About

BBQ: No excuses…

Welcome to NoExcusesBBQ, live (more or less) from the beautiful Pacific NorthWet.  Not the sort of place that comes to mind when someone mentions BBQ, but home to a few dedicated (and waterproof) BBQ afficianados.  Up here we aren’t snooty about the regional history of our BBQ, mainly because there isn’t much to speak of.  You got Lewis and Clark, a few local Indian tribes, and that’s about it.  As such, pretty much anything goes when it comes to regional flavors.  Some folks specialize in Texas BBQ, some in Kansas City style, and a few in Memphis and other Southern styles (although I’ve yet to find any Carolina BBQ, North, South, or otherwise).  Some of us dabble in all styles; that’s what you will find here.

Barbeque vs. Grilling

Ok, real barbeque (or barbecue, for those that don’t like variant spellings) is arguably only done in an indirect fashion over hardwood smoke and everything else is grilling.  At least that is the prevailing notion in the Southern United States.  Did I mention that we are in the Pacific NorthWet?

This is about as far as you can get from the Southern United States and still be in the contiguous 48.  As such, our definition of barbeque is food cooked outdoors with real fire and smoke from wood and/or charcoal.  It is both a noun and a verb for those of you that are members of the grammar police, and will be used accordingly.

Hereafter we will refer to this process and the food cooked using it as BBQ and give details on if we are grilling (directly over the flame), indirect cooking (generally on a BBQ grill, but not directly over the flame), and smoking (low heat, slow, indirect, and smokey).  Oh, and to our friends in the UK: a heat source over the food constitutes broiling, not grilling.  If we want to broil something, we’ll do it indoors and in a proper oven.  It won’t be discussed here…

Charcoal vs. Gas

The only gas on this site is that emitted by the author after eating and/or drinking, and I promise we won’t discuss that anymore.  If you want to grill with gas and are looking for tips on this site, go no further as you are wasting your time.  BBQ without real smoke is just outdoor cooking and we won’t speak of it again.  You want to know more about this style of cooking, Google Bobby Flay and click on the results…

What’s cookin’?

If you want to know more about what we’re cooking, check out the home page for the latest blog posting or the Recipe sections.  These will be updated frequently, so check back often if you don’t find what you are looking for right away.  Over time we will add more to the site, such as links to other BBQ sites on the web, gear reviews, and other such BBQ-related tomfoolery.  Who knows, we might even do a restaurant review from time to time…