Increasingly, we are hearing more and more of the ‘slow food movement’. This alternative to the fast food lifestyle is rooted in it’s appreciation for the experience of food and cuisine and all the elements that come together to create true dining pleasure. Good food, cooking, and friends sharing time together – these really are some of the greatest pleasures in life. At Home & Hearth Outfitters we see the BBQ and grilling lifestyle as the most elementary examples of this simple pleasure. We would argue that those who love barbecue have been proponents of slow food since long before it became a movement. After all, since humankind discovered that roasting meat added to its flavor and tenderness we have been gathering around the fire to share the social experience of cooking and eating together. With this in mind, in honor of National Grilling month we celebrate what the grill has brought to our lives. It’s high time we gave the grill the the place in culinary history it deserves and we hope you have the chance to get together with friends and family for a great BBQ this month!
Barbecue offers us a chance to experience the diversity of this great country. Every region of the country offers different methods of outdoor grilling and brings its own unique ingredients and flavors to the table. Barbecue pork and ribs from the South are legendary, and get our taste buds salivating with piquant sauces that are sweet and spicy. On the other hand in the Pacific Northwest, many outdoor cooks favor locally-caught salmon, slowly cooked over a low flame on top of a salt-water soaked cedar plank – which is how Coast Salish and Chinook Indians prepared it for centuries. For those looking for something exotic, local farmer’s markets across the country often have booths offering Middle-Eastern style slow cooked lamb, seasoned with garlic and cumin, served with a minty yogurt sauce.
Whatever your preferred style or tastes, for us in the Northern Hemisphere, summer means outdoor barbecues and grilling – and July has officially been designated as Grilling Month!
Although the roots of outdoor barbecue and grilling go back tens, or even hundreds of thousands of years, scholars believe that both the word “barbecue” itself and the way it is traditionally done today have their origins in the Indian languages and cultures of South Florida and the Caribbean. The Taino word barbaqowah (literally, “sacred firepit”), from which our word “barbecue” derives, is found in English writings dating back to the mid-17th Century. It is known that pirates of the Caribbean started employing a device known as a “borbecu” for roasting meat as early as 1700.
Because the art of barbecue and outdoor grilling is so diverse and there are so many different methods and preferences, Home & Hearth Outfitters provides a wide variety of grilling and outdoor cooking equipment from leading manufacturers, including Viking, Swiss Grill and Napoleon. Choose from gas-fired grills, traditional charcoal or even the latest generation of electric outdoor grills.
Anyway you prefer it, Home & Hearth Outfitters is here to help you in celebrating National Grilling Month in style!