What Distinguishes California Bbq


 
I grew up in the North Bay and have spent a lot of time on the CA central coast.
When I think of CA BBQ the first thing to come to my mind is sandwiches. Tri-tip, sausage, or roasted beef piled high on a French role.
Santa Maria rub is my go to and I make a lot of it…so it definitely left a lasting impression even though I moved north many years ago!
 
Aaron Lucas said:
That may be very true. Although when I was in florida the BBQ guys I talked to seemed to use a bunch of pecan wood and had the georgia/bama influence
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How long ago was that? Down here in South Florida, we have a great influence by our Cuban residents. Thank goodness we really like it.
 
Rich Dahl said:
Living in southern California from 1963 - 2002 Tri Tip was the thing I knew of mostly as a California thing. Although I really didn't get into BBQ until we retired and moved to Arizona, and I found this forum. It was interesting that I could buy tri tips by the boatload in the Dog Food (Marked down) section of any local Az store because no one here really knew what Tri Tip was. But in the last 20 years many Californians moved here and now no longer do you ever see a tri tip in the dog food section of the meat department or even see them at all.
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Yep. All the way up into the early 90s, Tri-tip was often on sale for $1.49/lb. in NorCal. Like every other cut, the price went up as popularity increased.
 
I like using almond for bbq.
It goes good with most everything.
I’m not sure if other states even have almond (ammen).

When I first started hanging out in the PNW a long time ago you could find a tri tip anywhere.
It has just been this last 5 or so years that it’s been somewhat common.

I think the Californian migration/influence brought that cut of meat there.
 
Oh and didn’t we Californians (cough cough Oakland Raider Nation) start the tailgate BBQ’s that has swept the entire country?
I don’t thing any place was doing that before us NorCal locals.
Lots of local diversity went into those cooks.
 
Joan said:
How long ago was that? Down here in South Florida, we have a great influence by our Cuban residents. Thank goodness we really like it.
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Recently, around 2019 although to be fair. I was in St Pete and also Crawfordville ( south of Tallahassee) So we were close to the FL/GA border. The Cuban food blew me away.
 
Bob Bass said:
Aaron, in your first message a couple of years ago, you mentioned a possible interest in competition. By chance, have you gotten ahold of the California Barbeque Association ( CBBQA ) ? If not, their website can be found here.
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I haven't yet. The dreams not dead but I haven't been proactive lol. Thanks for the link ! I just found the Magnolia BBQ competition next week. I'm going to attend and checkout what people are doing.
https://magonline.com/bbq/?fbclid=IwAR0q30dBl6hElMz7e6gKIUZSeSsyvcRDS2U1HTpDJowGPD1nG-JL7za5kY8 next week. It'll be my first
 
Brett-EDH said:
Total sidebar but I’m interested in trying this version:
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Funny you mentioned this. Around the holidays, I found cryopak Snake River Farms corned beef round in Costco. A fair amount of these "round" marked cuts were clearly the cap where Picanha is cut from. I bought about 4 of them. Still have one or two. They were fantastic.
 
Chuck-roaniecowpony said:
Funny you mentioned this. Around the holidays, I found cryopak Snake River Farms corned beef round in Costco. A fair amount of these "round" marked cuts were clearly the cap where Picanha is cut from. I bought about 4 of them. Still have one or two. They were fantastic.
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I still have a couple
Myself, I need to get going on one of them soon.
I smoke one last year, I may just go old school and boil one again. I LOVE me some corned beef so I want to keep the flavor close to what I remember.
 
I try to hit every bbq joint that has any decent recommendations in CA. Like most places, there is a lot of mediocre bbq out there. A lot of it is just plain economics. A place in Socal has to stay open during business hours to get customers and just can't make their lease nut on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday like some places in the south were real estate is much cheaper. I think they lease commercial space in socal by the square inch.

I agree, many bbq joints in CA are imported styles. Frankly, I think all bbq has some "imported" aspects. But I am a tri-tip lover and I'd love to hear about it's origins if anyone has insight. It appears to be closely related to Argentine style, at least the classic "Santa Maria grill". I love tri-tip so much that I eat it in many ways. Being in an area of the country where hispanic foods are part of the culture, I make tacos, burritos, and my wife makes enchiladas, from this cut after I smo-grill it. While I really like the coastal red oak smoked tri-tip, I use mesquite when I cook this cut at home. Not a lot of mesquite smoke, just a bit more than a kiss of smoke. Mesquite has a spicy flavor that is unique and fits beef nicely, especially a nice juicy medium rare slice of tri-tip, IMO.
 
Aaron Lucas said:
Outside California nobody seems to consistently know about tri tip. I believe it might be a santa maria cut. like the santa maria grills. not exactly sure about the history. but I've heard it came from southern california. If you are not on the west coast most stores don't offer the cut. What region of the US do you live? I've never had smoked pork loin.

I second everything you just said. I like that you included the grilling aspect too! Because so many of my memories revolve around grilled meats. You also brought up the infusion of multiple cultures' influence into the grilling scene, it was so second nature that I hadn't thought about it. You mentioning Carne Asada, Pollo Asado, and the Pizzas really put a lot into perspective. I'd say you are right on track with encapsulating the California BBQ experience. It's definitely a broad term and maybe we use BBQ a bit looser than in other parts of the country.
I wonder, is grilling not as much of a thing in the Slow Smoked meats BBQ parts of the country?? are they just doing steaks, burgers, and dogs? You may be onto something here.
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Been doing tri tip in Northern Illinois for at least 25 years now......
 
Chuck-roaniecowpony said:
It's pretty common for us to grill veggies to accompany bbq. I even did some no-meat cooks. View attachment 60528


But we also do some seafood grilling. I found some old pix of some of this. I think this is right in line with the CA bbq/grilling scene. In fact, many asian restaurants are open fire grilling here in socal.
View attachment 60529View attachment 60530
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Yes, grilled seafood! Very Californian!

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Grilled Thai shrimp and scallops with roasted peppers and artichoke spaghets in EVOO, fresh garlic and ghee

Another quick and simple dinner Chef’s 🧑‍🍳 plate
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Wife’s xx Birthday dinner (not xxx!)

Another successful trip around the Sun for my wife. So a seafood extravaganza it is for dinner. Grilled sprouts, scallops, lobster tails, shrimps, seared salmon along with pasta and cherry tomatoes, EVOO, butter garlic sauce.
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