It's easy to imagine the earliest form of cooking — throwing meat onto a wood fire, from which it emerges smoky and charred — evolving into what we now celebrate as barbecue, with all its attendant rituals. Despite our love of smoked and sauced meats, most local barbecue joints are places that don't encourage lingering: brick or steel oven smokers behind a counter where you order your ribs, brisket, and pulled pork with mild, medium, or hot sauce, and from where you flee back to your cave, clutching... More >>>