Corn on the (half) cob. Melted butter (bowl with brush). Salted butter.

An unfussy, hearty salad, like a Caesar. After a long summer of Q, some of us start suffering something very like scurvy - must, have, greens, halp.

Chilled grapes, cold watermelon, cantalope on ice, other pairings of fruity + cold + refreshing.

Something that fills the spot of macaroni salad, potato salad - a scoopable side - but isn’t so heavy. I’m thinking maybe couscous (not Israeli type) with colorful veg and nut bits. A soft porridge-y polenta with Romano cheese. Or, if you want to do more work, almost anything from an Otto Lenghi cookbook.

Dolmas. Spanokopita. I have no idea why these just popped into my head, but now I want!

We keep it simple and grill a lot of plain vegetables alongside the meat. Just brush with oil. Peppers, courgettes, aubergine, leeks, spring onions, celery, carrots, cabbage wedges. And a green salad. .

I adore what I call "soaked cucumbers" and I make them all summer. Slice cucumbers and onions. Sprinkle with kosher salt and allow salt to draw out moisture for about an hour. Drain and add vinegar--don't need a whole lot and don't need to cover with vinegar, mix and refrigerate for an hour or so. Serve as is or mix with sour cream or yogurt. Really nice with grilled meats.

Onion rings are a common BBQ side around here.

Coleslaw and baked beans are the standard. Here's the bean recipe:

Boca Boys Baked Beans with Peaches

• 1 package bacon
• 2 large yellow onions, chopped
• 1 50-ounce can of baked beans (recommended: Bush's)
• 1 can peach pie filling
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• 4 tablespoons Boca Boys BBQ Rub, recipe follows

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook, stirring, until somewhat crispy and its fat has been rendered. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, leaving the fat in the skillet.
• Empty the can of beans into a large baking pan.
• Puree the peach pie filling, barbecue sauce, and dry rub then add it to the pan and mix by hand.
• Add the onions to the skillet and cook, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Transfer them to the baking pan.
• Crumble the bacon and add it as well. Mix to combine and bake, uncovered, until hot and bubbly, about 1 hour.

Boca Boys Dry Rub

• 6 tablespoons Granulated Garlic Powder
• 2 tablespoons Chili Powder
• 2 tablespoons Paprika (I use Szeged Hot Hungarian)
• 1 tablespoon Garam Masala - an Indian spice blend, made by McCormicks and others
• 1 tablespoon Cayenne Pepper
• 2 tablespoons Turbinado Sugar

I often serve various versions of panzanella, and my family likes a black bean/corn/tomato/avocado salad with lime vinaigrette.

This has been a longtime favorite.

New Potato and Green Bean Salad

Dressing:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 T. Dijon mustard
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
Dash of Worcestershire sauce
1/3 to 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Salad:
1 1/2 pounds small red-skinnned potatoes
3/4 pound haricots verts (see Note below), stems trimmed
1 small red onion, chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

For Dressing:
Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Dressing can be made 1-2 days ahead. Cover and chill. Bring to room temp and rewhisk before using.)

For Salad:
Steam potatoes until tender. Cool; cut into quarters. Cook green beans in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain. Transfer beans to bowl of ice water and cool. Drain. Cut beans in half. Combine beans, potatoes, onion and basil in large bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 4 hours ahead; cover and let stand at room temp.) Garnish bowl with a small bunch of fresh basil before serving.

Note: If you can't find haricots verts, buy the slenderest green beans available.

Our son’s birthday’s on 9/6, and we’ll be gathering this weekend. We’re grilling tri-tip and I might give this pasta salad a try.

https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/street-corn-pasta-salad/

Here’s the black bean salad I mentioned. Tasty and pretty.

Black Bean and Corn Salad

Dressing
1 small clove garlic
3 tablespoons lime juice
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup olive oil

Salad
1 cup fresh corn kernels (from about 2 ears)
1 orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped (about 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 hass avocado, halved, seeded and diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and stems

Make the dressing: Smash the garlic clove, sprinkle with a pinch of the salt, and mash/smear to a coarse paste. Whisk the garlic paste, lime juice, salt and chili powder together in a bowl. Gradually whisk in the olive oil.

