Barbecue

A spit barbecue at a street fair in New York City's East Village known as "Ternera a la Llanera [2]" from the Colombian flatlands

A barrel - shaped barbecue on a trailer at a block party in Kansas City. Pans on the top shelf hold hamburgers and hot dogs that were grilled earlier when the coals were hot. The lower grill is now being used to cook pork ribs and "drunken chicken" slowly.

Barbecue or barbeque (with abbreviations BBQ, Bar-B-Q and Bar-B-Que, diminutive form barbie, used chiefly in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and called Braai in South Africa) is a method and apparatus for cooking food, often meat, with the heat and hot gases of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of charcoal and may include application of a marinade, spice rub, or basting sauce to the meat. The term as a noun can refer to foods cooked by this method, to the cooking apparatus itself, or to a party that includes such food. The term is also used as a verb for the act of cooking food in this manner. Barbecue is usually cooked in an outdoor environment heated by the smoke of wood or charcoal. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in large brick or metal ovens specially designed for that purpose.

Barbecue has numerous regional variations in many parts of the world. Notably, in the Southern United States, practitioners consider barbecue to include only indirect methods of cooking over hardwood smoke, with the more direct methods to be called "grilling."

In British usage, barbecuing and grilling refer to a fast cooking process directly over high heat, while grilling also refers to cooking under a source of direct, high heat—known in the U.S. and Canada as broiling. In US English usage, however, grilling refers to a fast process over high heat, while barbecuing refers to a slow process using indirect heat and/or hot smoke (very similar to some forms of roasting). For example, in a typical U.S. home grill, food is cooked on a grate directly over hot charcoal, while in a U.S. barbecue, the coals are dispersed to the sides or at significant distance from the grate. Its South American versions are the southern Brazilian churrasco and the Argentine asado.

Alternatively, an apparatus called a smoker with a separate fire box may be used. Hot smoke is drawn past the meat by convection for very slow cooking. This is essentially how barbecue is cooked in most U.S. "barbecue" restaurants, but nevertheless, many consider this to be a distinct cooking process called smoking.

The slower methods of cooking break down the collagen in meat and tenderize tougher cuts for easier eating.

Etymology

The origins of both the activity of barbecue cooking and the word itself are somewhat obscure. Most etymologists believe that barbecue derives ultimately from the word barbacoa found in the language of the Taíno people of the Caribbean. The word translates as "sacred fire pit" and is also spelled barbacoa. The word describes a grill for cooking meat, consisting of a wooden platform resting on sticks.

Traditional barbacoa involves digging a hole in the ground and placing some meat (usually a whole goat) with a pot underneath it, so that the juices can make a hearty broth. It is then covered with maguey leaves and coal and set alight. The cooking process takes a few hours.

There is ample evidence that both the word and cooking technique migrated out of the Caribbean and into other languages and cultures, with the word moving from Caribbean dialects into Spanish, then French and English. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first recorded use of the word in the English language in 1697 by the British buccaneer William Dampier.

The word evolved into its modern English spelling of barbecue and may also be found spelled as barbeque, bar-b-q or bbq. In the southeastern United States, the word barbecue is used predominantly as a noun referring to roast pork, while in the southwestern states, cuts of beef are often cooked.

The word barbecue has attracted several inaccurate origins from folk etymology. An often-repeated claim is that the word is derived from the French language. The story goes that French visitors to the Caribbean saw a pig being cooked whole and described the method as barbe à queue, meaning "from beard to tail." The French word for barbecue is also barbecue, and the "beard to tail" explanation is regarded as false by most language experts. The only merit is that it relies on the similar sound of the words, a feature common in folk-etymology explanations. Another claim states that the word BBQ came from the time when roadhouses and beer joints with pool tables advertised "Bar, Beer and Cues." According to this tale, the phrase was shortened over time to BBCue, then BBQ.

Styles

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, lamb, poultry, fish, and seafood. The meat could be ground, as with hamburger, processed into sausage or kebabs, and/or accompanied by vegetables and/or bread. 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.

