Barbecue requires the mastery of many skills

Henrietta The Pig by Smokin' John Burke. Smoking and presenting a whole hog
is the ultimate challenge in barbecue.

Success in barbecue requires the knowledge and mastery of many different skills, including:

Wood:  the different types that are good for barbecue--how to cut, age and store logs;  sizes of logs and splits for different pits;  different kinds of charcoal (lump and briquettes);

Meat:  Traditional barbecue includes beef, pork and chicken.  Fish and other meats, such as sausage, goat, lamb, turkey and duck are also candidates for barbecue.  In barbecue contests sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, there are four cuts of meat that are always cooked in a contest.  These are barbecues 'Big Four' -- beef brisket, chicken, pork ribs (spare or back) and pork shoulder or butt.

Equipment:  Knowing the basic designs of types of barbecue pits;  how to select the pit that is right for you.  Knowing how to operate you smoker.

Rubs, brines, injections, mops (bastes), glazes and sauces:  how they help barbecue; how to prepare them; how to use them.

Fire control:  Barbecue is about fire, you must know how to start a fire; how  weather factors (temperature, humidity and wind) affect your fire; how to control your fire and smoke.

Serving barbecue:  Knowing how to cut and present the meat.

Side Dishes: What to serve with barbecue?  Lots of choices here, but the old stand-bys are: potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, mashed potatoes,  watermelon and banana pudding for dessert.

Art vs. science

Barbecue is part art and part science.  Art requires mastery of the senses -- to sense when the fire temperature is right or when meat is done.  

Barbecue also requires science -- to understand how the fire of  wood differs from the fire of charcoal or how the tissue of brisket differs from that of the tenderloin.

Different barbecue methods 

There are two fundamentally different but equally  "authentic" barbecue methods:

Direct:  cooking meat suspended directly over wood coals;  and

Indirect:  cooking meat in a chamber that is separate from the fire pit.

Barbecue 101