St. Louis-style barbecue

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Pork steaks cooking.
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Pork steaks cooking.

St. Louis-style barbecue is a term used to describe several similar styles of cooking pork products for human consumption. These foods are popular in the area around the United States city of St. Louis, Missouri.

St. Louis-style ribs, also called spare ribs, is a good example of such recipes. In preparing this food, the chine bone and the brisket bones are removed from the bottom of the rib rack.

Another staple of St. Louis-style barbecue is pork steak, which is typically cut from the shoulder part of the hog and is a fairly fatty cut of meat unless well cut. The St. Louis style of preparation involves slow open grilling until done, then simmering in a pan of barbecue sauce that is placed on the grill. Beer is often used to keep the sauce from thickening too much, and the meat will become extremely tender if properly cooked in this manner.

Yet another popular food prepared in this fashion is "crispy snoots". This term refers to very well barbecued pig snouts.

Bottles of St. Louis favorite BBQ sauce Maull's
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Bottles of St. Louis favorite BBQ sauce Maull's

St. Louis-style barbecue sauce is generally tomato-based, thinned with vinegar, sweet and spicy. It is not as sweet and thick as Kansas City-style barbecue sauce, nor as spicy-hot and thin as Texas-style.

St. Louis is the world leader in per-capita consumption of barbecue sauce.

Maull's barbecue sauce is a typical and favorite local brand of St. Louis-style barbecue sauce.