Chicken

Barbecuing is essentially the same as grilling. The difference is that, usually, grilling is done with heat from above, whereas barbecuing uses intense heat from beneath supplied by red hot charcoal or embers. Because barbecuing involves both radiant heat (as with grilling) and also cooking in the hot gases from the fire, it tends to dry and char the outside of the food more than grilling does so it is very common to marinade meat beforehand (which adds flavour, tenderises meat and makes the food moister and therefore less liable to burn). When barbecuing chicken (or any meat) the food is portioned beforehand so that each piece cooks through in the optimum time without charring the outside too much (charred food should be avoided as much as possible, since charred or burnt fat and protein is very carcinogenic, even though the flavour of the food is generally improved).