Fifty-fifty in urban centers like New York City, there is no shortage of blackened briskets or vinegar-laced pulled-pork sandwiches to sample. But merely because more than smoke chambers and chopped forest piles are popping up around the country, doesn't mean we're any closer to penetrating the underground BBQ fraternity—a sub-culture of moonshine-sipping folks united by sauce-stained shirts, the scent of smoke, and a whole lotta jargon.

That tribalism was on display in spades at last week's Windy City Smokeout, a three-day feast of meat, state music, and arts and crafts beer sprawled out in the parking lot of the Chicago Tribune. "It's like an onetime-time family unit picnic," says Garry Roark of Ubon's Barbecue in Yazoo Metropolis, MS, one of the event'southward nine featured pitmasters—which also included heavy-hitters like Skip Steele of Pappy's Smokehouse, Scott Roberts of the Salt Lick, John Stage of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, Barry Sorkin of Smoque BBQ, and Lee Ann Whippen of Chicago q.

In keeping with this all-in-the-gang mentality, the smoked-meat elite abides past its own set up of slang, a coded globe that Doug Psaltis of Bub Metropolis says he picked upwards "just by hanging out on the rig." Oft the chosen vocab is personal, like when Kelly Dallas of Hogapalooza says, "We jacked that up" at the sight of an imperfect rack of ribs, or when Charlie McKenna of Lillie'southward Q singles out an specially attracting batch of tri-tip as "cash money." But some linguistic communication, while indecipherable to outsiders, is universally understood amidst the pros.

We rounded up a grouping of pitmasters at Windy Urban center Smokeout to come upwards with a glossary of in-the-know BBQ terms.

Pit Boss

Also heralded as the pitmaster, this is the sweaty, greasy badass who presides over the red-hot coals to create smoky, char-encrusted proteins of perfection.

Deckle

The smaller musculus of the brisket (besides referred to asthe point), the deckle is a fatty, marbled cut preferred by brisket aficionados.

Fat Cap

A thick layer of fat between the skin and flesh. Its presence ensures a piece of meat is flavorful and tender. Whether brisket should be cooked with the fat cap up or downward is a long-continuing argue amidst pitmasters.

Burnt Ends

These morsels of smoked brisket—crispy, fatty bark $.25 (encounter below)—are a delicacy, especially in Kansas Urban center. They likewise go by the playful name of meat candy.

Bark

The flavorful outer layer of crust that forms on a brisket.

Mr. Brown

The night, crunchy exterior of whole-squealer barbecue.

Miss White

The lite, moist interior of whole hog barbecue.

Mr. Brown Goes to Town

Refers to the Memphis ritual of adding crunchy pieces of pork to sandwiches.

Chipped mutton

A Kentucky specialty where a choice of bawl and meat from mutton ribs, neck, and shoulders are mixed in a dip liquid.

White Sauce

A specialty of Alabama, this zesty mayo-based concoction typically dresses BBQ chicken.

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Photograph: Justin Bolois

Crash in the Smoker

Sometimes meat lined up in the smoker sways off the track. When it does lose its rest, the collision is deemed a crash in the smoker.

Crutch

Preserving meat's mail service-burn life is just as of import an undertaking as smoking. Wrapping, say, pork shoulder in butcher paper helps absorb grease and create a protective shield—that'southward the crutch.

Texas Crutch

For brisket, star of the Lonely Star State, many pitmasters adopt nestling it in aluminum foil. A cinch style of belongings in moisture, the technique preserves extra-succulent slices.

Shiner

Shiners should exist avoided. When a rack of ribs bares exposed bones, information technology means too much meat has been butchered off. The bones, therefore, "smoothen through" the meat.

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Photo: Liz Barclay

Mop

Brushing this vinegar-based sauce on a piece of meat earlier cooking adds a burst of flavour and caramelization.

Injection

Stabbing a syringe total of marinade—every pitmaster has his or her own recipe—is a common style to infuse meet with extra flavour.

Blowout

Juicy skin sometimes gets bruised due to overheating or a scratch that swells nether fire. This is when a pitmaster has a blowout on their easily.

Broad and narrow

How to describe a rack of rib'due south girth.

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Photo: Justin Bolois

Fume Band

Smoking meat leads to a release of nitric oxide and carbon monoxide. When combined with myoglobin, a protein establish in the meat, a coveted pink hue chosen the "fume ring" appears but underneath the bark. Oft considered the sign of a good brisket.

Blue Smoke

Refers to that magical moment when the smoke coming off the flame is lightly tinged blue. This is the optimal time for throwing meat onto the smoker.

Ability cook

If a pitmaster is behind on his or her cooking, cranking upwardly the heat to overcompensate is a must.

Coin Muscle

This choice piece of pork, located high on the shoulder, is moist and flavorful. A its name implies, it frequently pulls in the loot during competitions.

smoke
Photograph: Justin Bolois

Shiggin'

When slick pitmasters spy on their competitors to uncover BBQ secrets, the covert practice is called shiggin'.

Jiggle

Properly cooked brisket volition quiver when touched.

Cascade

The gush of juice that should come forth when brisket is done right.

Butt over Brisket

When fatty pork butt is cooked atop brisket and its juices menses down through the grate to give the beef a little basting love.

The Stall

"A period of smoking a brisket when the temperature seems to have peaked, fifty-fifty though it's however well below the temperature yous want to achieve. It should exist called 'The Darkest Hours' or something to signal the devastation y'all feel at the possibility of wasting countless hours and a lot of money on an undercooked brisket."—Tim Carman

Hogma

Typified by "North Carolinian BBQ pundits [who insist] that pork is the only legitimate barbecue meat."—Ardie Davis

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