Regional variations of barbecue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barbecue has many regional variations, based on several factors:

• the type of meat used
• the sauce or other flavoring added to the meat
• when the flavoring is added during preparation
• the role that smoke plays in preparation
• the equipment and fuel used to cook the meat
• how much time is spent cooking the meat

At its most generic, any source of protein may be used, including beef, pork, poultry, and fish. The meat could be ground, as with hamburger, processed into sausage or kebabs, and/or accompanied by vegetables. Sometimes the cut of meat (e.g. brisket or ribs) matters; sometimes the cut is irrelevant. The meat may be marinated or rubbed with spices before cooking, basted with a sauce or oil before and/or during cooking, and/or flavored in numerous ways after being removed from the heat. Occasionally, vegetarian alternatives to meat, such as soyburgers and mushroom caps, are prepared similarly.

Typically meat is covered with barbecue sauce. Vinegar-base sauce is typical of Southern United States barbecue, while tomato-based sauce is Western United States style.

Many forms of barbecuing involve tough cuts of meat that require hours of cooking over low heat that barely exceeds the boiling point of water. Some forms of barbecue use rapid cooking over high heat, being barely distinguishable from grilled meats to those who would make such a distinction. With high heat barbecuing (often called grilling), the food is placed directly above the flame or other source of heat. With low heat barbecuing, the food is off to the side and almost always under a cover, frequently with added smoke for additional flavor. It is generally agreed among the many regions of North America that indirect heat constitutes "barbecuing," while direct heat is the mark of "grilling." Outside of the US this distinction is rarely observed.

Sometimes an open flame is required, with the fuel source irrelevant. In other cases, the fuel source is critical to the end result, as when wood chips from particular kinds of trees are used as fuel.

Contents 1 Australasia 2 Caribbean 3 Hong Kong 4 Korea 5 Middle East 6 South Asia 7 Southeast Asia 8 Mongolian 9 South Africa 10 South Pacific 11 United Kingdom 12 United States 12.1 Alabama 12.2 Arkansas 12.3 California 12.4 Florida 12.5 Georgia 12.6 Kansas City 12.7 Kentucky 12.8 Memphis 12.9 Mississippi 12.10 Missouri 12.11 Nevada 12.12 North Carolina 12.13 Oklahoma 12.14 South Carolina 12.15 Tennessee 12.16 Texas 12.17 Upper Midwest 12.18 Virginia 12.19 Washington State 13 External links

[edit] Australasia

In Australia and New Zealand, barbecues are a popular summer pastime. Coin-operated, and increasingly free, public electric barbecues are common in city parks. Australasian barbecues do not usually involve the smoking or sugary sauces of an American barbecue; instead, plain or marinated meat, sausages or Lamb chops are cooked on a grill or hot plate. Barbecuing chicken has become very popular in recent years. The barbecuing of prawns ('shrimp' in the USA) has never been popular in Australia and was an invention of an American TV commercial featuring Australian actor Paul Hogan.

[edit] Caribbean

Jamaican jerk chicken is an example of barbecue. So is the Taíno method of slowly cooking meat over a wooden mesh of sticks.

[edit] Hong Kong

Outdoor barbecues (usually known simply as BBQ) are popular among Hong Kong residents on short trips to the countryside. These are invariably coal-fired, with meat (usually beef, pork, sausage, or chicken wing) simply marinated with honey, then cooked using long, hand-held forks. In these sense, the style and atmosphere is closer to fondue and hot pot, perfect as an outing among friends

[edit] Korea

Bulgogi (불고기) is thinly sliced beef (and sometimes pork) marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and chilli pepper, cooked on a grill at the table. It is a main course, and is therefore served with rice and side dishes such as Kimchi. Bulgogi literally means "fire beef" and is often called "Korean BBQ."

[edit] Middle East

Al tazaj

[edit] South Asia

The tandoor is a form of barbecue common in Afghanistan, Pakistan and north India.

[edit] Southeast Asia

Satay is popular in several Southeast Asian countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It consists of pieces of meat skewered on a stick.

