Among those predictions, Pellet-que and Expensi-que certainly came to pass. Pellet grills went mainstream and food prices (especially meat prices) continued to skyrocket.

As for Afri-que, well, such African grill specialties as suya (Nigerian chili spice beef kebabs) and yassa (Senegalese mustard-grilled chicken) did not become staples of American barbecue. At least not yet.

But grilling continues to evolve—as it has since a distant human ancestor called Homo erectus discovered you could cook food with fire. There’s no limit to what human ingenuity—and hunger—will deliver. So, here are my predictions for 2025:

Grilling Trends for 2025

High performance charcoal grills: After decades of subordination to propanes, charcoal grilling is staging a major comeback. Charcoal sales are up—especially in the premium category, like quebacho charcoal from South America or bincho-tan from Japan. Enter the high-performance charcoal grill. Mega social media influencer Derek Wolf of Over The Fire Cooking will launch his Fyr Grill Pro in 2025. This highly anticipated, and highly portable charcoal burner combines high design with functionality, complete with an asado style adjustable grate, built in kebab station, and even a cordless rotisserie. To pre-order it, click here. On the other side of the Atlantic, French grill master Mickael Bastard has created the Start ‘n Grill, a charcoal kettle with a high-tech electric ignition system that lights your charcoal in 2 minutes. You read that right—2 minutes! No more whining that charcoal grills take too long to light. Look for more high-end charcoal grills in 2025.

Whole steer cooking: You’ve heard of whole hog (both the idiom and the dish). Well, more and more pitmasters have turned to barbecuing a whole steer. And no one does it better than Javier Meija of Bigjavs BBQ and Al Frugoni of Open Fire Cooking. To cook a whole steer, you’ll need some special equipment, like an ax to split the backbone so you can butterfly the cow (just like you’d spatchcock a chicken). And a tractor with a hydraulic lift to hoist the 400+ pound carcass onto an oversize, heavy-duty barbecue cross. Don’t forget to raise a flag, so you can gauge the wind direction—very important for positioning your wood fire. You certainly need time—at 12 to 20 hours to cook your steer to smoky perfection. To learn more, watch Javier and Al’s instructional video. (see below) And don’t forget to invite me when it’s ready!

Barbecue goes ethnic: Earlier this year, I staged a PBS fundraiser in Kansas City. A local took me to the hot new barbecue joint in town, Buck Tui. Pulled pork eggrolls. Tiger cry beef. Thai sausage dumplings. Huh? What happened to Kansas City burnt ends and spareribs? The Thai-America fusion barbecue represents the latest trend in American barbecue, merging explosive ethnic flavors with traditional American smoked meats. What’s next? Cuban-American barbecue? It’s here, in my hometown already, at Miami’s Apocalypse BBQ, where empanadas and mango tangos share the menu with classic Texas-style brisket and baby backs.

Barbecue domes: I’m not quite sure what you call them: domes, grill cages or barbecue jungle gyms. You’ve seen them on social media and at a growing number of food festivals and grill fests. Giant metal cages formed from rebar, pipe and wire, positioned over a campfire. From them hang whole chickens, picanhas, lamb shoulders, racks of ribs, and all manner of whole vegetables and fruits. The man who pioneered these contraptions (called duomos in Spanish) is Argentinian grill maestro Francis Mallmann. (Yes, that Francis Mallmann—the author of the landmark book Seven Fires.) American pit masters have been quick adopt this singular open fire cooking structure and the robust, smoke-scented meal that it produces.

Griddles stand up: I mentioned this one last year, and the popularity of these stand-up, propane-fired outdoor griddles (at first glance they look like gas grills) continues to skyrocket. You know you can cook pancakes and eggs on a standup griddle, which is why people like them for breakfast. You know you can sizzle quesadillas and reuben sandwiches on these griddles, which is why people fire them up for lunch. But did you realize you can griddle a steak (they’re fantastic for those super fatty A-5 wagyu steaks from Japan)—in fact, that’s about the only way you can cook an A-5. And did you know you can actually smoke on a griddle? You’ll have to wait until April 29th for that one, when I reveal the secret to barbecue chicken with Alabama white sauce—yes, smoked on the griddle—in my new book Project Griddle!

Personal pizza ovens: The pizza oven in my backyard weighs 800 pounds and took 4 guys to shimmy into place. It requires 3 hours to heat up and consumes wood like a blast furnace. So I welcomed the advent of the personal pizza oven, as have as the millions of Americans who are adding them to their outdoor kitchens. Some run electricity, others on propane or pellets. All produce exemplary pies with push button, turn of the knob convenience, generally in less than 15 minutes. You can also use them for roasting steaks and seafood. Popular brands include Ooni, Solo Stove, and Gozney.

Photo: Serious Eats

Tomahawks everywhere: Some weeks ago, I was on vacation on St. Barts in the French West Indies. Virtually every restaurant I went to—French, Italian, Caribbean—had at least one super high-ticket item on the menu: a beef tomahawk. Earlier the year, I was in Abu Dhabi, and guess what seemed to be on just about every menu there: beef tomahawk. This oversize rib steak, with long rib bone attached, is turning up at steakhouses and high- end restaurants everywhere. At my local Milam’s supermarket, a 4-pound beef tomahawk (uncooked) costs $90 to $100. At the over-hyped and way over-priced Nusr-Et Steakhouse chain, a gold-plated tomahawk will set you back a grand. A beef tomahawk is a glorious steak, but it doesn’t need fools gold to make it better!

Cowboy butter everywhere: Three years ago, no one knew from cowboy butter. These days, you can’t scroll through Instagram or TikTok without it jumping off your screen. The basic elements are butter (duh), minced garlic or shallot (or both), parsley or other fresh herbs, and paprika, plus cayenne or hot pepper flakes to turn up the heat. Other flavorings might include mustard, horseradish or Worcestershire sauce. There are a least three ways to use cowboy butter: melted (for basting), creamed (for dipping and dolloping), and frozen (for slicing and melting atop grilled steaks). I’ll publish my recipe for this new American classic in January, 2025.

