Southern barbecue is a rather different beast from the drizzly affairs of the UK.. One I went to in Texas in 1969 involved a grill that looked like a steam train, with a fire at one end and a chimney at the other and a cow somewhere in the middle. The smoke passed through and around the meat for a day and we went shooting rabbits and came back and added them and anything else we could find. The result was succulent, smoky, tender and delicious - not the dried out, semi-cooked, sour-flavoured stuff I so dislike here. Memphis has a famous competition for Southern barbecue. Here there is debate about which type of aromatic wood charcoal to use, the recipe for the dry rub and how best to produce steam. They say a whole rack of meaty ribs should take around four hours to cook.
Here is a recipe for the dry rub. 2 tblspn each of salt, brown sugar, white sugar, paprika and ground pepper with a tspn each of ground cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne and celery salt. Combine and rub over the meat.