[edit] Mongolian

Real nomad Mongolians have several barbeque methods, one of them called 'Khorkhog'. They first heat palm-sized stones to a high temperature over the fire and sandwich several layers of lamb and stone in a pot. The cooking time depends on the amount of lamb used. It is believed that it's good for your health if you hold the stone used for cooking.

Another way of cooking is a "boodog" ("boo" means wrap in Mongolian). Usually marmot (black tail prairie dog) or goats are cooked in this way. There is no pot needed for cooking "boodog", after slaughter and dressing, the innards are put back inside through a small hole and the whole carcass is cooked over the fire.

The Mongolian barbeque often found in restaurants is a style of cooking falsely attributed to the mobile lifestyle of nomadic Mongolians. Having its origins in Taiwan in the mid to late 20th century, "Mongolian" barbecue consists of thinly sliced lamb, beef, chicken, pork, or other meat, seasonings, vegetables, and noodles, or a combination thereof, that are quickly cooked over a flat circular metal surface that has been heated.

[edit] South Africa

The braai (abbreviation of braaivleis, Afrikaans "meat grill") started out as a major social tradition amongst the Afrikaner people of Southern Africa, though the tradition has since been adopted by South Africans of all ethnic backgrounds. The word braai is very popular in South Africa; it replaces the standard English word barbecue, which is almost never used in South Africa, except on chips packages. One won't find barbecue wood or wood for the barbecue in the supermarket; instead one will find braaiwood.

[edit] South Pacific

Every country has its own version of cuisine a la pit but some of the most legendary and continuously-practiced examples can be found in the South Pacific. In Hawaii, it’s the luau. New Zealand’s Maori have the hangi. Tahitians call it hima’a. And a thousand miles away in the Marquesas Islands, there’s the umu.

[edit] United Kingdom

Barbecuing started in the UK in the 1980's, influenced by American and Australian television and visits by Brits to Florida and California. Nowadays, many British have barbecue if they have a garden, mostly a "kettle"-style barbecue which has a lid and wheels to move it out of a shed, although permanent brick barbecues are becoming more common.

The main foods to go on a barbecue are chicken, burgers, sausages, corn-on-the-cob, beef steaks, fish, kebabs and vegetarian soya or quorn based products. Other things to go are salads and relishes. Soft drinks and lager beer are the most common drinks for barbecues.

[edit] United States

Although regional differences in barbecue are blurring, as are many other aspects of U.S. regional culture, variations still exist, and it is still possible to get into heated discussions of the superiority or inferiority of particular regional barbecue variants.

[edit] Alabama

In Alabama, there are currently more barbecue restaurants, per capita, than any other US state. Alabama barbecue most often consists of pork ribs or pork shoulder, slow cooked over hickory smoke. Pork shoulder may be served either chopped or sliced; some diners also specify a preference for either "inside" or "outside" meat. Alabama barbecue is typically served with a spicy, tomato-based sauce. Two Documentary films have been made concerning the Alabama barbecue phenomenon, "Holy Smoke over Birmingham" and "A Taste of Hog Heaven,"

Famous Alabama barbecue restaurants include:

Dreamland Bar-B-Que

Founded in 1958 in Tuscaloosa, there are now over 8 locations statewide. In the original restaurant in Tuscaloosa, there are no side dishes, only ribs, bread, and sauce served on paper plates.

Big Bob Gibson's BBQ

Founded in 1925 in Decatur, the people from Big Bob's have won many world championships in pork and chicken, as well as for their award winning sauces. They are particularly famous for their unique "white" sauce with a mayonnaise and vinegar base. This style of barbecue was well-documented in Fannie Flagg's bestselling book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was cooked and served at the Whistlestop Cafe that is at the centre of the story.

Golden Rule Bar-B-Que

One of the oldest barbecue restaurants in Alabama, The Golden Rule has remained a faithful representation of times long past. Founded in 1891 in Irondale, the original location was a roadside stop for travelers making the journey to and from Atlanta. Although the location has changed many times due to progress and growth, the original concept has stayed the same: Slow-roasted, finger-lickin' barbecue.