Photo: Southern Living

Picanha everywhere: When I started writing about barbecue, to sample picanha (pronounced pi KAN ya), you had to go to Brazil. It was worth the trip because this thin, oval roast (taken from the top sirloin), with its thick, snowy layer of fat, is one of the world’s most flavorful cuts of beef. Brazilians cut it crosswise into 3-inch strips, which they thread, like cents signs, onto rotisserie spits. Dine at a Brazilian steakhouse, and your waiter will shave paper-thin slices of spit-roasted picanha onto your plate. Seasoned solely with sea salt, it’s some of the best beef you’ll ever eat. Well, today, you don’t have to go to Brazil or dine at a Brazilian steakhouse to enjoy picanha, because the chances are you can find it at your local supermarket. And you don’t need a rotisserie, because you can direct grill picanha like a steak, just like they do in Argentina and Uruguay. Thanks to Derek Wolf of Over The Fire Cooking for this one.

Bone marrow everywhere: Back when I was a cooking student in Paris, os à la moelle, roasted marrow bones, was a staple at the neighborhood bistro where I often had dinner. I’d spread buttery nuggets of marrow (never enough) onto slices of grilled bread (designed to fill you up) and marvel how delicious this budget dish could be. My, how times have changed! Today, roasted marrow bones are a big ticket item, turning up at high end restaurants across the country. Hell, restaurants have even started offering bone marrow as a pay-to-play enhancement for steaks, chops, and other dishes. At the new live fire restaurant Osso Buco in Miami, for example, $19 will get you a side order of bone marrow. Thanks to the podcaster extraordinaire Greg Rempe of Barbecue Central for alerting us to this one.

Photo: Food and Wine

Expect More BBQ Pop-Ups and Food Trucks: With some notable restaurant closures in 2024 and high prices continuing for brick-and-mortar BBQ joints, pop-ups, food trucks, and takeout eateries are surging. These smaller operations are gaining more traction due to lower overhead and allowing pitmasters and chefs to stay fresh and creative. Pop-ups and trucks can also be more flexible regarding menu changes and focus on what resonates with their patrons. Noteworthy examples include Dampf Good Barbecue in North Carolina, Rosemeyer Bar-B-Q in Texas, Smoak Craft BBQ in Kansas City, and Smoked Spice BBQ in New York. Thanks Sean Ludwig and Ryan Cooper from the Smoke Sheet for this one.

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Time flies when you’re having fun, goes the saying. I can’t believe that 25 years have elapsed since the publication of my book, The Barbecue! Bible. In that time, we’ve seen many barbecue trends come and go. Some have been fleeting (remember the pig wing or pork shooter?). Others have become an indelible part of America’s culinary landscape (how about planked salmon or beer can chicken?). But all remind us that grilling and smoking aren’t just cooking techniques—they’re a passion and a way of life.

So as I look into my barbecue crystal ball, here are 10 trends I see for 2024.

So all you grill masters and pit masters out there: don’t quit your day jobs.

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Our version, created by our late colleague Rob Baas, is superior. Rob was a graduate of Barbecue University, a fire wrangler on Steven’s shows, and an invaluable recipe tester. He worked for McDonald’s as a teen, and knew he could create a live-fire rendition of the McRib (using actual pork ribs!). Which is why we now call the sandwich a “McRob.” It takes a little work and a longer cooking time than you might expect for pork ribs, but the results are well worth it.

His hack for deboning the ribs is genius. Thanks, Rob.

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So what do I see in my barbecue crystal ball? Here are nine trends that will shape how we grill and what we grill in in 2023.

Barbecue Trends for 2023

1. Budget-que:

You don’t need a degree in economics to know that inflation is hurting us all. I recently paid $7.50–$7.50!!—for a 20-ounce jar of mayonnaise. (Who ever thought that potato salad would become a luxury? Eggs are now over $5 per dozen) And don’t even talk about meat prices: with rib-eyes running $15 per pound and packer briskets topping $10 per pound, barbecue is becoming a rich man’s sport. So in 2023, we’ll see a return to traditional barbecue’s roots—that is, transforming inexpensive cuts of meat into gustatory wonders through the careful application of spice, wood smoke, and patience. Look for St. Louis-style spare ribs (in place of costlier baby backs); pork loins and tenderloins in place of pricier beef; pot roast (yes, you can barbecue it like brisket); and lamb, veal, and beef shanks. In the poultry department, load up on chicken thighs and leg quarters—hell, as the rest of the world knows, dark meat is juicier and more flavorful than white meat anyway. Among fish, those dark oily sea creatures, like kingfish, mackerel, and sardines, cost less and taste richer than their pricier white-fleshed cousins. Bottom line: Barbecue doesn’t have to be expensive to be good.

2. Rotisserie grilling goes prime time:

Over the past year, we at barbecuebible.com have noticed a curious phenomenon. Of our social media posts that went viral this year, half involved spit-roasting. Topping the list were our spit-roasted prime rib (4.3 million on Instagram and 3.5 million on Facebook) and rotisserie duck (1 million plus on Insta). We’re not alone. Big Green Egg added a rotisserie attachment to its accessory line and will launch a rotisserie basket in 2023. The Kalamazoo Gaucho Grill comes with a rotisserie heavy duty enough to handle a whole prime rib. Ditto with the new Father’s Cooker. There’s more to rotisserie grilling than the mesmerizing spin of the turnspit. The slow, gentle rotation insures even browning on the outside while keeping the meat moist in the center. The meat bastes in its own fat and juices. How’s that for a new turn on ‘cue?

3. Barbecue you’ve never heard of:

Just when you thought you knew all the exotic dishes on Planet Barbecue—from Peruvian anticuchos (beef heart kebabs) to Balinese sate—American grill masters continue to expand our horizons. This year, get ready to add three new terms to your grilling vocabulary: shipudim, chichinga, and inihaw. The first is Israeli barbecue—skewers of poultry, lamb, and vegetables scented with cumin, turmeric, and other Middle Eastern spices and grilled over charcoal. Check out the Israeli grilled game hens in my book Planet Barbecue. Chichinga refers to West African barbecue—spicy skewers of beef, lamb, or goat seasoned with a fiery blend of chili peppers, ginger, and ground peanuts. Experience it with the grilled beef with peanut flour in The Barbecue Bible. Iiahaw refers to Filipino barbecue—every imaginable cut of chicken, pork, and even seafood marinated with soy sauce and sometimes Sprite and served with a hyper-tart citrus fruit called calamansi. Here, too, we were ahead of the game with the lemongrass rotisserie chicken in Planet Barbecue.

