Regional BBQ - Know Your Barbecue
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Know Your Regional Barbecue
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All barbecue in theory is good, but do you know the difference between the various styles of low and slow cooked meats from Texas style beef to wet slathered Memphis ribs?
By Hanna Raskin
According to anthropological folklore, Eskimos -- quite sensibly -- have hundreds of words for snow. Were that tradition to hold sway in the South, where the word "barbecue" encompasses every protein cooked by indirect heat, a great deal of culinary confusion might be avoided.
Regional Barbecue
By Hanna Raskin
Barbecue sophisticates like to debate the differences between 'cue prepared at two adjoining pits, or by two members of the same family. Many chopped pork sandwiches have been devoured during discussions of whether the resident pitmaster is as talented as his daddy. Skipping the minutiae for the moment, here's a generalized guide to regional barbecue styles.
Memphis
Although eateries like Payne's and Cozy Corner do a better job of it, megalith chains such as Corky's have helped make Memphis barbecue the nation's default style. Think slow-cooked pork shoulder and ribs, lightly dressed with a mild, molasses-rich sauce (and best paired with sweet coleslaw).
Alabama
Alabama's most vaunted 'cue joints, such as Dreamland in Tuscaloosa, serve thickly sauced ribs in the Memphis idiom. But the state's northern region has produced a micro-specialty that's on every 'cuehead's must-eat list: White sauce, made with generous helpings of vinegar and mayonnaise.
Kentucky
Barbecue sides are another story, but many curious eaters make the trek to 'cue meccas like Owensboro in search of burgoo, a hearty meat stew. Kentucky barbecue itself is famously hickory-smoked.
Texas
While other styles have found their way to the Lone Star State, barbecue in central Texas is typically smoky sliced beef and sausage, served sauce-free.
Kansas City
Situated at the barbecue crossroads of eastern and western styles, Kansas City 'cue is a winning amalgam of Texan meats and Memphian preparations, featuring ribs, steaks and briskets drenched with spicy-tomato tomato sauce.
North Carolina, East
In the Reeds' definitive tome "Holy Smoke: The Big Book of North Carolina Barbecue" they quote an Eastern-style devotee who told a reporter "I've never eaten red barbecue. I've seen it, but that's as far as I care to go." To reiterate: There are no tomatoes in Eastern North Carolina 'cue, a vinegary concoction usually made from whole hog.
North Carolina, Piedmont
Lexington-style 'cue, while still considered thin and vinegary by most Americans who pour their barbecue sauce from a bottle, includes tomatoes. Its practitioners accuse their eastern brethren of being indiscriminate in their use of the whole hog, and prefer pork shoulder, pulled or chopped.
Southern Foodways Alliance, flickr
South Carolina
A source of endless fascination for students of barbecue, the state of South Carolina is home to four distinct 'cue traditions, with Columbia's mustard-based "Carolina Gold" sauce perhaps the best-known variation.
Southerners some time ago won the noun-verb war, persuading outdoor cooking enthusiasts north of the Mason-Dixon that barbecue's a thing, not an activity. But just what sort of thing is it? Pecan-smoked beef is barbecue. So's a side of mutton basted with lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. And pulled pork swimming in a mix of mustard and brown sugar is barbecue too.
Most significantly, barbecue's a salve for all the jaded foodies who moan about the nation's homogenization. Folks in Lexington, Tenn., and Ayden, N.C., might breakfast on the same Bojangles' biscuits, but finding an eastern Tar Heeler willing to choke down a tomato-based sauce -- or a Tennessean who'd deign to dine on vinegar-doused pork -- is about as likely as finding any shoulder meat left on the bone at the end of a daylong pig picking. When it comes to 'cue, regional differences reign.
Barbecue was birthed from the same impetus across the South: People needed to eat. Borrowing roasting methods from Mesoamerican Indians (maybe) or indigenous Caribs (probably), American settlers started cooking their most abundant livestock low and slow as early as the 1660s. In most Southeastern states, that meant hogs, since swine nearly outnumbered people in places like North Carolina, where William Byrd II in 1736 described the population as a "porcivorous" people. But new industries in the 19th century put other meats on local plates, as Kentucky wool traders and Texas cattlemen threw their aging animals in open pits.
Meat selection wasn't the only barbecue variable to evolve in relation to place. The availability of various seasonings and access to certain woods -- hickory trees are a heck of a lot easier to find in Missouri than South Florida -- dictated the development of regional recipes. Local tastes were also shaped by the influx of immigrant groups, like the Germans who brought their brisket know-how to Oklahoma, and especially vocal pitmasters, like C. Warner Stamey of Lexington, N.C., the mentor to whom barbecue scholars John Shelton Reed and Dale Volberg Reed trace at least a dozen high-esteemed Piedmont-style joints.
If there's anything barbecue lovers enjoy more than burrowing their fingers into a just-cooked whole hog, it's fighting over which state's barbecue is best.