[edit] Arkansas

Arkansas is in some ways the crossroads of American barbecue. This is largely due to its location -- firmly rooted in the Deep South but close enough to the Midwest and Texas to incorporate Kansas City and Texas-style barbecue traits.

Like all true southern barbecue, meat is never exposed to high or direct heat. Instead it is smoked at low temperatures for long periods of time (over 24 hours for many cuts of pork).

Pork and beef appear on almost all menus, although pork is more popular in the Delta than in the Ozarks. Arkansas-style ribs are a key attraction and similar to those had in Memphis, which lies across the Mississippi River from Arkansas.

A unique feature of barbecue in Arkansas is prevalence of chicken. Barbecue chicken, Arkansas-style, is always marinated with a "dry rub", smoked, and divided into edible portions only after it is completely cooked. Barbecue sauce is only applied by the eater.

Another unusual characteristic of Arkansas barbecue is that a barbecued pork or beef sandwich is always served with a thin layer of cole slaw atop and/or underneath the meat. Arkansas cole slaw, which is not as sweet or creamy as found in other states, provides a toothsome crunch and prevents the sauce from soaking into the bread. Barbecue sandwiches are traditionally served on slices of white bread. Additional cole slaw and potato salad are traditional side dishes. Unlike in other states, onion rings appear frequently as an accompaniment to an Arkansas barbecue sandwich.

The best illustration of the confluence of culinary influences that come together to make Arkansas barbecue is the sauce. Most restaurant have a thin tomato base sauce that is vinegary and peppery, much like its Deep South ancestors, but incorporates some of the sweetness found in Kansas City-style sauces. To varying degree, Arkansas sauces contain a sweetener (usually sorghum molasses), but they are never thick and never taste syrupy. They are, however, noticeably smoother (i.e., less acidic) than eastern sauces, particularly those from North Carolina.

Arkansas sauces tend to be spicier than those found in other states. Most restaurants serve at least two different sorts of sauce -- “regular” and “hot”. The “hot” variety incorporates more pepper into the already spicy “regular” sauce.

Notable barbecue establishments include McClards in Hot Springs, which developed a national reputation decades before one of its most loyal patrons, Bill Clinton, was elected president. Whole Hog Cafe in Little Rock also has developed a national following in recent years, winning dozens of national competitions.

[edit] California

Barbecued oysters are served at the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival, near Eureka, California, at the beginning of every summer.

In northern California many BBQ restaurants serve tofu, tempeh and Portobello mushrooms for vegetarians, in addition to barbecue. Oakland is a center for traditional BBQ and other soul food side dishes.

The most famous California barbecue is Santa Maria style, in the central part of the state, with its unique 2-3 inch cut of top sirloin or Tri-tip steak, pinquito pink beans and salsa. The tri-tip is rolled in garlic salt and pepper just prior to cooking over red oak wood or coals. Some old timers soak their tri-tip in flat beer the night before cooking it, others use a red wine vinegar and oil basting sauce during the cooking process.

An example recipe can be found at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_28099,00.html

Tri-tip is the triangular shaped tips of a sirloin portion that many butchers consider waste and cut up into stew meat or grind into burger. It can be a tough piece of meat if you make the mistake of taking all the fat off or of cutting it into individual steaks for cooking. Cook it whole! If you put the fat side of the tri-tip on the fire first, the moisture will come up through the meat and make it tender. The tried and true cooking procedure is to sear the lean part of the meat over the fire for 5-10 minutes to seal in the juices, then flip over to the fat side for 20-25 minutes, depending on degree of doneness expected. When juice appears at the top of the meat, it is time to flip for another 25 minutes.The fat can easily be trimmed after cooking.

[edit] Florida

Both pork and seafood are barbecued in Florida, with butter and lemon or lime juice as the base for the sauce.