For the salad: Cook the corn, bell pepper, and onions in the olive oil over medium-high heat in a skillet for 4-5 minutes. Toss in the black beans and cook until warm. Add the dressing and toss to coat evenly. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and gently fold in the tomatoes, avocado, and cilantro. Serve.

One thing I really like when barbecuing is grilled garlic toast. I generally start with a baguette or Italian loaf and slice it thickly at an angle to get larger pieces. Then I make garlic butter with garlic, butter, olive oil, and fresh herbs, such as basil, oregano, and thyme, but never dried herbs. I make the toast when everything else is done because it only takes a couple of minutes on the grill, and I grill both sides of the bread, but I put the garlic butter on only one side. I grill the unbuttered side first, but it is the buttered side that picks up the smoky flavor.

If you end up with leftover garlic toast, you can cut it into cubes to make croutons.

broccoli salad ... ants on a celery stalk [peanut butter and raisin variety] ... ditto on the garlic bread ... cowboy candy for sandwiches ... cukes and onions

Garlic bread is a standard side with Santa Maria BBQ. Grilled tri tip is served with salsa, pinquito beans made with ground beef, and green salad.

I keep forgetting that in some areas of the world BBQ has a different meaning. Around here BBQ is slow smoked meat only, not grilled.

Your sides sound good, but it has me wanting Mexican street corn (on the cob or in salad form).

I also favor corn salad....sometimes with beans and sometimes not. I also like grilled fruit - peaches, nectarines, pineapple.

I’ve often cut corn kernels off to saute with just butter, s&p and fresh basil. Women especially tend to appreciate great corn without the cobs.

Though not a side dish, a really well received-dessert (kids and adults) is homemade ice cream sandwiches. They can be made well ahead and parked in the freezer.

Hm... Lone Jack, that's very interesting, how narrow that is. Going by how I heard it growing up, barbecue meant the structure with the charcoal bed and the grating that went up and down (versions of the Santa Maria (Calif.) barbecue structure.) By extension, it might be applied to a kettle kind or hibachi, It also meant the food cooked on it (tritip, chicken, corn, etc,), either on top, or wrapped in foil in the coals (though as part of a meal (it was included with the meats as part of the group noun ”barbecue”, but the corn itself was “corn (potatoes, etc.) cooked in the coals”, and ”barbecue corn” was specifically cooked on the grating over the coals).

And barbecue also meant the process of eating outside and cooking on the barbecue, or the party (“we're having a barbecue”) where people are invited over to eat barbecue outside. And by further extension, food which was flavored to taste like it was prepared for the barbecue could be called barbecue, such as barbecue potato chips. But out in the world, pretty much all outdoor, open fire, solid fuel cooking (i.e., not on the hob, hook or spit in a fireplace) was called barbecue, but not gas grilling, until quite recently, and that one still confuses me when they say barbecue and later I figure out they mean gas,

My two favorite late summer sides (besides watermelon and corn on the cob, which is a given) are a chopped salad featuring tomatoes, peppers and cukes and fresh herbs, and ratatouille if I can get good eggplant. You can mix that in with garbanzo beans and a vinegar and oil dressing and serve room temperature or cold for a summer salad for vegetarians. Can be done on the grill too. Grilled eggplant makes a great dip, mine is just the eggplant plus roasted red peppers and ground sesame seeds plus garlic and lemon juice. Babaganoush-ish. Tsatsiki is another summer salad fave of mine, but I already mentioned that in another thread. As for dessert, pie or crisp or cobbler with fruit. And occasionally, Marian Burros summer torte. I always try other recipes and I should not do it, just stick with her tried and true.

Barbeque to me is anything with barbeque sauce cooked any type of meat. Grilled is also cooked outside, but does not have a tomato based sauce on it.