4. Porchetta 24 / 7:

Born in the hills of Tuscany—or maybe in the meat markets of Rome—porchetta (pronounced “poor-ketta”) is to Italy what pulled pork is to the U.S. Which is to say, pig transformed by the restorative powers of garlic, fennel, fresh rosemary and sage and fire-roasted to fork-tenderness. Tradition calls for starting with a whole young pig, which you bone through the spine, slather with this pungent wet rub, and spit-roast to smoky perfection. American pit masters are applying the same seasonings to pork loins, bellies, and shoulders—and even other meats, like lamb and veal—doing their cooking in smokers or kamados. The result: Italian porchetta with American barbecue wood smoke. But don’t take my word for it: make a New Year’s resolution to try it yourself.

5. Pellet grills that really grill:

Pellet grills have been around for decades, but until recently, they were good for smoking and roasting and not much more. Despite the name, they simply didn’t get hot enough to do true grilling (that quick, high-heat method so well-suited to steaks, burgers, and chops). Thanks to new technologies, higher-end pellet grills made by companies like Traeger, Weber, and Green Mountain can reach temperatures that exceed 600 degrees. Pit Boss’s direct flame searing feature will likely be imitated by other pellet grill manufacturers. Want to know more about pellet grilling? Check out the Healthy Wood Pellet Grill and Smoker Cookbook by our own barbecuebible.com editor: Nancy Loseke.

6. Electric grills that smoke:

Electric grills don’t have much street cred in this barbecue community. At least not until now. But the fact is that many people—apartment dwellers and folks who lack an outdoor cooking area—simply can’t fire up a charcoal, gas, or wood-burning grill. Enter the Ninja IG651 Foodi Smart XL Pro, an indoor grill with multiple functions which uses a unique interior ventilation system to achieve the high searing temperatures (500 degrees) you associate with outdoor grills. And now Ninja has come out with a new grill for outdoor use; it is equipped with a smoker attachment that burns wood pellets: the Ninja Woodfire. The result: an electric grill that imparts the authentic barbecue flavor of wood smoke.

7. Fusion ’cue:

Smoked prime brisket with Thai green curry sauce? Barbecued chicken wings served with massaman spices? East meets West at Curry Boys BBQ in San Antonio—just one example of the sort of culinary fusion taking place at many new up and coming barbecue restaurants across the U.S. Khoi in Houston serves brisket pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) and beef rib dry ramen. (Khoi is the Vietnamese word for “smoke.”) Kyu in Miami, New York, and Mexico City serves garlicky sweet soy barbecued beef ribs and Asian-inflected duck burnt ends. (Where else do you get to eat barbecue with chopsticks?) In a nod to African grilling, Distant Relations in Austin pairs pulled pork with tamarind molasses barbecue pork (don’t miss the berbere-spiced carrot pickles on the side). As a longtime traveler on the world’s barbecue trail, I love this meshing of flavors and live fire cooking techniques from different cultures. So will you!

8. Multi-function grills:

It used to be that a grill was a grill was a grill. Today, a new generation of gas grills allows you to do so much more. The new Father’s Cooker from Quebec, for example, allows you to grill, griddle, roast, bake, smoke, steam, and even boil. (We’re using it on my new Planet Barbecue TV show to do a Gulf Coast Shrimp Boil with grilled Texas Toast.) Fire Magic’s Echelon Grill comes with a griddle insert, charcoal tray, smoker box, and of course, a rotisserie to deliver five grilling experiences in one sleek high tech package. The Handcock grill deftly combines charcoal and wood grilling with a sleek polished steel wrap-around plancha. They also offer a Santa Maria-style wood-burner attachment and 3 in 1 smoker box. What’s next—a grill that talks to your smartphone? Yes, that’s available, too, on many new grills, from the Green Mountain Pellet Grill to Traeger’s Ironwood 885 model.

9. Non-grill grilling (plancha grilling goes mainstream):

It looks like a grill. You hook it up to a propane cylinder as you would a gas grill. And although the Blackstone griddle doesn’t really cook over open flame, it has taken the outdoor cooking world by storm. The reasons are simple: effortless heat control, a complete absence of flare-ups, and the ability to cook a host of foods—from breakfast pancakes to dessert crepes—you simply can’t make on a conventional grill. No wonder these propane griddles have become one of the fastest growing segments of the outdoor cooking market. Purists may object. (Hey, I was one of them!) But the tradition of cooking on a live-fire heated slab is both ancient and universal. Think of Spain’s plancha, Argentina’s champa (championed by no less than Francis Mallmann), Japan’s teppan yaki, and the Mongolian grill (which, despite the name, was actually invented in Taiwan). When it comes to grilling delicate fish, like sole; liquid foods, like eggs; battered foods, like French toast, and a wide range of other ingredients you can’t really cook on a grill, you just can’t beat a plancha. Still skeptical? I like plancha grilling so much, I actually designed one, link and I use it on my charcoal and gas grill. I even toss wood chips on the coals, so I can smoke the food while I griddle it.

What are YOUR predictions for 2023?

From all of us here at barbecuebible.com: wishing you a happy and healthy New Year!

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I was confident no one had better strategies for finding these gems than Steven, who is the most indefatigable barbecue scout on the planet. (If you don’t have The Barbecue! Bible or Planet Barbecue in your personal library, add them now!)

Below are Steven’s invaluable tips for finding restaurants that serve some of the world’s best barbecue!