[edit] Georgia

A state with a long and storied barbecue tradition, Georgia barbecue has become famous in many fictional and anecdotal representations of life within the state, ranging from Margaret Mitchell's epic Gone With the Wind to the more biographical (and humorous) reminiscences of Lewis Grizzard. The state's "barbecue reputation" has also been solidified by the fact that many Georgia-based food manufacturers (such as Castleberry's Foods, based in Augusta) introduced mass-market "BBQ pork" to grocery stores throughout the United States in the mid-1980's. In general, it can be said that Georgia barbecue is based on pork, which is slow-cooked over an open pit stoked with oak and/or hickory and served with a sauce based on ketchup, molasses, bourbon, garlic, cayenne pepper, and other ingredients. However, the reality is that barbecue culture in Georgia represents an enormous range of styles, traditions, and influences. As such, Georgia can be accurately assessed as a melting pot of regional variations where almost any sauce or cooking style can be found. Barbecue in the Eastern part of the state (from Savannah to Augusta) is somewhat unique in that it consists almost universally of finely chopped pork - usually from a shoulder or ham cut - served with a side of hash (a thick, tomato-based stew often flavored with meat drippings and other vegetables) over long grain white rice. Occasionally, ribs, chicken, and/or beef brisket accompanies pork on the menu, but all meats are slow cooked "bare" (i.e. without the addition of spice rubs or sauces) over wood coals and served accompanied by "hash and rice" and sweet pickles. Mustard based potato salad or traditional mayonaise-dressing coleslaw often completes the meal as a side dish, and many of the most famous purveyors of this style of barbecue offer almost nothing else on the menu. Sauces typical of East Georgia barbecue consist of a ketchup and/or vinegar base with exotic flavors like worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, honey, and even clove sometimes added. Middle Georgia barbecue restaurants (from Macon to Atlanta) most often serve Brunswick stew instead of hash, and are more apt to offer additional side items, including (but not limited to) french fries, onion rings, baked beans, and potato chips. The meat in "middle Georgia barbecue" shows similar diversity, as restaurants in this area regularly offer beef brisket, ribs, chicken, and sometimes smoked sausage in addition to the traditional shoulder-cut chipped pork. Accompanying sauces are often in the vein of the "bourbon and ketchup"-based styles described above. Northeast Georgia barbecue - centered around the city of Athens and its neighboring counties, but extending upward along Interstate 85 into South Carolina - has much in common with the style of barbecue typically found in eastern North Carolina (see below.) Most restaurants in the region serve a more finely-chopped pork most often taken from a slow roasted whole hog, rather than just a pork shoulder. Meat is served with a thinner, vinegar-based sauce, and pulled pork sandwiches are especially popular. West Georgia barbecue, centered in the city of Columbus, holds a great deal in common with Alabama-style barbecue. Restaurants in this area of the state typically serve a mustard and vinegar based barbecue sauce which often features the addition of jalapenos or other hot peppers. Meats in West Georgia barbecue are more typically cooked over oak (particularly White Oak) coals, and are often served along with dill (rather than sweet) pickles and/or grilled slices of Vidalia onion. The West Georgia style also typically features the greatest variety of side dish offerings, often including "country vegetables" such as sweet potatoes, collard greens, lima beans, and corn. West Georgia Barbecue is sometimes served with cornbread, although the more traditional offering of white bread as an accompanying starch is still most common. Barbecue of North Georgia, particularly those counties around Chattanooga shares many traits with the typical "smokey" Tennessee style, while South Georgia Barbecue, centered in and around Albany, Thomasville & Valdosta, shares qualities with its North Florida neighbors, which often includes the use of dry spice rubs and a hickory based smoke for cooking. Vienna, Georgia is notable as the home of The Big Pig Jig, one of the Southeast's largest pork barbecue cook-offs, which has even been featured on the Food Network. Atlanta truly epitomizes the reputation of Georgia as a "melting pot" of barbecue styles, as virtually every style found within the state - as well as those typical of Kansas City, St. Louis, Texas, Chicago and the Caribbean - are not only present but commonplace. Yet despite the tremendous diversity of barbecue styles present in Georgia, one factor remains constant throughout the entire state, the presence of "sweet tea" as the perpetual accompanying beverage to a barbecue meal. Arguably, Georgia's most famous original contribution to the barbecue world is Brunswick stew, named after Brunswick, Georgia where tradition holds that it originated. Famous (but not necessarily the best) Georgia barbecue restaurants include Sconyer's in Augusta, Smokey Pig and Fat Freddie's in Columbus, Wall's Barbecue in Savannah, Fincher's Barbecue in Macon, Carithers (now Carithers 'N Scott Barbecue) in Athens, Melear's in Fayetteville, Sprayberry's Barbecue in Newnan, Leroy's Barbecue in Valdosta, Williamson Brothers Barbecue in Marietta, Vandys Barbecue in Statesboro and Jack's Old South in Vienna and Cordele.

