The Grilling Process

A lot of confusion surrounds just what the words grilling and barbecuing mean. This is compounded by the fact that we use the word barbecue to refer to many different aspects of live-fire cooking, everything from a piece of cooking equipment (the grill), to one or more cooking methods using that grill, to specific dishes, such as Texas- or North Carolina–style barbecue. We also use barbecuing more broadly—to refer to the act of cooking outdoors, to a meal cooked and served outdoors, and to a social gathering featuring barbecued food.