Tips for Finding the Best Barbecue Restaurants

Before you go…

Consult locals: In our experience, people are eager to share the names of their favorite barbecue joints. Just make sure their barbecue palates are similar to yours. (If they like their ribs to be fall-off-the-bone tender, beware.) Before the days of Google and Yelp and their ken, Steven and I were known to contact food writers from local publications (including newspapers) for their informed opinions. But today, online recommendations and testimonials are worth seeking out.

First, trust your senses: Let’s say you’re in the parking lot. Do you see a barbecue pit? Do you smell wood smoke? If you do, that’s a good sign you’re going to have an authentic barbecue experience. There should be a pile of wood outside. And hopefully, not just for show. Although, local codes often prohibit wood-burning equipment. So it’s possible the restaurant might have to rely on propane smokers. Not a deal-breaker, necessarily. But it could be a sign the food is cooked off-premises. (Have you ever eaten at an airport-based barbecue establishment? Ya. Like that.)

You can learn a lot from menus: Here again, the internet comes in handy. Many restaurants post their menus online. You can extract a lot of information from them. As Steven says, “Beware of large menus. The best barbecue joints are laser-focused, offering only a few options.” A big check-plus to restaurants who mention the provenance of their meats, whether beef, pork, or chicken. It shows they care about the quality of their ingredients. Beware of prices that seem too good to be true. Beef prices, for example, have risen nearly 20 percent in the past year, according to the Consumer Price Index. Budget barbecue is unlikely to be great barbecue.

From the menu, you can also see what sides the restaurant offers. Baked beans, cornbread, collard greens, mac and cheese, creamed corn, coleslaw, and even banana pudding all point to an authentic barbecue restaurant. Although we always give a high-five to fresh vegetable sides. And many restaurants are now offering plant-based options, which we also applaud.

If the restaurant posts closing times, that’s a red flag: The best barbecue joints simply close when the meat is gone. And that can be before lunchtime.

When you get there…

Long wait lines? Yes, wait lines are a good sign. Anyone who’s visited Aaron Franklin’s eponymous restaurant in Austin, Texas, knows that for a fact. Aaron has succeeded, he says, because he focused on doing one cut of meat, such as brisket, really well—mastering it, actually, before he moved on to the next. (See Steven’s “laser-focused” comment above.)

Observe the take-out customers: Are they carrying Styrofoam containers? That indicates, in Steven’s mind, a lack of respect for the environment.

Is the restaurant too bougie? Steven appreciates good old-fashioned counter service that sells meat by the pound. A hostess stand and an extensive cocktail menu is usually a bad omen. Although if a few well-chosen brews and/or bourbons are available, that could be a reason to relax stringent standards. Plain décor is okay. If the food is served simply on butcher paper or rimmed sheet pans (plates optional), Steven is all in.

Easy on the sauce: In certain parts of the country—Texas, for example—barbecue sauce added to brisket or ribs is an abomination. Pitmasters from Kansas City or the Carolinas would strenuously disagree. Do be aware, however, that barbecue sauce can be used to hide sins. Ask for it on the side.

We’d love to hear from you if you can add to our list! Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or Instagram!

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BBQ Trends for 2022

1. Move over salmon; make way for branzino: For many years, salmon was America’s default fish for grilling. High-end restaurants serve it wild; more budget-minded establishments serve farmed salmon—its price cheap, its texture soft as eiderdown. It became a fish reliably present whether technically in season or not. The new kid on the block is branzino, a delicate white-fleshed fish from the Mediterranean with a semi-firm flake and a buttery flavor. (Sometimes, it’s sold as European sea bass or loup de mer.) Weighing 1 to 2 pounds, branzino makes an ideal fish for grilling whole or in fillets, and its mild, sweet flavor makes it popular among a wide swath of piscivores. Much of it arrives farmed from Europe (hum—carbon footprint), but sometimes you can find wild branzino from Greece. In the upcoming season of Project Fire, watch me grill branzino over fennel stalks—the way they’ve done it for centuries on the French Riviera.

Branzino

2. African grilling: It was only a matter of time. That our unquenchable hunger for global grilling should take us to the place where grilling began: Africa. It was here— perhaps in what is now Kenya or Ethiopia or more likely in South Africa —that a distant human ancestor called Homo erectus first put food to fire. In the coming year, I predict you’ll be reading about and tasting a lot of African grilling, from yassa (Senegalese vinegar-, lime-, and scotch bonnet-marinated, grilled chicken or seafood) to suya (Nigerian peanut chile beef kebabs); from sosati (South African apricot and beef or pork skewers flavored with red wine and curry powder) to dibi (Senegal’s mustard-slathered grilled goat or lamb). And of course, there will be “stick meat”—West African beef kebabs flavored with powdered bouillon cubes and cayenne pepper. Small skewers? Maybe, but get ready for oversize tastes and a delectably different palate of flavors.

3. Frozen meat becomes cool: Oh, what a pandemic will do to long-held prejudices! Prior to Covid, I almost never ate frozen meat or seafood, and when I couldn’t get fresh, I ate tofu. Opening your freezer prior to firing up your grill always felt to me like cheating. Well, thanks to the shopping constraints imposed by Covid, coupled with the rise of boutique online meat purveyors, such as Crowd Cow, Holy Grail Provisions, Allen Brothers, and D’Artagnan, frozen meats have gone from stigmatized to chic. In fact, frozen is about the only way you can get A5 wagyu beef from Japan, for example, or lumina lamb from New Zealand, or grass-fed steak from any of a hundred small family farms scattered around North America. You can certainly make an argument that high quality meat frozen right at the processing plant is in better shape than fresh meat that has knocked around a supermarket cold case for a week. Just take the time to thaw it slowly—that is, in the refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours. Rapid thawing produces the mushy texture of what we used to think of as, well, frozen meat.