[edit] Kansas City

Main article: Kansas City-style barbecue

Kansas City calls itself the "world capital of barbecue." There are more than 100 barbecue restaurants in the city and the American Royal each fall claims to host the world's biggest barbecue contest.

The classic Kansas City-style barbecue was an inner city phenomenon that evolved from the pit of Henry Perry from the Memphis, Tennessee area in the early 1900s and blossomed in the 18th and Vine neighborhood. Arthur Bryant's was to take over the Perry restaurant and added molasses to sweeten the recipe. In 1946 Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q was opened by one of Perry's cooks. The Gates recipe added even more molasses. Although Bryant's and Gates are the two definitive Kansas City barbecue restaurants they have had little or no luck exporting the barbecue beyond the Kansas City metropolitan area.

In 1977 Rich Davis, a white child psychologist (it is important to note here that Perry, Bryant, and Gates are all African American), test marketed his own concoction called K.C. Soul Style Barbecue Sauce. He renamed it KC Masterpiece and in 1986 he sold the sauce to the Kingsford division of Clorox. Davis retained rights to operate restaurants using the name and sauce. Only one of the restaurants remains in the suburb of Overland Park, Kansas.

[edit] Kentucky

In Kentucky, barbecue also has a long and rich tradition and history. Mutton, pork, beef, chicken, and ribs have been smoked for years in the state. Mutton is one of the most notable specialties in most of Western Kentucky, where there were once large populations of sheep that were slaughtered for the mutton. However, mutton is virtually unknown in The Purchase of the extreme west, where "barbecue" without any other qualifier refers specifically to smoked pork shoulder. A vinegar and tomato based sauce with a mixture of spice and sweet is the traditionally served with the meat, though not always used in cooking. The Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Owensboro is the most famous of Kentucky BBQ places and Owensboro hosts an International BBQ Festival every year in the second weekend in May. Western Kentucky BBQ (more specifically, Purchase BBQ) has also been transplanted to Lexington by way of Billy's BBQ near downtown, a favorite among University of Kentucky basketball and football fans. A great deal of "Kentucky barbecue" has found its way into southern Indiana, where it has gathered widespread favor.

[edit] Memphis

Memphis-style barbecue is known for

• wet ribs, made with a mild, sweet barbecue sauce that's basted on the ribs before and after smoking;
• dry-rub ribs, made with a spice rub applied during or right after they've been cooked; and
• pulled or chopped pork sandwich topped with sweet, finely chopped coleslaw and served on inexpensive hamburger buns, which some locals insist is Memphis barbecue's highest form.

For people who simply can't get enough barbecue, there's also barbecue spaghetti, barbecue pizza, and barbecue nachos.

Memphis is also home to the "Memphis in May" World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (WCBCC), an annual event which regularly draws over 90,000 pork lovers from around the globe. The title of "the largest pork barbecue cooking contest in the world" was bestowed on the WCBCC in the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records.

It is also home to over 100 barbecue restaurants, including Corky's, Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, the Germantown Commissary, Leonard's, Pig-N-Whistle, Central BBQ, the Bar-B-Q Shop, Hog Wild Barbecue, Interstate Barbecue, Gridley's, Three Little Pigs, Tops Barbecue, and Cozy Corner. Several have been so successful that they have branches dedicated to shipping barbecue overnight via FedEx (especially convenient for these restaurants, as the primary hub for FedEx is Memphis International Airport).

[edit] Mississippi

Like its neighbor Alabama, Mississippians prefer pork to other meats, usually pork shoulder, or whole hog. Most restaurants serve only pulled pork, though some also serve chicken halves. Unlike the surrounding states, a purely vinegar-based sauce is preferred; in fact, many sauciers take a great deal of pride in using absolutely no tomato in their creations.