For the uninitiated, here's your script for the debate: The best barbecue comes from your native state. In fact, it originates in your hometown, at a little "hole in the wall" -- the terminology is critical here -- that's only open on Fridays. No beer, no fries, no tables: Just heaven sent 'cue made right.
But even the most parochial barbecue defenders agree on one point: All barbecue, in theory, is good. Anyone who's traveled the South knows the T-shirt-ready motto "there's no such thing as bad barbecue" is flat-out wrong.
Whether sauced with ketchup, mustard or vinegar, any barbecue is still better than a grilled chicken breast, a dainty American horror for which 'cue aficionados have no words at all.
Recent Comments
LitlBitMorLuv 05:37:54 PM Aug 22 2009
Maurice's Piggie Park "Carolina Gold" sauce on my own slow smoked pork (since I can't get to Maurice's in West Columbia SC anymore). I order the sauce by the case. Used to get it at the original Piggie Park on Two-Notch Rd. as a child. Don't get me wrong, the founder (surely gone by now but still eulogized in the restaurant and on its labels) is or was USDA Pork On The Hoof, oinks in his sleep. The nastiest rascist I ever heard of, which is saying something for '50s South Carolina. But DAYUM the sauce is divine, I could drink it. I like my Daddy's recipe for tomato-based sauce also, mostly out of loyalty. Live in Texas now and I don't care what you say, beef brisket is not barbecue. Good eatin, but not barbecue. You can get good ribs at a little dump called the Smokehouse on Old Kirby in Seabrook, but tell them to leave off the sauce! T-Bone Tom's in Kemah is righteous and always has a good band out back. Or come on around the corner, I probably have some on the smoker!
lacajag 04:40:58 PM Aug 22 2009
I posted this yesterday, but I think the link was broken. I'm in Kansas City, home of the most delicious bbq : ) AND home of the "Best Barbeque," a small business that a brother and sister run out of a trailer kitchen. Never had a tenderer turkey leg or a more drinkable sauce! Here's a link to a little blog post about them that includes a 1-minute video: http://tinyurl.com/ldgy28
FarrisKaNoSa 06:45:23 AM Aug 22 2009
loved all the comments above, it is so refreshing that we can have a light hearted discussion about something which we all share a common passion but such divergent opinions. being from the midwest I grew up calling sloppy joes "barbeque" you can imagine my surprise when I ordered barbeque (at age 25) in another area and they brought me a shredded dry meat sandwich with a cup of "chow" (kind of like vinegar slaw, if you never heard of it) I thought the waitress did'nt hear what I asked for. Whats the best way to fix que and how much sauce is too much? I thought the point was well taken that sometimes the sauce is used to cover up the taste, especially when the poor cut of meat is used. I think starting out with quality meat is a big issue. My Uncle Tom used to say (when I'd put Ketchup on his steak, "don't insult the meat" that being said I have to confess I like the KC masterpiece sauce) have a great day guys! Illinois
Jazzman02 05:30:26 AM Aug 22 2009
i am from memphis,tn and i moved to st. louis than to dallas,tx. and the BBQ was not better at all not even close. anybody can have ok sauce but you have to know what you are doing. so far i have not found a good BBQ place here in Dallas. and so i will be going to memphis on labor day for some real BBQ. you should too. (Neely's, Tops BBQ, Riverside BBQ, and more)
fhabitone 04:44:39 AM Aug 22 2009
Is BBQ taste sort of like a sign I once saw on the front lawn of a house under construction which read, "I DON'T LIKE YOURS..EITHER?Eastern NC vinegar based sauce is where it is.
JMChladek 04:17:17 AM Aug 22 2009
The thing about Texas style BBQ is that the sauce is usually served (when it is served) on the side so it can be enjoyed in moderation as opposed to souping down the meat with the stuff. The real flavors of the meat can come out without the sauce and BELIEVE me they do come out when they are properly seasoned and smoked. It can even be done with a nice flaky catfish as well. So many other BBQs tend to use the sauce as a crutch for bad meat preparation where as the Texas style HAS to be good since sauce isn't always available. Trust me, proper Texas BBQ done up right is great. It isn't like a Texan doing up a steak "well done" to the point where it tastes like shoe leather (a sin to steak IMHO).
BGILDER 04:05:02 AM Aug 22 2009
There's a place in Houston on 11th street just east of the gas station on Shepherd drive that has pretty good well smoked barbeque. Varied selection, if you can''t find something to like, you really don't like barbeque. Don't remember the name, you stick your head in the dooir, if you are blinded by the smoke, that's the place.Bill Gildersleeve, Westmont, IL
Rgsjfc 03:45:29 AM Aug 22 2009
Max's Drive in Clemson SC! Get's my vote, come on Tigers back me up!Virginia has some fine BBQ too, don't leave them out of the list!Y'all won't believe it, but there's a place in upstate NY with some of the best Barbecue in the world. Born and raised in the south and I was shocked and pleased to find such quality in the north! Owned by bikers and they know what's up! It's called The Dinosaur, original in Syracuse another one in Rochester. If you're ever in cold country, check it out, best bbq north of the Mason Dixon I garauntee it.
Hint of Smoke
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