Crowd Cow

4. Rolled, stuffed, and grilled: Long before we had cookware, we had food and we had fire. Originally, we wrapped food in leaves, like banana leaves or cabbage, for roasting in the embers. This kept the filling moist and gave the wrapper a delectable smoke flavor. Over the centuries, we’ve created a whole family of wrapped, rolled, and grilled dishes–from German Spiessbraten to Italian porchetta to belt-loosening Cajun turducken. I bet we’ll be seeing a lot of two South American rolled, stuffed, grilled dishes this year: pamplona and matambre. The former is a chicken breast stuffed and rolled around salty ham, sweet prunes, crunchy red bell peppers, and hard-cooked eggs—the ensemble grilled over wood fire. Matambre, literally “hunger killer” in Spanish, features a butterflied flank steak stuffed and rolled with sausage, ham, cheese and vegetables, swaddled in bacon (OK, the later might be my contribution to this traditional Argentinean recipe) then grilled. So get ready to wrap, roll, and grill, using techniques that are as universal as fire and nearly as ancient as grilling itself.

pamplona-of-chicken

5. Barbecue will survive and thrive—everywhere: Covid 19 wreaked havoc on the restaurant industry—and that’s as true for barbecue joints as it was for fine dining establishments. Labor shortages, soaring meat prices, mask polemics, and social distancing—it’s a wonder why anyone would want to continue in this business, much less open a new restaurant. But American barbecue continues not only to survive, but proliferate—not only in the U.S., but around the planet. From a barbecue superstore in the Czech Republic (check out www.grilovani.cz) to a pitch-perfect restaurant called Smoke Texas Barbecue in Tours, France. From a popular barbecue society with a huge membership in Mexico (https://soyparrillero.mx) to a booming barbecue retail empire, BBQ Quebec, run by my French-Canadian friend, Maxime Lavoie. Closer to home, expect shorter hours, smaller staffs, and more limited menus, as American barbecue restaurants continue to navigate the recovery from Covid. Look for more ethnic barbecue influences, from Mexican to Korean to Vietnamese. But rest assured that barbecue restaurants are alive and well and only getting better!

Rodney Scott in Charleston

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So what do I see in my barbecue crystal ball for the coming year? Lots more smoke, lots more fire, killer grilling, and epic eating. Here—is part 1 (and part 2) and in no particular order—my predictions for 2022!

BBQ Trends for 2022

1. Influential ’cue: When I started in barbecue in the early 1990s, social media didn’t exist. Influencers were better known as lobbyists—charged with swaying the minds and purse strings of politicians. Today, some of the world’s most cutting-edge barbecue takes place on social media. Scroll through the images on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok, and you’ll find grilled and smoked dishes of astonishing ingenuity. Among the influencers I personally follow are Over the Fire Cooking, Live Fire Republic, Hey Grill Hey, Grillin’ Fools, Grilling with Dad, Girl Carnivore, Max the Meat Guy, and Grill Girl. Of course, I hope you follow me on Instagram @StevenRaichlen, or at stevenraichlen.com, where you can access the recipes from my shows, including all seasons of Project Fire and Project Smoke.

Susie Bulloch and Derek Wolf

2. Wagyu everything: When I wrote my first barbecue book, The Barbecue! Bible, wagyu was an esoteric cattle breed found exclusively in Japan. Today, it’s everywhere—from restaurant menus to online butcher shops—across America and around the world. Wagyu (“Japanese cow,” literally) refers to several cattle breeds developed in Japan over the centuries for their tender meat, rich flavor, and generous intra-muscular marbling. More affordable are American and Australian wagyu—meat from descendants of Japanese steers brought here and Down Under in the 1970s. More affordable still is ground wagyu beef, and I assure you, it makes a hell of a smash burger.

Wagyu Steer and Farmer

3. A5 is the new Prime: The highest rating for Japanese beef is A5—meat so extraordinarily well-marbled, that when raw, it looks like white lace over a red cloth. (It makes American prime beef seem downright lean.) It’s special occasion steak—sold by the ounce or gram and eaten in small quantities in a way that resembles our approach to foie gras. The best way to cook A5 beef is on a plancha or in a cast iron skillet, so you don’t lose all that luscious fat to the flames. The city of Kobe in the Hyogo Prefecture in southeastern Japan is famed for its A5 wagyu (basketballer Joe Bryant loved eating it so much, he and his wife named their late son Kobe). Other fabled Japanese beef locales include Saga, Tajima, and Kagoshima Prefecture.

Left – Typical U.S. cuts / Right – A5 Wagyu Steaks from Japan

4. St. Louis barbecue: Quick: Name America’s great barbecue cities. Austin. Kansas City. Dallas. Memphis. I bet you didn’t think of St. Louis. But this metropolis at the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers gave us America’s first bottled barbecue sauce (Maull’s—introduced in 1926) and a distinctive cut of sparerib called the St. Louis rib. St. Louis boasts a host of unique local specialties—from pork steaks (cut from the shoulder and direct grilled with tomato-based barbecue sauce) to turkey ribs (really—think clavical) to snoots (barbecued pig snouts). The Gateway City is currently experiencing a barbecue renaissance, with sizzling new live fire restaurants, like Beast by David Sandusky and the Balkan Treat Box (specializing in Bosnian grilling), alongside such classics as Pappy’s Smokehouse and Salt + Smoke. And St. Louis barbecue is about to get more love on my Project Fire TV show on Public Television, taped at St. Louis’ Union Station and launching in May, 2022.

Beast by David Sandusky

5. Ground meat kebabs: Shish kebab. Spiedini. Satay. Cubed, skewered grilled meat is common currency on the world’s barbecue trail—prized for its convenience (cooking implement and serving stick rolled into one) and for its in-your-face flavors. Equally popular, but somewhat less familiar in the U.S., are ground meat kebabs. Like India’s seekh kebab (minced chicken blasted with ginger, coriander, and chiles). Or Uzbekistan’s lula (lamb buzzed with onions, cilantro, and cumin). Or kubideh, Iran’s peppery minced beef and onion kebabs. Or Turkish adena kebab (ground lamb fired up with Aleppo peppers and garlic). Or Japan’s tsukune, sancho- and togarashi-spiced ground grilled chicken skewers. The list goes on and on. Sounds exotic, but all the recipes can be found in my The Barbecue Bible or Planet Barbecue link. Think of these as meatballs grilled on a stick and don’t think of your next grill session without trying them.

Want more? Here are 5 more predictions for 2022!