Though most barbecue in Mississippi is pork shoulder slow-cooked in a smoker (either a drum, or a converted shed), special events call for open-pit barbecue, which is still common practice in some parts of Mississippi. A whole, freshly slaughtered hog is brought to the site very early in the morning while a pit, generally half a foot deep by several feet wide and broad, is filled with hickory wood. The wood is allowed to burn to coals before a grill is laid down, and the hog is smoked whole over the embers. The process usually takes an entire day, and if begun early enough, is ready for dinner. There are numerous pig-cooking competitions throughout Mississippi each year, one of which is the "Pig Cookoff" at April's Super Bulldog Weekend at Mississippi State University.

Famous barbecue joints include The Little Dooey in Columbus and Starkville, Sonny's in Starkville (both favorites of Mississippi State University students), Sonny's Real Pit BBQ (no relation) in Jackson.

[edit] Missouri

In Missouri, beef is the dominant meat for barbecue, especially in St. Louis and the Ozarks. Often the beef is sliced and a tomato-based sauce is added after cooking. About half of the supply of charcoal briquets in the USA is produced from Ozark forests (e.g., Kingsford brand), with hickory "flavor" being very popular.

St. Louis-style barbecue features a sauce that is typically tangier and thinner than its Kansas City cousin, with less vinegar taste. It somewhat resembles the Memphis style sauce. The most famous barbecue competition in St. Louis is held annually during the July 4th holiday at Fair St. Louis.

A quick and easy Missouri-style barbecue sauce can be made from mostly ketchup, some brown sugar, a little mustard, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

[edit] Nevada

The city of Sparks plays host each Labor Day weekend to the Best of the West Rib Cook-off in Victorian Square. To denizens of the Reno/Sparks area, this is an event of quasi-religious significance and proves that when it comes to BBQ in Nevada, ribs are king.

[edit] North Carolina

Within North Carolina, there are multiple regional traditions, all based on the slow-cooking of pulled or chopped pork. On the east coast, the dominant ingredients in the sauce are vinegar and hot peppers. Proceeding west into the Piedmont (as in Lexington), the sauce (called "dip" by the locals) becomes more tomato- or ketchup-based, but usually never as thick as commercial (Texas-style) sauces.

In the eastern part of the state, the whole hog is typically used; in the west, sometimes only pork shoulders are used for barbecue. But under any circumstances, North Carolinian use of the term "barbecue" will refer to slow cooked pork, and not to backyard cookouts, or any sort of beef, chicken or other meats, regardless of how they are prepared although it is commonly acceptable to call chicken barbecued if the sauce is the same used on pork. Some North Carolinians will deny that "barbecue" exists outside of North Carolina.

In general, a hog half (Eastern) or shoulder (Lexington) is placed in a "hog cooker" over wood coals and cooked slowly, usually overnight. What wood to use is subject to some debate (often oak or hickory; never pine). In modern times, gas, electric, or charcoal heat are often used for convenience, although most will agree that the long exposure to hardwood smoke improves the flavor of the final product and is generally preferred.

Other variations include cooking times, turning during cooking, and how finely the meat is chopped after cooking.

For both Eastern and Lexington style, hushpuppies, barbecue slaw, boiled potatoes, corn sticks, Brunswick stew, and collard greens are commonly served as side dishes at North Carolina barbecue restaurants. Also popular is the "barbecue sandwich," consisting of barbecue, vinegar/pepper sauce, and sweet cole slaw served on a hamburger bun.

Lexington's Annual Barbecue Festival is well known within the state and normally held on one of the last 2 Saturdays in October of each year.

A gathering centered on the cooking and consuming of barbecue is frequently called a "Pig pickin'" by North Carolina residents, and is popular for church gatherings, family celebrations, reunions, weddings, funerals and often as an event which occurs before the start of a collegiate football event.

