Here's another site that mentions the head-to-tail for barbeque and on the site my question was answered:

barbe in French = whisker

http://www.foodreference.com/html/artbarbecue.html

Duh! (Barber!)

Anyway, from whisker to tail = barbeque

Although MW and gang don't ascribe to the whisker/tail etymology, it is quite satisfying as an apparently widespread factoid.