Invite would be " I'm cooking some barbeque ribs..." or "I'm grilling some burgers and hot dogs..."

I noticed when we moved to CA from Va 40 yrs ago, they called grilling out bbqing. In Va we called it grilling and BBQ in VA was slow cooked pork and not beef

Wikipedia has a pretty detailed explanation of the term 'barbeque' and how it differs according to location. It is often used interchangeably with 'grill' and applies to both the method, the appliance, the items being cooked and the activity or gathering. In addition to many regional variations, there are also national ones. That surprised me a bit as we tend to think of this as a US practice but many countries barbeque/grill.

I have a Weber charcoal grill and a gas grill. Sometimes I barbeque on the grills and sometime I grill food.

Barbecuing here is outdoors cooking on a barbecue. Grilling is done indoors under a grill, an overhead radiant heat source, which all British cooker models have.

Barbecue includes both low and slow, and hot and fast cooking styles. As a low and slow cook, it doesn't matter whether the meat is beef, pork, venison, or some other dense meat that works well with a long cook at low temperature. It's just not possible to cook a Boston butt or a brisket over high heat and have it come out edible.

Chicken, on the other hand, and most fowl is better cooked fast and hot. As are most cuts of beef, brisket being the notable exception. Pork chops, lamb chops, and similar cuts of meat are also better cooked fast and hot. Most folks who use both cooking methods tend to call hot and fast cooking "grilling" instead of barbecue.

As someone who was a competition barbecue cook, I can tell you that we used both methods of cooking in a contest due to the variety of meats that had to be prepared. Those folks who scored well mastered both techniques. Those of you at home who wish to be pitmasters need also to hone your skills at both ends of the thermometer because there's no substituting one technique over another when it comes to the right one for your meat.

I grew up with Texas barbecue, which was generally cooked over mesquite wood/charcoal, and the meat was most often beef but also included pork and turkey, but not chicken. I also remember the sauce being rather minimal if used at all, and never sweet. I always liked the turkey best, and I do not remember it having any sauce. We did not go to any BBQ restaurants on our trip to Austin earlier this month.

I went to a Memphis style barbecue restaurant in San Luis Obispo (near Santa Maria), and the sauce was so sickeningly sweet that I had to throw it all away. I now know never to order Memphis style barbecue. I do like teriyaki sauce, which is somewhat sweet, but not to the point to be sickening.

I’m making barbecued ribs tomorrow … in a crockpot. https://leitesculinaria.com/84152/recipes-slow-cooker-barbecued-ribs.html#wprm-recipe-container-373013

I’m in the camp that says barbecue means it’s cooked with a sauce, usually on a grill, and if there isn’t a sauce but its cooked on a grill, it is just called grilled.

Floraluk2, in the US if it is cooked in the oven with overhead heat, it is broiled. Most all of our ranges have a broiler.

"Good barbecue don't need no sauce." - Ricky Ginsburg during an interview in 2006.

Ricky, DH and I were invited to be the guest judges (as opposed to the professional judges) at a backwater barbecue competition once. I found it fascinating! I was especially intrigued by the qualifications of the pro judges. I had no idea there were specialized classes/programs/seminars for judging barbecue! It was eye-opening to hear the pro judges discuss the various aspects of the category under consideration.

DSS competes with a team in the World Championship contest in Memphis every year. His team has never won, but they’ve placed highly in a couple of categories. DH and I visited him one year during the competition. Wow! What a sight!

I was surprised to learn a few years ago that the term BBQ comes from French - de la barbe à la queue - from the beard to the tail. It was when a whole animal was cooked over a fire on a spit. Here, any food can be considered BBQ food - from meats to fish and prawns, veggies, potatoes..... it's all good. A good all-round salad is a taboulé made with couscous, copious herbs and veggies. Or as Flora said, grilled veggies like sliced courgettes and aubergines. I love a salad of roasted peeled peppers with vinaigrette and anchovies. It depends on what meat we're eating. Most people love a potato salad with vinaigrette on it when the tatoes are still hot, a little finely chopped onion or spring onions, chives..... A middle-eastern infuence is nice on the BBQ with spiced grilled meats served with a selection of mezze.

