Regional Barbecue Styles
Variations of barbecue are popular worldwide, and barbecue styles—in terms of the foods cooked, seasonings, sauces, and even the woods for the fire—vary considerably. Within North America, a great range of styles exist. In the United States, main styles can be divided into four regions, but even within these regions styles vary. The heartland of American barbecue is in the southern states, from the Atlantic coast to Texas. Canada, similarly, enjoys many barbecue styles across the country, and even within the same province.
For many people across the continent, the barbecue styles of Kansas City are what they think of when they think of barbecue. Both pork and beef are widely used, cooked with a dry rub. The sauces are thick, tomato-based, sweet, and spicy. Most of the barbecue sauces sold in supermarkets are of this style. Sauces are most often served at the table as an accompaniment, not applied during cooking. The barbecue sauces of St. Louis, on the opposite side of the state of Missouri, are usually milder and not as thick. Pork ribs are especially popular in St. Louis.
Further south, Memphis barbecue features mostly pork shoulder and pork ribs. Ribs are cooked “dry”—that is, with a spice rub and no sauce—and “wet”—basted with a sauce during and after cooking. The sauce is a tomato-based sauce but thinner than Kansas City sauce. Pork shoulder is shredded and served as “pulled pork” in sandwiches and other dishes.
Texas barbecues vary considerably across this large region, but beef is the most popular meat. In East Texas, pork shares the menu with beef. Both are cooked with hickory wood, and both are served chopped, with sweet, spicy, tomato-based sauce. In Central Texas, meats are cooked with a dry rub, and they are sliced rather than chopped for service. Sauce may be served on the side, but the flavor of the meat itself is considered most important. West Texas barbecue cooks use mesquite wood, which gives the meat a stronger, smokier flavor, and the dry rubs and sauces are enlivened with chiles and other spices.
Carolina barbecue is the best known of the barbecues of the Southeast. Even in this smaller area, however, styles vary. According to some experts, there are as many as five distinct styles in North and South Carolina. Pork is the most popular meat, and in the eastern part of the region, whole hogs are barbecued. The meat, whether the whole hog or just the shoulder, is usually served pulled or chopped. Sauces are usually thin, vinegar-based mixtures, although in the western part of the region, tomato may also be added. In parts of South Carolina, mustard is added to the vinegar-based sauce.
Barbecue styles popular in Canada developed in part from the cooking of the native peoples and in part from European and American practices. As in the United States, styles vary greatly across the country. Of particular note is the whole salmon cooked on cedar planks in British Columbia.
