I might make imam bayadi and falafel - my favorite bread form for picknics is pita because you can stuff BBQ animal bits inside them. It is easy enough to have shreded lettuce, sliced onion, cucumbers, tomatos and tzitaki sauce around [i tend to only get the greek yogurt, american style is too sweet for me]
For a cook-out where I can only have 4 hours or fewer for cooking, I like to keep it fairly straightforward. You’re probably not going to have time to do a real low-and-slow barbecue with that time constraint, although I have had baby backs finish in 3-3 1/2 hours, so it’s not completely impossible. Of course, I was also running at higher temps, in the 275 or so range.
Almost everyone likes hamburgers, so those are a given. For finger food, I like making chicken wings. I make a blazing hot homemade jerk sauce for those that like it spicy, and a more subdued barbecue-sauced or teriyaki wing for those who don’t. Grilled ribs can be good, but are best done over indirect heat (and baby back or loin backs are better for higher-temp applications than spare ribs.) I don’t believe in foiling, but if you like tender fall-off-the-bone style ribs, foil them with a dry rub and a bit of sauce, cook for about 2 hours, then remove foil and finish over heat.
I personally love cevapcici, which is my Balkan addition to a cookout. Basically, take 1/3 each of ground lamb, pork, and beef (get the fattier cuts, not the lean stuff), mix with garlic and spices, form into little sausages, and grill. Here’s a basic recipe, but note my proportions are different (I go as high as 1/2 lamb, 1/4 pork, 1/4 beef) and my recommendation is for fattier cuts. Serve with pita bread, raw onions, and ajvar (a roasted eggplant and red pepper side dish/condiment/spread.)
Also typical for us is grilled outer skirt steak, served with tortillas, onions, cilantro, pico de gallo, avocado, etc. Whatever typical fajita toppings you enjoy. I prefer the simple marinade of just lime juice, oil, and salt, although my brother’s marinade based on Alton Brown’s recipe, is fantastic, too.
If you’re grilling, I’d go with steak, hamburgers, chicken, and sausage.
If you’re barbecuing, I’d go with beef brisket, chicken, pork spareribs, and beef short ribs.
I throw one party a year, which turns out to be a rather large affair. I cook meat for a boat load of people, and this year (barring any last minute changes) the menu will include the following four items:
Pork ribs
Bratwurst
Beef brisket
Chicken Satay
thank you everyone!
Hot Links. Hot Links. Hot Links. Ribs.
“fajitas” WTF?
WTF is wrong with fajitas?
Anyhow, I agree on hot links, but hot links are not available everywhere.
I love bratwurst, or just cheapo smoked sausage. If there are kids especially get hot dogs.
Pushyoudown, fajitas are always a feature when my family cooks on the grill. We all love smokey grilled peppers and onions on top.
How about a little shrimp on the bar-bee?
I live in southern california and fajits are kind of a big deal. 
This is a modern fallacy. The use of BBQ as given in the OP has been around for over a century. Deal with it.
It’s not a “fallacy” - it’s a regional colloquialism that can be confusing to a great many people, and is the subject of a hijack in 100% of threads that begin with the use of “BBQ” to mean something other than “smoking meats over a long period of time over low heat”.
Pork tenderloin. Cooks easily on a grill, probably just as good in a smoker, and provides a nice break from the same-old same-old.