What do YOU see in your barbecue future? Predicting a trend? Let us know on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or Instagram!

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2021 BBQ and Grilling Trends

1. Vegetables 24 / 7

2021 will be the year of the grilled vegetable. I sure hope so, as in May, Workman Publishing will bring out my 31st book: How to Grill Vegetables. Of course, we’ll continue to grill veggie standbys, like peppers, corn, and zucchini. But we’ll also start grilling vegetables we would never have imagined, such as okra, snap peas, and brussels sprouts on the stalk. We’ll use edgy grilling techniques once reserved for animal proteins, from ember-roasting to salt-slab grilling to hay-smoking. We’ll spit-roast whole cauliflowers as we do chickens and “cheesesteaks” made with grilled mushrooms and rutabaga “cheese whiz.” Hardcore carnivores will grill veggies for their health benefits and as killer accompaniments for our favorite grilled meats. Vegetarians and vegans will grill vegetables for the smokiness and supernatural sweetness live fire imparts to plant and dairy foods.

These are the vegetables we will grill in 2021: According to our friend Robert Schueller of Melissa’s (a great source for mail order vegetables), we ate a lot of potatoes in 2020 (hey, they’re the ultimate comfort food). In 2021, we’ll upgrade to heirloom varieties, such as Baby Dutch Yellows, Ruby Golds, and French Rattes. We’ll certainly be grilling shishito and padron peppers (the former originally from Japan; the latter from Spain; both with a pleasing herbaceous flavor and moderate heat). We’ll grill slender Chinese eggplants and exotic mushrooms. We’ll grill chayotes, those pear shaped- and sized-squash from the Caribbean basin. Look for exotic new vegetables to grill, like Romanesco (a cross between broccoli and cauliflower) and calcots, scallion size leeks from Spain.

2. Grilled Vegetables as Culinary Building Blocks

Our fire wrangler, Steve Nestor, predicts that we’ll use grilled and smoked vegetables as ingredients, not just side dishes, to make complex condiments and main courses, like smoked vegetable stocks and soups, ember-roasted tomato sauce, and grilled vegetable frittatas. Thanks, Steve.

3. Spice Rubs You’ve Never Heard Of

Za’atar? Been there. Garam masala? Done that. (In case you’re new to the party, the former is a thyme, sumac and sesame seasoning from the Middle East, while the latter is a spice blend from India. I predict that 2021 will be the year of spice rubs many of us have never heard of. Like dukkah, an Egyptian seasoning made from roasted nuts, sesame and other seeds, and spices (including cumin and coriander)—it’s terrific on grilled fish and sweet potatoes. Or panch phoron, a Bengali blend that blasts your palate with exotic aromatics such as black cumin, black mustard, fennel, fenugreek, and nigella (onion seed). Or sharena sol, a Bulgarian finishing salt perfumed with paprika, cumin, and summer savory. (Try it on grilled chicken and eggs.).

To satisfy our insatiable hunger for flavor, culinary explorers, like Chris Kimball, publisher of Milk Street magazine, will keep scouring world cuisines for the next big spice rub. Perhaps you know of a rub we’ve never heard of: please let us know in the comments!

4. African Grilling

Live fire cooking originated in Africa (archeologists recently discovered an one- million year-old hearth—the world’s oldest—in a cavern in Langebaan, South Africa). So it’s only fitting that we should return to the grilling of the continent where barbecue began. Africa offers some amazing grilling, from the mechouie, pit-roasted lamb (served with cumin and salt) of Morocco to South African braais—lavish outdoor cookouts that turn a meal into an afternoon’s entertainment. Along the way there is suya, Nigerian beef kebabs (seasoned with crumbled bouillon cubes and hot peppers); dibi, mustard- and onion-blasted Senegalese grilled chicken and fish; sosate (South African shish kebab—yes, you can make it with ostrich), and rooster brodje (grilled cheese and chutney sandwiches). Also kati kati, African grilled chicken.

Look for African barbecue sauces, ranging from chermoula (Moroccan tomato vinaigrette) to monkey gland sauce, a chutney- and ketchup-based condiment rumored to have originated at the Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg. (Rest assured—no primates perished in its preparation.).

5. Black Chefs Matter

Much traditional American barbecue was developed by African slaves and their descendants on southern plantations. And the first great barbecue joints in places like Kansas City were pioneered by Black pit masters, like the legendary Henry Perry and Arthur Bryant. The Black Lives Matter movement has rightly refocused our attention on the Black contribution to American barbecue, and to a new generation of Black pit masters.

Desiree Robinson, owner of Cozy Corner in Memphis, recently became the first Black woman to be inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame. Rodney Scott of Charleston, South Carolina, is coming out with a new book in March: Rodney Scott’s World of Barbecue. (We love his slogan: “Every day is a good day.”) Other books to look for in 2021 include culinary historian Adrian Miller’s Black Smoke: African Americans and the United States of Barbecue (University of North Carolina Press) and rocket scientist (really) and pit master Howard Conyers’ book on the African American roots of the art of barbecue.

6. Mixed Method Grilling

It used to be that grilling meant grilling and smoking meant smoking. Then came reverse searing, which combined the two (slow-smoking a thick steak to an internal temperature of 110 degrees, then flash searing it directly over a hot fire to lay on a sizzling crust. Our Facebook friend Brandon Nelson predicts even more mixing of techniques in the future: sous vide-ing a prime rib, for example, then roasting it on the rotisserie. Or starting chili in an Instant Pot, then finishing in the smoker.

7. Wood Oven Cooking

Wood-fired ovens have been with us for millennia, but more and more of us are installing them in our homes and outdoor kitchens. During lockdown, I fired up my Chicago Brick Oven not just to cook pizzas and bread, but to roast fish, rack of lamb, potatoes and other vegetables, chestnuts, and even apples and pears for dessert. I learned to do tiered cooking in my wood burning oven, raising the food on piles of bricks to sear the crust and infuse it with wood smoke. (Heat and smoke rise in a wood burning oven.). I love how my wood burner combines the searing of a grill with the roasting of an oven.