Oceania

Pacific islands

Barbecuing is popular in the Australasian, Melanesian, Micronesian, and Polynesian islands. 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 imu. 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. As with many tropical islands' styles of barbecue, the meat is glazed with sauce and decorated with fruits.

Australia

In Australia barbecues are a popular summer pastime. Coin-operated, and increasingly free, public electric barbecues are common in city parks. While Australian barbecue uses similar seasonings to its American counterpart, smoking or sugary sauces are used less often; more commonly, the meat is marinated for flavour and then is cooked on a grill. The barbecuing of prawns ("shrimp" in the USA) has become increasingly popular in Australia but was not popular at the time of the American TV commercial featuring Australian actor Paul Hogan.

Barbecues are also common in fund raising for schools and local communities, where sausages and onions are served on white bread with tomato sauce. These are most often referred to as "Sausage Sizzles."

New Zealand

In New Zealand, as in Australia, barbecue is also popular. New Zealander barbecue is similar to a mix of American, British, Australian, and Pacific Island styles.

Caribbean

Jamaica

Jamaican jerk chicken is an example of barbecue.

The Bahamas

Bahamian barbecue is similar to Pacific Islander, Hawaiian, mainland American, UK, and Australian styles.

Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico

The Taíno method of slowly cooking meat over a wooden mesh of sticks. An example is in Spanish-speaking islands of the Caribbean, such as Cuba, Dominican Republic, and especially Puerto Rico, Lechon is a common and extremely popular delicacy. Lechon consists of taking a whole pig, slicing it from the head to the rear from the bottom, and slow-grilling the hog as it is turned on a rod.

Other Caribbean islands

Barbecue is also popular in all the Caribbean islands, each with their own traditions.

Asia

China

In southern China, pork barbecue is made with a marinade of honey and soy sauce, and cooked in long, narrow strips. This form of barbecue is known as char siu. 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.

Korea

Bulgogi

Bulgogi (불고기) is thinly sliced beef (and sometimes pork or chicken) marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and chili 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 meat." The more common "Korean BBQ" is called kalbi, which is marinated ribs.

Japan

Baribecueing is very popular in Japan as part of outdoor activity. Normally more vegetables and seafood are incorporated than in US, and soy sauce or soy based sauces are commonly used. Occasionally Japanese style fried noodle "Yakisoba" would be cooked as well.

Yakitori is a example of Japanese barbecue. It is the Japanese version of shish kebab.

Spare ribs, chicken, and steak are also grilled and glazed with teriyaki sauce.

South Asia

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

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 bamboo stick. The meat is marinated in a mixture of spices similar to a curry mix and pulverised peanut. Most common meats are chicken, lamb and beef. In non-muslim enclaves, you will also find pork and various other satay made from animal offal.

After the meat has been cooked over a charcoal flame, it is served with a thick gooey dipping sauce made from the same mixture as the marinate for the meat(a peanuty tasting curry like mixture).

Borneo. In the mountainous regions of North Borneo, the local Kadazan people's specialities are chicken butt satay and snake meat satay (as of 2007 this is only available under exceptional circumstances). Before 1990 it was possible to get satay of animals like tapir, elephants, flying fox, goannas and wild boar. Unfortunately, these animals are now rare and/or endangered.

Lechon. In the Philippines, Lechon is a centerpiece of the main cultural diet. It is extremely rare for any celebratory occasion to lack lechon. Filipino lechon is made similarly to the same fashion as its done in the Spanish speaking islands of the Caribbean. The hog is cut, slicing it from the head to the rear from the bottom, and slow-grilling the hog as it is turned on a rod. Even though the Spanish speaking islands of the Caribbean and the Philippines do not share a common language, it is stil referred to with the same pronunciaiton. This may be in due to both regions being ruled by Spain for many centuries.

Lechón being roasted

Mongolia

Nomadic Mongolians have several barbecue 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 barbecue 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.