[edit] Oklahoma

Oklahoma barbecue reflects the state's geographic location. Located south of Kansas City, north of Texas and west of Memphis, Oklahomans like the beef brisket favored by their neighbors in Texas, the sweet spicy sauce typical of Kansas City and the pork ribs that are found in Memphis. However, Oklahoma barbecue also includes pork, chicken, sausage, and bologna. In Oklahoma, barbecue refers to meat that has been slowly cooked over wood smoke at a very low temperature, for a very long time. The woods most commonly used for smoking meat include hickory, oak, and pecan. Some of the most popular barbecue joints in Oklahoma include Bad Brad's in Stillwater & Pawhuska, Smokehouse Bob's in Muskogee, Elmer's in Tulsa, Head Country in Ponca City, Earl's Rib Palace in Oklahoma City, and Van's Pig Stands in Shawnee, Norman and Moore.

[edit] South Carolina

South Carolina is the only state to have four types of barbecue sauces: mustard, vinegar, heavy tomato, and light tomato. The meat used in South Carolina is consistent throughout the state, slow-cooked pulled pork. In the Pee Dee and Lowcountry coastal region, a vinegar and pepper sauce is prevalent, though the region is home to Sticky Fingers, a rib house who uses all four sauces. In the Midlands area around Columbia, a mustard-based sauce sometimes referred to as "Carolina Gold" is the predominant style. Such establishments as Melvin's (2 locations in Charleston, SC), Maurice Bessinger's "Piggy Park", Shealy's (located in Batesburg-Leesville) and Dukes BBQ (3 locations in Orangeburg, SC) use gold sauce made from mustard, apple juice, pear juice, and other ingredients. In upcountry around Rock Hill, one finds the light tomato and the rest of the upcountry stretching down past Aiken is home to the heavy tomato sauce. In addition to pork, other popular BBQ dishes include hash and ribs.

[edit] Tennessee

While Memphis dominates the culture of Tennessee barbecue, some other restaurants in other cities have achieved some notoriety outside of their local markets. Jack's Barbecue in Nashville is a popular destination for tourists, and Sticky Fingers, a chain based in Charleston, South Carolina, but whose founders hail from Chattanooga, has overcome the stigma that hardcore barbecue fans tend to attach to chains and is widely regarded throughout the southeast for its ribs.

[edit] Texas

Sliced brisket, sausage, and pork ribs are the most popular meats in Texas barbecue. Central Texans often refer to these three meats as The Holy Trinity. Chicken, beef ribs, and chopped beef are also often found. Even more exotic variants such as turkey, pork loin, pork chops, prime rib, mutton, and cabrito are sometimes available. The Mexican name often seen on signs is barbacoa and is most often barbacoa de cabeza--barbecued head(cow). This is very popular to eat on Sundays in the Hispanic community.

In Texas, barbecuing refers to what others call "hot smoking"—cooking with both smoke and low heat for hours over woods such as oak, mesquite, or pecan. Cooking with direct heat, such as a propane-fueled flame, is not referred to as barbecuing, but is instead known as grilling. Meat prepared by Texas barbecue often has a red tinge even when fully cooked, and a pink smoke ring around the edges of the meat. This is caused by myoglobin in the meat reacting with carbon monoxide in the smoke to form a heat stable pigment. The pink smoke ring is very tasty and a major focus of fans of this style.

If used, traditional sauce consists of tomatoes with a vinegar base. It can be sweet or spicy and thick or thin, depending on the chef. At barbecue cookoffs in Texas, however, meat is generally judged without sauce, as sauce can cover up for poor-quality meats and cooking. Commercially available sauces usually bear little resemblance to traditional barbecue sauce, and are frequently made from tomatoes and corn syrup.

Since creating proper barbecue requires considerable expense of money and time, in that one needs a specialized smoker and has to start smoking many hours before the meat is ready, most Texans simply visit a local restaurant known as a barbecue joint. Such establishments typically serve the meat in a no-frills manner, on a plastic tray and butcher paper with white bread or crackers, or, to-go, in a brown paper sack. Traditional side dishes include potato salad, coleslaw (mustard or vinegar), pinto beans, which are often spicy. Banana pudding, peach cobbler and Blue Bell ice cream are popular dessert options. However, they are not always available—the film Kreuz Market: No Sauce, No Sides, No Silverware depicts a popular barbecue joint in Lockhart that lacks the three items mentioned in the title.