8. The New Wave of Wireless Thermometers

This will be the year of the wireless thermometer—pioneered by such companies as Meater, Yummly, and Maverick. It’s about time! The drawback of yesteryear’s remote thermometers were the wires, which kept you tethered to your grill. And try using a wired thermometer probe on a roast or bird spinning on your rotisserie. Wireless thermometers eliminate these drawbacks. The only hitch: occasional connection glitches. And limited battery life, with an average of 3 hours per charge. That’s great for steaks, chops, chicken, and small roasts. But when you cook a 12-hour-plus packer brisket, you’ll need several thermometer probes you can insert at 2 1/2 hour intervals.

9. Brioche Buns

Marie Antoinette did not say “let them eat cake.” When confronted with the lack of bread for her starving peasants, the French queen actually proclaimed: qu’ils mangent de la brioche (“let them eat brioche”). This egg- and butter-rich bread (1/2 pound butter and 3 eggs per loaf!) has been the pride of French bread bakers for centuries, but like most luxury items, it has gradually worked its way into the American mainstream.

My local supermarket sells no fewer than three (!) brands of brioche hamburger and hotdog buns, and while the mass market version lacks the exquisite silky richness of the artisanal product, brioche rolls beat conventional hamburger and hotdog buns hollow. Use them to upgrade your burgers, sliders, sausages and hotdogs, not to mention brisket sandwiches and pulled pork.

Tip: Should they go stale before you have a chance to eat them, brioche buns make exceptional breadcrumbs. One good brand is Brioche Pasquier.

10. Plant-Based Charcuterie

Move over prosciutto and speck. Make way for watermelon ham, smoked carrots and burdock root “meat sticks.” Plant-based charcuterie is coming our way bigtime. I know it sounds like an oxymoron. After all, “charcuterie” draws from the French words chair, which translates as flesh, and cuite, which means cooked. Here, though, the flesh arrives from the garden, not from the butcher. In the coming year, we’ll see carrot “hotdogs”, tofu “ham”, and other cured and smoked vegetables—prepared by some very serious and seriously carnivorous chefs, like Will Horowitz of Ducks Eatery in Manhattan and Jeremy Umansky of Larder in Cleveland.

Finally, in 2021, keep on the lookout for:

• Grilled avocados
• Smash burgers you cook on your plancha on your grill
• Pork belly burnt ends
• Crown rib roasts made from baby backs
• Wild local shrimp, like Key West pinks and West Coast spot prawns
• Smoked queso fundido
• Sourdough pizzas
• Grilling cheeses, like Bonfire and halloumi
• Fusion que, such as Tex-Mex barbecue (try it at Valentina’s Tex Mex BBQ in Austin) and Gangnam-‘Que (a fusion of Korean and American barbecue)—try it at Heirloom Market Barbecue in Atlanta.
• Grill shacks or shanties (man caves reborn into grill shacks)
• Santa Maria-style grills with raisable and lowerable grill grates

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Normally, when I write this annual trends blog, I’ve spent 3 to 4 months traveling Planet Barbecue, and this allows me to report on grilling trends observed at home and abroad.

This year, like most of us, I’ve been confined to my home—except for a brief trip to Baltimore to tape Project Fire Season 3 (launching in April). And even during that taping, we had a locked set, venturing no further than the confines of the lovely Pearlstone retreat center.

So for part one of this year’s trends blog, I’m largely relying on you! I asked my Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers what trends they’ve observed. The results have been both predictable (sadly) and encouraging.

2020 BBQ and Grilling Trends

1. More Grilling:

A nation confined at home grills at home, and we’ve been grilling a lot more than ever before. That means firing it up 4, 6, or 7 times a week—even during the winter. (Hum, sounds like my house.) Charcoal and wood sales have skyrocketed and grill companies can’t keep their best-selling models in stock. And that’s true whether they sell inexpensive charcoal-burners or five figure stainless steel super-grills.

2. More Smoking:

Thanks to Covid, we’ve also been smoking at home a lot more. Brisket, bacon, and pastrami are just a few of the slow-smoked foods you’ve regaled me with on your social media feeds. Smoking takes time, and time is something most of us have had a lot of. Thanks to this newfound smoke mania, my 4-year-old book, Project Smoke, recently hit the Amazon 100 Top Bestsellers list. (Thanks everyone!)

3. More Mail Order Meats:

To keep at a safe social distance, we’ve been ordering record amounts of meat and other foods by mail. Mail order meat companies, like Crowdcow.com, Allenbrothers.com, and Dartagnan.com have seen business explode. Mail order has enabled us to grill cuts not normally found at the supermarkets, like beef cheeks, veal tomahawk steaks, and A5 (the top grade) wagyu from Japan.

4. Greener Grilling:

To offset some of the global warming caused by fossil fuel dependent air freight, many mail order companies have switched from Styrofoam to eco-friendly coolers made from cellulose and cornstarch. Crowd Cow ships in Green Cell Foam from KTM Industries—you can recycle the coolers in your garden or dissolve them in water.

5. Smaller Cuts of Meat for Smaller Gatherings:

With social distancing and smaller gatherings, a lot of us have been grilling and smoking smaller meat cuts this year: turkey breasts instead of whole turkeys; pork chops instead of Boston butts; hanger steaks instead of whole beef tenderloins. That’s not to say I haven’t seen some amazing brisket and bacon photos on social media. Happily, the latter freeze well.

6. Lots of Carryout to Support Our Local Restaurants:

We’ve been grilling at home, but we’ve also been eating at home, and for this we’ve been ordering carryout from our local barbecue restaurants. And we tip well with each order. Restaurants have suffered terribly this year, and every carryout order helps them hang on until the world re-opens

7. More Pellet Grills:

2020 was the year of the pellet grill, with new models proliferating like mushrooms after a rainstorm. Even the iconic charcoal kettle grill manufacturer, Weber, got into the act with its pellet-fueled SmokeFire grill. Pellet grills also got smarter: I now use my iPhone to operate my Green Mountain Daniel Boone pellet grill.

