To explain what I mean, I think you can level up a cooking style. For example, pasta. At level 1, you’re boiling dried pasta and adding sauce out of a jar. At level 1, you add your own spices. Level 3, switch to fresh pasta. Level 4, make your own sauce. And finally at level 5, make the pasta from scratch.
So with BBQ, I guess level 1 would be cooking the meat so it’s neither burnt nor underdone. Maybe level 2 is mixing different meats/cuts that have different heat/time requirements and cooking well. Further levels = ?
I believe it’s mostly about heat management (of the food and the grill) here’s my list:
1: internal heat not relevant, just an exterior sear like precooked hotdogs
2: managing internal temperature and getting a nice sear on multiple pieces the same size, like salmon fillets or steaks or chicken breasts or chicken legs
3: multiple unevenly sized pieces, like a parted chicken. Wings cook fast, breast has a thick part that needs attention, legs need to be cooked to a higher temp, etc
4: adding smoking into the mix, managing the heat and the wood constantly. Especially hard on charcoal
5: brisket or competition style chicken
I think this is a good scale.
Managing the relationship between interior temperature and outside sear (without burning) is a skill worth mastering first. Like you say, burgers, steaks, and other flat cuts are easier than irregular shapes.
Another skill to improve on is smoke management. Controlling both the temperature and the quality of smoke with fuel, heat, airflow is a balance: choking off burning wood to keep the temperature from rising too high tends to produce bad-tasting smoke, and giving enough oxygen for that thin blue smoke you want can sometimes cause the vessel to get a bit too hot.
Then, being able to control all of those things (internal temp, external temp, smoke quality) over a long enough period of time to cook tougher cuts is an increase in skill/difficulty. Smoking chicken might take an hour, while smoking ribs might take 3 hours, and smoking brisket might take 12+ hours. Some cooler cooks, like cold smoked salmon, can be challenging, too. Getting a feel for adding fuel to a cook and how to do that while maintaining the same steady stream of high quality smoke of the right temperature requires some experience.
Which also isn’t to say that there isn’t some room for a high level of skill on short cooks. Working with embers and wood and flame to make short cooks over high heat can be challenging, too. Smoked or wood fired vegetables are especially interesting, as some introduce moisture control as an element, over time frames short enough to precise timing starts to matter, too.
Not a BBQ expert, but regarding point 2/3 I always cut my chicken breasts in half essentially regardless of how I cook them.
This is the way. I taught my gf this when she was wondering why her chicken wasn’t to temp after 30 minutes in the grill and mine was always done near the 20 minute mark.
It allows for a more even and quicker cooking.
I forget people grill with electricity or gas.
I think my family only allows starting at level 4. Should there be an alt scale or?..
I personally couldn’t figure out smoking until I had the first levels down but by all means go big, just be prepared to microwave your food after or eat it overcooked