Slight regional variations in Texas barbecue exist. In Central Texas barbecue is more likely to consist of leaner meats, while East Texans prefer more fatty cuts. It is possible, however, to find both kinds of meats all over the state. In South Texas, beef fajitas, beef briskets, beef ribs and chicken are probably the most popular, along with small cuts of pork called 'carnitas', of course all cooked over a mesquite fire. Side dishes include flour tortillas, pinto beans, Mexican rice, potato salad, and of course pico de gallo (a garnishment made with cilantro, jalapenos, onions and tomatoes.)

In Texas, barbecue, and the best barbecue joints, are popular topics both in individual discussions and the media. The documentary film Barbecue: A Texas Love Story depicts the culture associated with Texas barbecue. Texas Monthly magazine periodically performs roundups where they rate scores of barbecue joints across the state. The most recent roundup was in 2003.

[edit] Upper Midwest

In northern Illinois (including Chicagoland), Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Michigan, barbecue typically means a cut of meat with bone-in, either slow-cooked or cooked over an open flame. No-bone cuts of meat are usually said to be grilled, and are almost exclusively seared using dry direct heat. Fire, in the Upper Midwestern style, is necessary for barbecue; similar slow-cooked meat dishes prepared in an oven or a Crock-Pot are quite tasty, but not barbecue. Most of these bone-in meat cuts are beef and pork spareribs, and chicken quarters (thigh and drumstick together). Beef brisket has become increasingly popular in recent years. Restaurant chains named "Carson's Ribs", "Famous Dave's", and "Robinson's" use these meats with a variety of sauce styles.

In portions of Michigan barbecue is also a name for a sloppy joe sandwich.

Upper-Midwesterners typically serve barbecued meat with corn on the cob and baked potato (with butter, sour cream and chives) as side dishes, and sometimes baked beans and potato chips (potato crisps in the British terminology).

[edit] Virginia

It is arguable whether Virginia has a BBQ tradition of its own--other than to realize that BBQ is a noun, never a verb. Much of the BBQ that exists in Virginia is found near the Tidewater region. Pork is the main offering, but chicken is often available, as are pork ribs. Meat from pork shoulders--"Boston butts"--is pit or smoker cooked. The more North Carolina-inclined places serve the meat dry and offer vinegar-based and tomato-based vinegary sauces. Some places offer smoked, minced pork in a light tomato/vinegar sauce, perhaps best fitting the appellation "Virginia BBQ" although very similar to some North Carolina BBQ. Most will, however, serve cole slaw on the sandwich as part of the deal. Given how many restaurants and stands offer "North Carolina BBQ" it is permissible to let the reader decide for himself whether there is a genuine variation or not.

[edit] Washington State

In the Pacific Northwest, barbecue is approached using different smoking techniques, and centers its focus on a beast with no legs - the salmon. In early spring, Native Americans living near the Columbia River celebrate the first appearance of returning Chinook salmon with outdoor feasts, which are repeated, in backyards and restaurants, until the middle of fall.

Through the summer, when silver and pink salmon can be cheaper than hamburger in the market, grills are crowded with the tender flesh of salmon. A few places in Seattle cook salmon the ancient way (on cedar sticks), while others add twists of their own.

Traditionally, the salmon are cut in long, wide strips along either side of the backbone. Then the fillets should be speared on skinny cedar sticks, while smaller twigs are used to stretch the fish sideways. When completed, this looks like a rib system, but it keeps the salmon from curling while cooking.

The fish-on-a-stick is then placed upright, about three feet from the firepit, and cooked slowly for about half an hour. This method keeps the juices intact; placing the fish any closer to the fire dries it out. When finished, the meat will break away in moist layers. Some of the best practitioners of this method are the Northwest Coast Indians at Tillicum Village, on Blake Island in Puget Sound eight miles from Seattle. Visitors get a boat trip to the island and a salmon dinner inside an Native American longhouse. Reservations are required in the summer.

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