In the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, especially the southeastern region,
barbecueBarbecue or barbeque is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal or a propane gas grill, and may...
(also spelled
barbeque or abbreviated
BBQ) refers to a technique of cooking that involves cooking meat for long periods of time at low temperatures over a wood fire; often this is called
pit barbecue, and the facility for cooking it is the
barbecue pit. This form of cooking adds a distinctive smoky taste to the meat;
barbecue sauceBarbecue sauce is a liquid flavoring sauce or condiment ranging from watery to very thick consistency. As the name implies, it was created as an accompaniment to barbecued foods. While it can be applied to any food, it usually tops meat after cooking or during barbecuing, grilling, or baking...
, while a common accompaniment, is not required for many styles.
Barbecue traditions originate from the southeastern region, where the culture is strongest, but have spread throughout the country. Often the proprietors of southern style barbecue establishments in other areas originate from the southeast. In the southeast, barbecue is more than just a style of cooking, but a subculture with wide variation between regions, and fierce rivalry for titles at barbecue competitions.
The barbecue region
The origins of American barbecue date back to colonial times, with the first recorded mention in 1610, and
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
mentions attending a "barbicue" in
Alexandria, VAAlexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 128,283. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately 6 miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as...
in 1769. As the country expanded westwards along the
Gulf of MexicoThe Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. Considered a smaller part of the Atlantic Ocean, it is an ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United...
and north along the
Mississippi RiverThe Mississippi River is the second longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
, barbecue went with it.
The core region for barbecue is the southeastern region of the United States, an area bordered on the west by
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
and
OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,617,316 residents in 2007 and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, on the north by
MissouriMissouri is a state in the Midwest region of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 18th most populous state with a 2008 estimated population of 5,911,605. It comprises 114 counties and one independent city....
,
WisconsinWisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. states. Located in the north-central United States, Wisconsin is considered part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the...
, and
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the east by the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
. While barbecue is found outside of this region, the fourteen core barbecue states contain 70 of the top 100 barbecue restaurants, and most top barbecue restaurants outside the region have their roots there.
Barbecue in its current form grew up in the poor South, where both black and white cooks learned to slow roast tough cuts of meat over fire pits to make them tender. This slow cooking over smoke leaves a distinctive line of red just under the surface, where the
myoglobinMyoglobin is a single-chain globular protein of 153 amino acids, containing a heme prosthetic group in the center around which the remaining apoprotein folds. It has eight alpha helices and a hydrophobic core. It has a molecular weight of 16,700 daltons, and is the primary oxygen-carrying pigment...
in the meat reacts with
carbon monoxideCarbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas, yet very toxic to humans. It consists of one carbon atom and one oxygen atom, connected by a covalent double bond and a dative covalent bond...
from the smoke, and the smoky taste essential to barbecue.
These humble beginnings are still reflected in the many barbecue restaurants that are operated out of hole-in-the-wall locations, by individualists with shady reputations; the
rib joint is the purest expression of this. Many of these will have irregular hours, and remain open only until all of a day's ribs are sold; they may shut down for a month at a time as the proprietor goes on vacation. Despite these unusual traits, rib joints will have a fiercely loyal clientèle.
The origins of barbecue tradition
The first ingredient in the barbecue tradition was the meat. Pigs came to the Americas with the Spanish explorers, and quickly turned
feralA feral organism is one that has escaped from domestication and returned, partly or wholly, to a wild state. The introduction of feral animals or plants to their non-native regions, like any introduced species, can disrupt ecosystems and may, in some cases, contribute to extinction of indigenous...
. This provided the most widely used
proteinProteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and folded into a globular form. The amino acids in a polymer chain are joined together by the peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid residues...
used in most barbecue,
pork ribsPork ribs are a type of food dish popular in North America and Asian cuisine. Pork and bones from a pig's ribcage are cooked by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then served.-Cuts of pork ribs:...
, as well as the pork shoulder for
pulled porkPulled pork is a form of barbecue. It is a method of preparation in which pork, usually shoulder cut or mixed cuts, is cooked using a low-heat, long-cook method. With these extended times at low temperatures, the meat becomes tender enough that its weakened connective tissue allows the meat to be...
. The techniques used in barbecue are hot smoking and smoke cooking. Hot smoking is where the meat is cooked with a wood fire, over indirect heat, at temperatures between 120 and 180 F (49 and 82 C), and smoke cooking is cooking over indirect fire at higher temperatures. Unlike cold smoking, which preserves meat and takes days of exposure to the smoke, hot smoking and smoke cooking are cooking processes. While much faster than cold smoking, the cooking process still takes hours, as many as 18. The long, slow cooking process leaves the meat tender and juicy.
