The ancient cooking technique is in vogue, and the meat industry can only benefit from its mainstream success
by Larry Aylward, managing editor
It was a standard, bone-chilling Great White North winter. One Minneapolis man began having ruminations about barbecued spareribs.
Ninety miles away in Rochester, Minn., Steve Ross answered the telephone at his award-winning restaurant, Roscoe's Rootbeer & Ribs, which was closed for the season. The voice on the other end of the phone belonged to the Minneapolis man.
"He said he wanted to get some ribs," Ross recalls. "The man drove all the way down from Minneapolis to get the ribs."
It's not everyday that someone will drive 90 miles in the winter for a take-out order of ribs. The true story is an indicator of the increased popularity of barbecued meats at restaurants, retail and rib cook-offs. The ancient cooking technique is the vogue, and the meat industry can only benefit from barbecue's mainstream success.
"Barbecue has impacted the meat industry," says Charlie Knote, a retired formulation chemist and author of "Barbecuing & Sausage-Making Secrets," published by The Culinary Institute of Smoke-Cooking. "Who knows how many millions of dollars are spent amongst backyard cookers, caterers and restaurateurs."
When people think of barbecue, they think of beef and pork, adds Ross, who doubles as president of the Charlotte, N.C.-based National Barbecue Association. "Barbecue is basically meat," he says.
The National Restaurant Association's 1993 Menu Analysis found that pork entrees-often barbecued-are appearing on more menus, from 27 percent in 1988 to 42 percent in 1993.
And there is no indication of a slowdown in barbecue's future.
"Barbecue is skyrocketing out of sight," insists Jerry LaPeer, branch manager of Mapelli Food Distribution Co., a distributor of Monfort Inc.'s meat products.
"Barbecue isn't close to peaking," states Jerry Gibson, vice president of sales for South Holland, Ill.-based Zoll Foods, a pork rib processor/purveyor.
"The quality of the food and equipment has led to barbecue's expansion," says Don Staley, vice president of sales for Southern Pride, a Marion, Ill.-based manufacturer of smokers, seasonings, sauce and wood chips.
According to the NRA's "Tableservice Restaurant Trends 1994" study, many non-barbecue theme restaurants are offering barbecued dishes on their menus. And more specialty restaurants are popping up from coast to coast.
RE-COUNT, a Chicago-based market research firm, claims there were 10,076 family-style and upscale barbecue restaurants in the United States in 1994, compared to 5,947 in 1985.
NRA's study contends that three of 10 tableservice operators with average check sizes of $8 or more have noticed that barbecue is popular among their customers.
Zoll Foods' Gibson seconds the theory. He claims more family-style restaurants are adding barbecue offerings to menus in order to draw customers back to their eateries. Barbecue is more popular in operations with average checks under $8.
"Our consumer surveys show that Americans are interested in trying hotter, spicier foods when they eat out," says Herman Cain, NRA president. "Barbecue has a perception as being an inexpensive comfort food-and in a lackluster economy, that notion has a tremendous amount of appeal. [Consumers] are also more aware of regional cuisines, particularly Southern cuisine."
Theresa Salmen, executive vice president of the National Barbecue Association, says there is a propensity for barbecue in places that were previously atypical of it, such as New York.
"People are bringing Southern barbecue into Northern states," Salmen points out.
Transplanted southerner Al Harvey, vice president of Schenectady, N.Y.-based PitMasters, caterer of barbecued meat products, is one of those spreading the good news. Harvey hails from Memphis, Tenn., a haven of barbecue. Harvey and Rick Siciliano, president of PitMasters, have brought distinct Southern barbecue to pastoral New York state.
"Up here, what people think of barbecue and what barbecue really is are two different things," Siciliano says. "It's something that has to be defined in the Northeast. People don't know the difference between grilling and real barbecue cooking."
Siciliano and Harvey are more than barbecue enthusiasts. Hence, their concern with abiding by what they perceive as the real deal.
"People think that barbecue is putting coals under a grill, sticking something on the grill such as ribs, and cooking it for 45 minutes," Siciliano adds. "When you cook like that, you don't get that juicy fall of the meat off the bone. You get a gnarly piece of meat."
Barbecue is low, slow cooking, Siciliano adds.
"Grilling is cooking over direct heat," Harvey notes. "Barbecuing is cooking with indirect heat. The fire is not in touch with whatever you are cooking."
USDA defines barbecue as "food that has been flavored and tenderized by hot smoke from burning wood." But the definition of barbecue differs with each region. Some perceive barbecue and grilling as the same entity.
Many consumers think of spareribs when they think of barbecued foods. Farmland Foods has taken advantage of that thought process. The Kansas City, Mo.-based operation started The Rib Company about two years ago at a facility in Monmouth, Ill.
"We want to put more of an emphasis on ribs because there is such a huge volume of business out there," says Jerry Lamb, a foodservice sales manager for Farmland Foods.
The Rib Company manufactures pre-cooked and uncooked St. Louis Ribs with tight specifications for foodservice applications, Lamb notes. A full sparerib, prior to trimming, weighs about 3.75 pounds and contains brisket bone, skirt meat, and false lean hanging fat and tissue. When all of that is removed, the rib weighs about 2.25 pounds.
The finished St. Louis Rib is squared at its ends, with a consistent shape and minimal fat. The result is better cooking yield, better portions, more usable meat, and less waste and shrinkage, the company claims.
The Rib Company also manufactures bite-size Gourmet Rib Bites, meaty tidbits separated from the soft bone of the St. Louis Rib. The foodservice hors d'oeuvre is pork's answer to the chicken wing.
Lamb says there could be an increase in case-ready, value-added barbecued meat products at retail. Farmland Foods is considering a case-ready, marinated product.
Dan McConnell, national account manager for Greeley, Colo.-based Monfort Foodservice, claims lean meats will play a role in the continued success of barbecue.
"It's up to producers to produce lean product and sell it into the end product of barbecue," he points out.
Barbecue's increased popularity can also be attributed to the growing number of rib cook-offs, such as Memphis in May and the Twin Cities Ribfest.
A survey conducted by the Kansas City Barbeque Society revealed that rib cook-offs drew as many as 6 million people in 1994. Ninety-nine percent of the competitions had a pork category; 92 percent had a pork ribs category, and 62 percent had a beef category.
If it wasn't for the Twin Cities Ribfest, the phone would not have rang that winter day at Roscoe's Rootbeer & Ribs. The man who called Ross confessed that he wasn't a big rib eater until he attended the Twin Cities Ribfest in Minneapolis, where Ross was a contestant.
"He said his previous experience with ribs had been terrible," Ross says. "But he said he didn't realize how good ribs could be. He said: 'Now I eat them everywhere.' "
Apparently, so do many other barbecue connoisseurs.