| People hear the word Barbecue, and it conjures | | | | tomato product, giving their sauce a completely |
| different images of food based on the region the | | | | different look and level of tangy flavor. |
| person has lived most of their life. First, we must | | | | Memphis Barbecue Style |
| distinguish Barbecue from general outdoor cooking with | | | | In Memphis, and its surrounding region, they lean |
| a grill. The term Barbecue as I am using it in this article, | | | | toward pork ribs, but also will cook pork shoulder the |
| is for cooking meat in a wood or charcoal fired | | | | whole hog or the occasional chicken. The Memphis |
| smoker, with indirect heat, at low temperature, for a | | | | specialty though, is the Pork Spare rib. The Memphis |
| long period of time. I am not referring to the grilling of | | | | Barbecue rib can be either served "Dry" like the ones |
| meat on an outdoor grill, using direct heat(meaning | | | | served at the famous Barbecue place The |
| directly over the fire source) quickly at high | | | | Rendezvous or wet. If served dry, the ribs are treated |
| temperature. Please do not take this the wrong way. I | | | | to a rub prior to cooking, and are basted with a |
| love grilled foods, and would even consider myself a | | | | mopping sauce throughout the cooking process. If |
| "grill master". But, that isn't Barbecue. I'm talking about | | | | served "Wet", the ribs will receive a glazing with sauce |
| the real deal here, wood smoked pig, cow or chicken. | | | | near the end of the cooking process with a sauce that |
| Most barbecue experts would break the United States | | | | is tomato based, with ketchup as the primary |
| down into four geographic regions when it comes to | | | | ingredient and will also contain vinegar, yellow mustard, |
| the preferential styles of barbecue. These are not hard | | | | brown sugar, and red pepper sauce to taste. The |
| and fast rules along state and city territorial lines, but | | | | sauce is slightly sweet, slightly hot and tangy. |
| are merely generalizations for categorical purposes. | | | | Kansas City Barbecue Style |
| What delineates these regions from each other are | | | | Like Memphis, Kansas City is home of the Spare rib. |
| choice of meat, the makeup of various rubs and | | | | Also found at many Kansas City BBQ joints is Beef |
| marinades, and ingredients in the finishing sauces. In | | | | Brisket. Kansas City style differs from Memphis in that |
| some of these regions there are further | | | | the ribs are almost always coated with a very sticky |
| sub-preferences which will also be discussed. The four | | | | sweet, medium hot, tangy tomato based sauce. For |
| main regional styles are: | | | | Kansas City Barbecue fanatics it is all about the sauce. |
| | | | They are passionate about their sauces. |
| 1. Carolina style | | | | Texas style Barbecue |
| 2. Memphis style | | | | Barbecue in Texas means Beef. Beef Brisket is king, |
| 3. Kansas City style | | | | but they also serve beef ribs as well as pork ribs. |
| 4. Texas style. | | | | Brisket requires great attention to detail to get it |
| Carolina Barbecue Style | | | | properly smoked using low and slow methods, and |
| The overwhelming characteristic of Carolina Style | | | | must be cooked at very low temperature for a long |
| Barbecue is whole hog smoking with a tangy vinegar | | | | time. The meat is first treated with a rub, and then |
| based sauce, which has a peppery bite to it. Carolina | | | | smoked, sometimes served with a sauce, tomato |
| style can be further broken down into three | | | | based and hot, usually on the side. The further west in |
| subcategories, Eastern North Carolina, Western North | | | | Texas one travels, the hotter the spices in the sauce |
| Carolina and south Carolina. These three sub-regions | | | | will be. |
| all prefer the same type of meat, Pork (usually the | | | | These are the four regional styles of real low and |
| whole hog, but pork shoulder and ribs will work as well). | | | | slow, wood smoked Barbecue in the United States. Of |
| The difference between Eastern and Western is that | | | | course, there will be variations throughout these |
| Eastern doesn't use any tomato product in their sauce. | | | | regions, as barbecue is as diverse as the individuals |
| Western, even though the predominate ingredient is | | | | who cook it, with every pit-master thinking their |
| vinegar, will also add some type of tomato product | | | | particular version is best. There is vast amounts of |
| either tomato juice, tomato sauce or ketchup into the | | | | material that can be studied by the individual interested |
| sauce. South Carolina will add mustard instead of a | | | | in the traditions of real barbecue. |