The next ingredient in barbecue is the wood. Since the wood smoke flavors the food, not just any wood will do; different woods impart different flavors, so availability of various woods for smoking influences the taste of the barbecue in different regions.
- Hard woods such as hickory
Trees in the genus Carya are commonly known as Hickory. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and large nuts...
, mesquiteMesquite is a leguminous plant of the Prosopis genus found in Northern Mexico and the United States from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas up to southwestern Kansas and from southeastern California and southwestern Utah to the southern limits of the Sonoran desert...
, pecanThe pecan is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois and Indiana east to western Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina and western Tennessee, south through Georgia,...
and the different varieties of oakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 400 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
impart a strong smoke flavor.
- Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as Maple. Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification, favour inclusion in Sapindaceae...
, alderAlder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas also along the Andes southwards to...
, and fruit woods such as appleThe apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits...
, pearThe pear is a tree of genus Pyrus and also the name of the tree's edible pomaceous fruit. The pear is classified within Maloideae, a subfamily within Rosaceae...
, and cherryThe cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus. It is a fleshy fruit that contains a single stony seed. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium.The name 'cherry', often as the...
impart a milder, sweeter taste.
Stronger flavored woods are used for pork and beef, while the lighter flavored woods are used for fish and poultry. More exotic smoke generating ingredients can be found in some recipes;
grapeA grape is the non-climacteric fruit, botanically a true berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, and grape seed oil...
vine adds a sweet flavor, and
sassafrasSassafras is a genus of three extant and one extinct species of deciduous trees in the family Lauraceae, native to eastern North America and eastern Asia....
, a major flavor in
root beerRoot beer is a carbonated drink originally brewed using sassafras. Root beer, popularized in North America, comes in two forms: alcoholic and soft drink. The historical root beer was analogous to small beer, in that the process provided a drink with a very low alcohol content...
adds its distinctive taste to the smoke.
The last, and in many cases optional, ingredient is the
barbecue sauceBarbecue sauce is a liquid flavoring sauce or condiment ranging from watery to very thick consistency. As the name implies, it was created as an accompaniment to barbecued foods. While it can be applied to any food, it usually tops meat after cooking or during barbecuing, grilling, or baking...
. There are no constants, with sauces running the gamut from clear, peppered vinegars to thick, sweet, tomato and molasses sauces, from mild to painfully spicy. The sauce may be used as a marinade before cooking, applied during cooking, after cooking, or used as a table sauce. An alternate form of barbecue sauce is the dry rub, a mixture of salt and spices applied to the meat before cooking.
Regional styles
While the wide variety of barbecue styles makes it is difficult to break barbecue styles down into regions, there are four major styles commonly referenced (though many sources list more). The four major styles are
MemphisMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
and Carolina, which rely on pork and represent the oldest styles, and
Kansas CityKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
and
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
, which utilize beef as well as pork, and represent the later evolution of the original deep south barbecue. Pork is the most common protein used, followed by beef and veal, often with chicken or turkey in addition. Lamb and mutton are found in some areas, such as
Owensboro, KentuckyOwensboro is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky and the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about 32 miles southeast of Evansville, Indiana and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 55,512 at...
, and some regions will add other meats.
Memphis
Memphis barbecue is primarily ribs, which come "wet" and "dry". Wet ribs are brushed with sauce before and after cooking, and dry ribs are seasoned with a dry rub. Pulled pork, from the shoulder, is also a popular item, which is served smothered in a hot, sweet, tomato based sauce.
Carolinas
The Carolinas use primarily pork, both pulled and ribs, normally rubbed with a spice mixture before smoking and often mopped with a spice and vinegar liquid during smoking. There, however, the consistency ends, as the sauces used vary widely. "Carolina Gold" sauce, found in
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a U.S. state that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was...
, is made from a mixture of yellow mustard, vinegar, brown sugar and other spices, creating a unique yellow sauce.
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
varies from a clear vinegar sauce in the east, to a vinegar and ketchup sauce in the west. Similar vinegar-based sauces can be found throughout South Carolina, as well.
In the eastern part of the Carolinas, barbequing a whole hog—called a "pig picking"--is popular but across the region, whole pork shoulders or the butt section are the most popular. While traditional barbeque restaurants or stands can be found in many small towns in the Carolinas, Lexington, NC has the greatest concentration of them.
Kansas City
Kansas City has a wide variety in proteins, but the signature ingredient is the sauce. The meat is smoked with a dry rub, and the sauce served as a table sauce. Kansas City style sauce is thick and sweet (with significant exceptions such as
Arthur Bryant'sArthur Bryant's is a restaurant located in Kansas City, Missouri. It is considered by many to be the most famous barbecue restaurant in the United States.-History:...