For pud, I found people really enjoy a good cone with a lovely ice-cream in it. Childish pleasures that people forget how good they are.

Or for adults, I make lollies by making a lime syrup, blend some watermelon, add to the cold syrup and add vodka, or any other booze you like and freeze in lolly moulds. Very refreshing.

@bbstx - As a founding member of the Florida Barbecue Association, I trained hundreds of pro and backyard judges in the 11 years I participated in their events. The rules, in the early days, were changing quite frequently and we had to re-train judges all the time. As a pro judge, you eat some of the best and the worst barbecue you can imagine.

I judged the Memphis in May contest three times, always onsite. In fact, I judged around 20 MIM events and always as an onsite judge. It really is a world-class event with world-class parties on Friday night!

I've attended the American Royal World Series of BBQ held in Kansas City every fall several times and competed on an amateur team a couple times back in the early 90s. Friday night was always a big party as well as all of the teams stayed up all night tending the Q and drinking.

It has grown into the largest BBQ competition in the world and is now held at Kansas Speedway and fills up the entire infield of the track.

World Series of BBQ

"Good barbecue don't need no sauce." - Ricky Ginsburg during an interview in 2006.

It does if I am going to eat it. Without thick tomatobased sauce cooked into whatever meat, it is just smoked meat, not barbeque.

Back to the original question. sides are usually the normal three, potato salad baked beans, and slaw. I also make corn on the cob, potatoes on the grill, and sliced tomatoes. I would eat almost anything else, by hubby doesn't eat any squash or eggplant, etc.....

I have to agree with Ricky. Kansas City style BBQ is never sauced while smoking the meat. Most sauces have some sugar content which results in charring of the meat. A choice of sauces are usually served on the side. The key to great BBQ is the rub used not the sauce. Brisket is typically also injected with some type of acid based liquid 12-18 hours prior to smoking to help break down the tissue. I usually use a mix of Apple juice, apple cider vinegar, coke, and whiskey.

I have 2 brisket halves thawed that I am taking down to the lake cabin today. I'll inject them this evening and put them on the smoker early tomorrow morning.

I have a friend who makes the best brisket. I don’t know what he does to it, but I know he smokes it for a long time. It is fall apart tender when he finishes! Smoked brisket may be my favorite smoked meat.

Yeah, I know y'all like it, but I am from the lower parts of Alabama and Mississippi and the meat is cooked until almost ready to come off and then is basted with the sauce for 30 minutes an hour. It is put on the slow side, no direct heat, so the sauce the slowly cooks in. It does not char.

No Coke, absolutely no whiskey. I might baste a Boston Butt with apple juice.

Islay, that’s a cute story, but the dictionaries say origins like this from Merriam-Webster: American Spanish barbacoa framework for supporting meat over a fire.

Wikipedia has a concise review of the source material:

The English word barbecue and its cognates in other languages come from the Spanish word barbacoa, which has its origin in an indigenous American word. Etymologists believe this to be derived from barabicu found in the language of the Arawak people of the Caribbean and the Timucua people of Florida; it has entered some European languages in the form of barbacoa. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) traces the word to Hispaniola and translates it as a "framework of sticks set upon posts".

They also mention the nose to tail story as a ”folk etymology” (legend).

I don't know if it's the Spanish history of California that gave me the sense that first and formost, the barbecue was the structure, but I find that fascinating, compared to what it means to Sherry.

Bbstx, our grills (broilers) are not in the oven. They're separate so you can use the oven for one at the same time as grilling something something else.

Floral, is that with electric? Our gas ovens have a separate broiler, but the electric ovens do not. The high end electric ones have infrared elements. My German electric oven has the broiler inside, like American ones.

Yes, electric and gas. I've used German ovens with the grill in the oven. I found it annoying if you're used to having the grill separate. We use the grill a lot to avoid frying and for browning dishes. You can pop a slice of bacon under the grill while you're baking a cake, for example.