Middle East

Al tazaj

Israeli mangal

Sorts of beef steaks, chicken parts, middle eastern kebab made from beef and lamb, hot dogs and beef burger and the known Shish Lik

Mangal is the act of grilling meat on coal's outdoors and also known as "On the fire" - על האש

The meat is eaten with pita bread, Tehini paste, Hummus, israeli salad and all kinds of salads

Persian-style kabob

There are various types of barbecued Persian Kabob. The main type is koobideh kabob, which is seasoned ground beef that is skewered and barbecued outside on a charcoal flame. There is also a marinated chicken kabob called joojeh kabob and a filet mignon steak kabob, called kabob barg. Both are skewered as well. All three main types of Persian kabob are usually served with Iranian style saffron rice and salad Shirazi, but can also be eaten with middle eastern lavash bread.

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.

The braais are utilized in cooking almost daily by many South African families.

Europe

Germany

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Germans are enthusiastic about their version of barbecue, grilling ("Grillen"), especially in the summertime. It is the one area of traditional home cooking that is a predominantly male activity. Germans grill over charcoal or, increasingly, gas, and grilled meats include all of the local sausage variations as well as steaks (especially marinaded pork steaks from the shoulder) and poultry. Regional festivals feature grilled items ranging from eel to trout, whole sides of pork or beef, chicken, and duck. Smoking is common practice in German butchering, but pure smoke-based techniques have not yet entered popular practice. Barbecue variations are also popular among the immigrant communities in Germany, with notable traditions of outdoor grilling in Germany developed by immigrants and visitors from the United States of America, Turkey, Greece, other Balkan States, and among the German-speaking immigrees from the states of the former Soviet Union.

Mediterranean

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Barbecuing is popular in Mediterranean countries. It is influenced from traditional Mediterranean gourmet cooking. Olive oil is a key part of the Mediterranean barbecue style, as it is in the region's gourmet cuisine. The most common items grilled are chicken, beef steaks, souvlakis/brochettes, and pita bread, with other traditional Mediterranean ingredients. Often, many barbecue items are garnished with various herbs and spices; basic persillade and variations are often put on top of the meat.

United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland

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Barbecuing is a popular al fresco cooking and eating style, common in both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Many homes in both countries have a barbecue, usually located in the home's back garden. Most popular are steel-built "kettle" and range-style barbecues, with wheels to facilitate moving the barbecue. Due to the typically wet weather of the climate of the British Isles, during the autumn and winter, many British and Irish people store their barbecues in a garden shed or garage, although permanent brick barbecues are also common.

In recent times, barbecue competitions are beginning to take place in the United Kingdom [3], similar to those in the United States. Some of these barbecue competitons allow teams from Ireland to compete as well. Similar competitions are also held in Canada, continental Europe, and Australia.

The most common foods cooked on a British-style barbecue are chicken, hamburgers, sausages, beef steaks, shish kebabs, and vegetarian soya or quorn based products. Such vegetarian products require extra attention due to their lower fat content and thus tendency to stick, as well as their weaker structure due to the manufacturing process of such foods. Less common food items include fish, prawns, lobster, halloumi (cheese), corn-on-the-cob, potatoes, asparagus, pork fillets, pork patties, and pork or beef ribs. Similar to the United States, barbecue sauce is sometimes spread onto the meat while it is cooking. All the major supermarket chains now offer a range of barbecue products, although availability is usually limited to the duration of the "barbecue season" (late spring to early autumn).

Barbecue in the UK is mostly influenced by traditional English, Scottish, and Welsh cuisines. However, as modern British cuisine as a whole is also heavily influenced by its multi-ethnic minority communities, Continental Western European and Mediterranean cuisines, and to a lesser extent, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Oriental cuisines, may occasionally influence the food cooked at the British barbecue. For example, in addition to barbecue sauce, persillade may be put on top of the meat as a garnish. Overall, British barbecue is similar to a mix of American, Australian, German, and Mediterranean styles.

In the Republic of Ireland, the Irish people have their own tradition of barbecue which is influenced by traditional Irish cuisine. As with British homes, many Irish homes also have a barbecue. In addition to meat and vegetables, potatoes, a staple in Irish cuisine, are also grilled, and barbecue sauce is spread onto the meat while cooking. As with the United Kingdom and the other islands of the British Isles, the barbecue season is somewhat limited due to its climate. Overall, the Irish barbecue style is similar to a mix of American, UK, and Australian styles.