, which is significantly less sweet than others in the region) based on tomatoes and molasses. This is perhaps the most widespread of sauces, with the Kansas City recipe
K. C. Masterpiece being a top-selling brand.
Texas
Texas has four main regional styles of barbecue, all with different flavors, different cooking methods, different ingredients, and different cultural origins.
East TexasEast Texas is a distinct geographic and ecological area in the U.S. state of Texas.According to the Handbook of Texas, the East Texas area "may be separated from the rest of Texas roughly by a line extending from the Red River in north central Lamar County southwestward to east central Limestone...
barbecue is an extension of traditional southern barbecue, similar to that found in Tennessee and Arkansas. It is primarily pork-based, with cuts such as pork shoulder and pork ribs, indirectly slow smoked over primarily hickory wood. The sauce is tomato-based, sweet, and thick. This is also the most common urban barbecue in Texas, spread by African-Americans when they settled in big cities like Houston and Dallas.
Central Texas was settled by German and Czech settlers in the mid 1800s, and they brought with them European-style meat markets, which would smoke leftover cuts of pork and beef, often with high heat, using primarily native oak and pecan. The European settlers did not think of this meat as barbecue, but the Anglo farm workers who bought it started calling it such, and the name stuck. Traditionally this barbecue is served without sauce, and with no sides other than saltine crackers, pickles, and onions. This style is found in the Barbecue Belt southeast of Austin, with
LockhartLockhart is a city in Caldwell County, Texas, United States. It is the county seat of Caldwell County. The city of Lockhart is named after Byrd Lockhart, an assistant surveyor of Geen Dewit and reportedly the first Anglo to set foot in Caldwell County. Byrd Lockhart is survived by James H....
as its capital. Beef brisket is the most common meat used for barbecue in this region.
West TexasWest Texas is a region in the southwestern United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
barbecue, sometimes also called "cowboy style", uses a more direct heat method that other styles. The main wood used is mesquite, and in addition to beef, goat and mutton are also cooked.
The border area between the
South TexasSouth Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of, or beginning at, San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande River, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 3.7 million. The southern portion of this region...
Plains and Northern
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
as well as its barbecue style, are mostly influenced by Mexican tastes. The area was the birthplace of the Texas ranching tradition, and the Mexican farmhands were often partially paid for their work in less desirable cuts of meat, such as the diaphragm, from which fajitas are made, and the cow's head. It is the cow's head which defines South Texas barbecue, called barbacoa. They would wrap the head in wet maguey leaves and bury it in a pit with hot coals for several hours, and then pull off the meat for barbacoa tacos. The tongue is also used to make lengua tacos. Today, barbacoa is mostly cooked in an oven in a
bain-marieA bain-marie is a French term for a piece of equipment used in science, industry, and cooking to heat materials gently and gradually to fixed temperatures, or to keep materials warm over a period of time.- Description :...
Other regions
Other regions of the core barbecue states tend to draw their influence from the neighboring styles, and often will draw from more than one region.
OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,617,316 residents in 2007 and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
barbecue, for example, combines elements of Texas, Kansas City, and Memphis barbecue, in addition to adding its own unique elements, such as smoked
bologna sausageBologna sausage is an American sausage somewhat similar to the Italian mortadella . It is commonly called bologna and often pronounced and/or spelled baloney...
. The state of Kentucky is unusual in its barbecue cooking, in that the preferred meat is mutton. In California, the most famous barbecue dish is a grilled
tri-tipThe tri-tip is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin primal cut. It is a small triangular muscle, usually 1.5 to 2.5 lbs. per side of beef.-In the US:...
beef rump, which is sometimes cut into steaks. Good southern barbecue is available outside of the core states; while far less common, the variety can be even greater. With no local tradition to draw on, these restaurants often bring together eclectic mixes of things such as Carolina pulled pork and Texas brisket on the same menu, or add in some original creations or elements of other types of cuisines.
In nearly all cases, barbecue is very much a localized food. People tend to find and stick with favorite barbecue restaurants in their area. Small scale, local barbecue restaurants that develop local followings tend to hold their own against the bigger chain operations that exist. Examples of these localized restaurants include stalwarts like Peeble's Barbecue in Auburndale, Florida, which has been a local landmark for more than 50 years, as well as a Winter Haven Barbecue restaurant called Brock's Smoke Hut, which is going strong on a comparatively younger six year history.
Competitions
A great way to see what flavors of barbecue are gaining popularity around these other regions is to attend nationally and regionally sanctioned barbecue competitions. State organizations like the
Florida Bar B Que Association often list competitions taking place throughout any given year. Visitors are welcome to visit these contests, and many of them hold judging classes where it is possible to become a certified barbecue judge on site.
