Test Your International BBQ IQ!

By Valerie Watson

Barbeque, barbecue, or BBQ—however you spell or "acronymize" it, it's dang tasty. Be it smoked or grilled, cooked slow or fast, placed close to the heat or a tad farther away, slathered in tomato-, vinegar-, mustard-, or hickory-based sauce, it all works. Many of us think of barbeque as an American gastronomic tradition, but folks the world over have found their own special ways of combining fire and food to create something truly greater than the sum of its parts. Your task? To match each geographic region with its indigenous form of meat-searing.

(A note: Ordinarily, I would end the descriptive paragraph about each quiz item with a sassy little punch line, but I haven't done that this week, BECAUSE I AM DEADLY SERIOUS ABOUT MY BARBECUED MEATS.)

1. Argentina – Asado. Argentinean "asadors" make a fire directly on the ground or in a fire pit and roast beef and a variety of other meats over it, using sticks or metal grates suspended over the fire. No marinade is used, just a little salt.
2. South Africa – Braai. Over the open flame of a wood fire, sausage, skewered mutton, pork chops, chicken, steak, fish, and rock lobster coated in a variety of marinades and spices are grilled until tender. Braai actually has its own holiday, celebrated by South Africans at home and throughout the world.
3. Jamaica – Jerk. Meats, usually pork or chicken, are either marinated or dry-rubbed with hot, spicy seasoning, then cooked over pit fires, or charcoal fires in half-oil-barrels.
4. Cuba – Taíno. Meat is slowly cooked over a grate or mesh made from intersecting wood sticks. Another traditional taíno dish is lechon—a whole pig slow-grilled over a turning spit.
5. India – Tandoor. A charcoal or wood fire is built within the clay tandoor oven itself, which roasts the meat both directly (over coals) and indirectly (from radiant heat captured within the cylindrical clay enclosure). Chicken is frequently cooked this way, often marinated in sauce made of yogurt and spices.