North America

Canada

Canadian barbecue takes many influences from its American neighbor down south, but also takes influences from British, Irish, French, and Australian barbecue styles. The most common items grilled on a Canadian barbecue are chicken, burgers, ribs, steaks, sausages, and shish kebabs. As in the United States, barbecue competitions are quite common.

United States

A Southern Barbecue, 1887, by Horace Bradley

In the United States, especially the southeastern region, barbecue (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 sauce, 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 Washington mentions attending a "barbicue" in Alexandria in 1769. As the country expanded westwards along the Gulf of Mexico and north along the Mississippi River, barbecue went with it.

The core region for barbecue is the southeastern region of the United States, an area bordered on the west by Texas and Oklahoma, on the north by Missouri, Kentucky, and North Carolina, on the south by the Gulf of Mexico, and on the east by the Atlantic Ocean. While barbecue is found outside of this region, the thirteen 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 myoglobin in the meat reacts with carbon monoxide 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 feral. This provided the most widely used protein used in most barbecue, pork ribs, as well as the pork shoulder for pulled pork. 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, mesquite, pecan and the different varieties of oak impart a strong smoke flavor.
• Maple, alder, and fruit woods such as apple, pear, and cherry 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; grapevine adds a sweet flavor, and sassafras, a major flavor in root beer adds its distinctive taste to the smoke.

The last, and in many cases optional, ingredient is the barbecue sauce. 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 Memphis and Carolina, which rely on pork and represent the oldest styles, and Kansas City and Texas, 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, often with chicken or turkey in addition. Mutton is found in some areas, such as Owensboro, Kentucky, 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.

Carolina

The Carolinas use primarily pork, both pulled and ribs, marinated in a peppery vinegar sauce before smoking. The pulled pork differs from Memphis pulled pork in that the whole hog is used in the Carolinas. There, however, the consistency ends, as the sauces used vary widely. South Carolina sauce mixes ketchup and mustard with vinegar to make a unique orange sauce. North Carolina varies from a clear vinegar sauce in the east, to a vinegar and ketchup sauce in the west.

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's, 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-style barbeque usually uses mesquite or pecan wood as the fuel and always uses the indirect heat method of cooking. Beef (primarily ribs and brisket) and pork are both acceptable meats; the recipes are varied. Texas sauces are tomato based, less sweet than Kansas City and spicier, and are not generally used during cooking, but are used as a table sauce. Texas also adds smoked sausages, adopted from local German and Mexican populations.

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. Oklahoma barbecue, for example, combines elements of Texas, Kansas City, and Memphis barbecue, in addition to adding its own unique elements, such as smoked bologna sausage. 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.

Competitions

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 collar workers to doctors. 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.

Although regional differences in barbecue are blurring, as are many other aspects of U.S. regional culture, variations still exist.The USA is known for its barbecues. Much of the population barbecues every year. One of the most frequent days for barbecueing is Independence Day, celebrated on July 4th. Americans tend to barbecue meats such as ribs, pork, beef, spam, etc.

Alabama

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Alabama barbecue most often consists of pork ribs, pork shoulder, and chicken slowly cooked over hickory smoke. Pork shoulder may be served either chopped, sliced, or pulled. Some diners also specify a preference for either "inside" or "outside" meat, a reference to the particular section of the shoulder the meat is taken from. "Inside" meat is considered to contain more moisture while "outside" meat is usually drier.

While Alabama barbecue is typically served with a spicy, tomato-based sauce, a mayonnaise and vinegar based sauce is popular in the northern parts of the state. Known as "White Sauce" or "Alabama White Sauce," this particular barbecue sauce is predominantly served with chicken and pork. This style of barbecue sauce is often attributed to Bob Gibson of Decatur, a well-known barbecue chef. Additionally, the barbecue in the eastern sections of the state often serve barbecue with a sweet and spicy mustard and vinegar based sauce. Much like the barbecue styles of neighboring Georgia and Tennessee, Alabama barbecue is usually considered a variation of the broader "Memphis Style" of barbecue. Barbecue in Alabama is generally served with a uniquely wide range of "country style" vegetables, as well as traditional sides of french fries, baked beans and coleslaw.