Our bacon is different, too. I've read that British bacon (what we might call ”back bacon” if it were actually available here) is from the loin, cured but not smoked, and served ”grilled”. The pictures show grill marks. American bacon is strips of pork belly, often (usually?) smoked, and usually fried in its own fat, though sometimes it's done laid out in a pan in the oven, when a large amount is wanted, still sizzling in its own fat, or (ick) suspended on ridges, platforms, etc., to drain off the rendered fat while cooking to make it into supposedly healthier cardboard when it's still cured and smoked and nowhere near a health food. (“Canadian bacon” is an American (USA) designation for back bacon (eye of loin) that is fully cooked (cured and smoked), which originally came from Toronto, according to Wikipedia. In Canada they do have the same kind of pork belly bacon we do.) I wouldn't be surprised if the grill was kept separate in British ovens in large part for grilling that bacon.

Sherry7b, DBIL brought some Duke’s Alabama White Barbecue Sauce last night. He’s in the food biz and had picked it up at a conference. Although I’ve heard of white barbecue sauce and always in conjunction with Alabama, I’d never had any. I liked it much more than I thought I would! Reminds me of a remoulade. I think it will be excellent with grilled shrimp.

Did Dreamland invent white barbecue sauce? Although I’ve tried to go to Dreamland several times when we’ve passed through Tuscaloosa, DH and I were never able to find it!

Bib Bob' Gibsons in Decatur AL.

https://bigbobgibson.com/

Widely recognized as one of the oldest and most prestigious barbecue restaurants in the world, Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q was founded in Decatur, AL in 1925. Bob Gibson was an L & N railroad worker who honed his cooking skills on the weekends, in a hand dug barbecue pit.

Along with delicious smoked meats, he became famous for his Original BBQ White Sauce. Five generations of pitmasters & over 90 years of barbecuing, they've earned 15 World BBQ Championships (Pork, Brisket, Ribs, Chicken) and 5 Memphis in May World BBQ Grand Championships.

ETA: It is for chicken and turkey. Haven't tried on shrimp. They don't cook the sauce into the meat the way I like, they do it like Ricky. I have to get down south of Gadsden, Montgomery or Dothan for that, even better Moblile.

ETA: Southern living's version.

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/white-bbq-sauce

Serious Eats suggestions for barbecue sides just hit my inbox. https://www.seriouseats.com/bbq-sides-7482267?hid=0bb21baec6119d4d6d54f4e64a39f85c8ef21b99&did=10160941-20230902&utm_source=seriouseats&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=serious-eats_newsletter&utm_content=090223&lctg=0bb21baec6119d4d6d54f4e64a39f85c8ef21b99

Our bacon can be from the back or side of the pig, either wet or dry cured and smoked or unsmoked. It can be bought as rashers or as a large piece. Grills are used for many things other than cooking bacon. Toasting bread, crumpets, teacakes etc, toasted cheese, browning the top of things like macaroni cheese, cooking sausages, chops or steaks, grilling oily fish like sardines or mackerel, and so on.

For years, I went through the headaches of trying to make an award winning barbecue sauce from scratch. Occasionally, I would cook with a friend of mine who always won every single sauce contest he entered. It took me a few years, but he finally gave me his secret recipe which I still use today:

Equal parts Kraft Original and Sweet Baby Ray's Honey barbecue sauces. Add a cup of fresh squeezed orange juice and shake well. I entered two sauces contests with this recipe. 1st place in one and last place in the other. Like I said, "Good barbecue don't need no sauce."

Floral, would you post a picture of your grill, please? I keep picturing what in a restaurant is called a salamander.

Like I said Ricky, "Maybe for you." For me without sauce it isjust cooked meat.

Ricky, Sherry, isn’t the sauce usually added at the end to keep it from burning. I was watching a video yesterday where the meat was smoked for 3 hours, then wrapped and cooked for 2 more hours, then put on the grill and mopped with sauce for the final hour.