8. Comfort Food and Wacky Food:

In these stress-filled times, we’ve been cooking comfort food like never before. Brisket. Pork shoulder. Chili. And, of course, mac and cheese. (Yes, the latter is good in the oven or Instapot. But it’s even better in the smoker or on the grill.) We’ve also been doing some wacky grilling, like bacon-wrapped Oreo cookies. I repeat: bacon-wrapped Oreo cookies. Yes, it’s a thing, and the contrast of smoky salty bacon and sweet cream-filled cookie works better than you might think!

In our next blog, I’ll share my barbecue predictions for 2021. Until then, wishing you a safe, happy, healthy—and Covid free—New Year!

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But there are other ways to engage the power of live fire. And there’s no better time than now, when most of us are depending on our grills to not only provide our loved ones with home-cooked meals, but—let’s admit it—to relieve the daily boredom of social distancing. Here’s an introduction to the techniques you’ll want to add to your repertoire as the grilling season heats up.

New Ways to Use Your Grill or Smoker

Plancha Grilling

Plancha is the Spanish word for a griddle; it is traditionally made of cast iron. (It is called a champa in South America.) A plancha is usually heated over a wood fire, which allows you to sear, saute, and pan-fry as you would in a cast iron skillet. Work over medium-high to high temperatures, depending on what you’re cooking. It’s a good choice for delicate foods that would fall apart on the grill grate, such as flounder, sole, and other fish fillets; bay scallops or shrimp; snap peas; shishito peppers; strips of chile peppers or bell peppers; breads; even eggs.

Plancha Grilling Recipes:

• Cowboy Rib Eye A La Plancha With Crispy Brioche Salad And Grilled Dates
• Plancha-Grilled Duck Breasts With Fresh Cherry Salsa

Smoking with Herbs and Spices

You can lay fragrant fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme directly on the grill grate and smoke fish, poultry, and other foods on top of them. Or toss bunches of fresh or dried herbs and spices directly on the coals. When Steven makes Jamaican jerk, he adds whole allspice berries and/or cinnamon sticks to the fire.

Smoking Recipes with Herbs and Spices:

• Jamaican Jerk Chicken
• Tea-Smoked Duck With Hoisin Barbecue Sauce

Spit-Roasting (Rotisserie Grilling)

Spit-roasting is one of the oldest methods of live-fire cooking. It combines the virtue of direct grilling (direct exposure to the fire) with that of indirect grilling (cooking next to, not directly over the fire). The gentle rotation helps the food cook evenly without the risk of flare-ups while it bastes itself. The results? Large cuts of meat (or whole animals, including chickens) with a savory seared surface and an extraordinarily moist interior.

• For a kettle grill, set up the grill for indirect grilling. Place the rotisserie collar on the kettle and attach the motor to the mounting bracket. Install the spit, securing the end in the socket, and switch the motor on.
• For a gas grill, light the rear rotisserie burner (a feature on many higher-end gas grills). Install the rotisserie motor and spit following the manufacturer’s instructions.
• Some kamado-style cookers, like the Excalibur, come with a rotisserie attachment. (Aftermarket units are available for some cookers.) Follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Salt Slab Grilling

Salt slabs are newcomers to the world grill scene, but we’ve embraced them with gusto. Steven uses these thick rectangles of pink salt from Pakistan often, as a plancha, grilling plank, grill press, as a savory platform to rest steaks and chops, and even as a serving platter. To use, place the salt slab (or slabs) on your grill and set it up for indirect grilling Preheat to medium-high to high. Salt slab grilling is well-suited to whole fish or fillets; steaks or chops; chicken breasts; slices of eggplant, onions, squash, or other vegetables; fruit.

Salt Slab Grilling Recipes:

• Mark Bitterman’s Salt Brick Grilled Chicken
• Salt Slab Chocolate Brownie S’Mores

Smoking with Hay, Straw, Pine, or Spruce

Richard Dallett

Grasses and leaves can be used for smoking. Place them on the grate or in a grill basket or grill wok over a hot fire with the food arranged on top of them. As the grasses or leaves burn, the food smokes and cooks.

Smoking with Hay and Spruce Recipes:

• Spruce-Grilled Steak
• Hay-Smoked Burgers With Rauchbier Cheese Sauce

Leaf Grilling

Long before there were grill grates, people wrapped foods in banana, squash, grape, and other leaves, and cooked them in campfires. Leaf grilling introduces an inimitable herbaceous smoke flavor to any food (often seafood) cooked inside of it.

Note: For an interesting variation on leaf grilling, wrap the food in cedar grilling paper and char over a hot fire.

Leaf Grilling Recipes:

• Singapore-Spiced Halibut In Banana Leaves
• Trout Grilled In Grape Leaves

Cavemanning (Grilling in the Embers)

This is it—the original grilling method pioneered nearly 2 million years ago by our ancestor, Homo erectus. This theatrical method requires no grill grate, just a nice pile of coals. Although similar to direct grilling, caveman grilling gives you a crustier exterior and smokier flavor, the result of varying heat zones and micro-charring of the meat. Build a charcoal fire out of natural lump charcoal and rake the embers out with a grill hoe or garden hoe. Fan the fire with a fan, folded newspaper, or hair dryer to dislodge any loose ash. Lay the food directly on the embers. Try cavemanning steaks or chops (at least 1 inch thick), vegetables like eggplant, cabbage, bell peppers, sweet potatoes, corn, onions, etc. Ember-roasted shellfish are also delectable.

Cavemanning Recipes:

• Ember-Roasted Corn
• Caveman Strip Steaks With Bell Pepper Pan-Fry And Smoky Potato Salad

Plank Grilling

When the first Europeans settled in Connecticut, they encountered native Americans grilling shad fillets on upright boards around a bonfire. Which is to say, that while plank grilling might seem new, it isn’t. What is new is the way we grill—charring the plank without soaking it first. We use this technique to grill everything from salmon to Camembert. The technique is also useful for grilling shrimp and other shellfish, and even fruit.

Plank Grilling Recipes:

• Plank-Smoked Camembert
• Barbecued Salmon With Brown Sugar Butter Glaze

What’s your favorite alternative way to grill? Share them with us on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or Instagram!

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