There are hundreds of barbecue competitions across the region every year, from small local affairs to large festivals that draw from all over the region. Memphis in May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest may be the largest, and there is even a contest dedicated to sauces, the Diddy Wa Diddy National Barbecue Sauce Contest. The non-profit Kansas City Barbeque Society, or KCBS, sanctions over 300 barbecue contests per year, in 44 different states. Despite the "Kansas City" name, the KCBS judges all styles of barbecue, which is broken down into classes for ribs, brisket, pork, and chicken. In addition to sponsoring competitions, the KCBS offers training and certification for barbecue judges.
Competition is not limited to professional barbecue teams, though many do compete. Amateur competitors with home-built equipment can be competitive, and even win world championships. Prizes range from trophies to US$10,000 in prize money for first place at some large competitions. The amateur teams run the range from
blue collarBlue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...
workers to
doctorA physician — also known as medical practitioner, doctor of medicine, medical doctor, or simply doctor — practices the ancient profession of medicine, which is concerned with maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease or injury...
s. Competitions generally start Friday evening, with the meat smoking all night long, and judging happens around noon on Saturday. Competitors sleep on site so they can tend their fires, often staying up in shifts to keep a constant watch on the smoker. Competitors may sleep in their cars, or bring large campers, towing multi-ton, trailer mounted commercial smokers.
KCBS sanctioned competitions are judged based on taste, tenderness, and appearance of the meat, with taste being worth about half of the overall score. Each competitor provides six portions of each item for the judges, and the entries are submitted in a double blind fashion so they remain anonymous. Taste is the most important attribute, followed by tenderness and then appearance, each ranked on a scale of one to nine. Six judges score each entry, and the low score is discarded and the remaining scores are weighted and totaled to produce the rankings. In the case of a tie, the highest score in taste, then tenderness, then appearance, will be used to break the tie; if that is not sufficient, the low score dropped earlier will be used. Any remaining ties will be broken by a computerized coin toss.
List of National and Regional Barbecue Associations
- National Barbecue Association - Founded in 1992, this national barbecue organization provides the barbecue related industry and enthusiasts with a visionary, beneficial, and responsive association.
- Florida BBQ Association - This is the State of Florida's official barbecue association. Here, you'll find a list of regional and national competitions, local Florida barbecue restaurant links, and more.
List of notable barbecue competitions
- International Bar-B-Q Festival
The International Bar-B-Q Festival is an event held in Owensboro, Kentucky, every second weekend in May since 1979. The festival provides an opportunity for sampling many varieties of barbecued meats, including chicken, mutton, and burgoo. Cooking teams compete for the Governor's Cup, awarded to...
, Owensboro, KentuckyOwensboro is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky and the county seat of Daviess County. It is located on U.S. Route 60 about 32 miles southeast of Evansville, Indiana and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 55,512 at...
, estimated attendance 85,000
- World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest at the Memphis in May
Memphis in May is a month long festival held in Memphis, Tennessee. The festival itself is split into four main events: The Beale Street Music Festival, the kick-off event which showcases a mix of local and national music acts, International Week, a group of events dedicated to the country that is...
festival, Memphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. Memphis rises above the Mississippi River on the 4
th Chickasaw Bluff just south of the mouth of the Wolf River....
, is listed as the world's largest pork barbecue contest by the Guinness Book of World RecordsGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing an internationally recognised...
.
- Slosheye Trail Big Pig Jig, or Big Pig Jig
The Big Pig Jig is a barbecue cooking competition held annually in Vienna, Georgia. It is the state pork cook-off of Georgia.- History:...
, held in ViennaVienna is a city in Dooly County, Georgia, United States. The population was 2,973 at the 2000 census. The city is the county seat of Dooly County....
, GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
, is the official state competition for the state of Georiga
- American Royal
The American Royal in Kansas City, Missouri is a livestock show, horse show and rodeo held each year in October and November at Kemper Arena. The Future Farmers of America was founded during the Royal and Kansas City's professional baseball team the Kansas City Royals derive their name from the...
, held in Kansas City, MissouriKansas City is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties. It is one of two county seats of Jackson County, the other being Independence, just to the city's east...
, attracts over 70,000 visitors and features 450 teams competing in the barbecue competition
- Lexington Barbecue Festival
The Lexington Barbecue Festival is a one-day food festival held each October in Lexington, North Carolina, a city that calls itself the "Barbecue Capital of the World." Each year it attracts as many as 160,000 visitors to the uptown Lexington area to sample the different foods from up to 20...
, held in Lexington, North CarolinaLexington is the county seat of Davidson County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 19,953. It is located in central North Carolina, twenty miles south of Winston-Salem. Major highways include I-85, U.S. Route 29, U.S. Route 70, U.S. Route 52 ...
, attracts as many as 150,000 visitors