Many Americans will be firing up the grill over the next few days in honor of Memorial Day weekend.
This age-old human tradition of cooking meat with fire is said to have started by our ancestors one million years ago.
What was once done with twigs, has evolved into a science that requires the perfect temperature, right humidity, and different cooking techniques in order to cook up a juicy piece of meat.
The first discovery of using fire to cook meat was unearthed in 2012.
Archaeologists discovered evidence of burned bones and plant ash inside Wonderwreck Cave in South Africa, which they say has been there for at least one million years.
‘This is the way I think we got here: Millions of years ago a hunting party of hominids stumbled upon the charred carcass of an animal after a forest fire,’ Dr. Greg Blonder, professor at Boston University and meat enthusiast, wrote in his latest book ‘Meathead: The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling’.
‘The smell and taste were ethereal, and the next beast they speared went right into their campfire’.
‘And thus began the struggle to master fire, heat, smoke and meat.’
It seems any human can cook up a steak or piece of chicken, but it is science that makes you a grill master.
‘Temperature and humidity control are the key factors to barbecuing and grilling,’ Blonder told DailyMail.com.
‘Barbecue is cooked at low temperatures and will take a lot longer than if you were to grill the meat.’ (continue reading)