"Whole-hog" style preparation is also common in Alabama, where a whole pig is cooked without being separated by parts prior to its preparation. Because of the nature of "whole-hog" preparation, this style is usually found at private gatherings and homes rather than in barbecue restaurants. Whole-hog barbecue is usually served to groups on a common table in a picnic-style setting and can be traced back to the social gatherings in rural towns associated with the hunting and preparing of pigs and hogs from the countryside, an event that routinely attracted large crowds.

Arizona

Located between California and Texas, Arizona barbecue is similar to Texas barbecue, but also takes Californian and Missouri-style traits. Ribs, chicken, steak, and sausage are popular in this state. There are many barbecue restaurants in Arizona that serve Deep Southern-style barbecue as well, adding to Arizona's barbecue influences. As Arizona is a southwestern state, the barbecue style is influenced by southwestern cuisine. The barbecue sauce used in Arizona is tomato-based, as are all western states.

Arkansas

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Arkansas is in some ways a crossroads of American barbecue. This is largely due to its location—firmly rooted in the Deep South but close enough to the Midwest, Texas, and Tennessee to incorporate Kansas City, Memphis, and Texas-style barbecue traits. It is one of three states that act as a crossroads for American barbecue; the other two are Oklahoma and Louisiana.

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 6-24 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, evidence of a particularly strong poultry processing industry led by companies including Arkansas-based Tyson Foods, as well as ConAgra and Pilgrim's Pride. Barbecue chicken, Arkansas-style, is sometimes marinated with a "dry rub," smoked, and divided into edible portions after it is completely cooked. Most has sauce applied within the last few minutes of cooking. Barbecue sauce can be applied by the eater.

Another characteristic of Arkansas barbecue is that a barbecued pork or beef sandwich is usually 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.

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 many are not thick and never taste syrupy. They are, however, noticeably smoother (i.e., less acidic) than eastern sauces, particularly those from eastern 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^{[citation needed]} McClard's in Hot Springs, which developed a national reputation decades before one of its most loyal patrons, Bill Clinton, was elected president. (The earliest days of the restaurant, during the 1920s, featured goat as a primary meat.) Whole Hog Cafe in Little Rock also has developed a national following in recent years, winning dozens of national competitions.

California

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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 Californian 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, more popular is the whole cut of tri-tip, which resembles a roast, served with pinquito pink beans, grilled french bread, and salsa. The tri-tip is rolled in garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper just prior to grilling over red oak wood or coals. Some old timers soak their tri-tip in a flat beer marinade the night before grilling, while others use a red wine vinegar, tomato, and oil basting barbecue sauce during the grilling The most common seasoning when preparing tri-tip for the pit is a commercial blend, Susie Q's. It is usually liberally applied and rubbed deep into the meat to assist in the searing process.

Tri-tip is the tetrahedron shaped tips of a sirloin portion that many butchers consider waste and cut into stew meat or shish kebabs, or grind into burgers or sausages.

Other common items grilled on a Californian barbecue include chicken and ribs. The California barbecue scene is influenced by the southwestern styles from Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Florida

There are three variants of barbecue in Florida, based on the parts of the state. The first is the Deep Southern style, found mainly in northern Florida, which is influenced by the barbecue styles of states such as Mississippi, Tennessee, and Georgia. The second is Floribbean barbecue, found in central Florida, which is a hybrid of Deep Southern and Caribbean barbecue styles. The third is tropical barbacoa, found in southern Florida, which is Floribbean barbecue further mixed with Latin American cuisine. Barbacoa was brought to southern Florida by immigrants from Cuba, Mexico, and other Latin American countries, and blends Mexican, Cuban, Jamaican, Bahamian, and American Deep Southern barbecue traits. Overall, Floridian barbecue as a whole is best described as a mix of Deep Southern and Caribbean styles, with occasional Latino influences. The Latino-Floribbean barbacoa is loosely comparable to Tex-Mex cuisine in that there are some Mexican influences in Latino-Floribbean cuisine, as Mexican dishes such as fajitas and nachos are popular in Florida as they are in Texas.

In northern Florida, the southeastern pulled pork style of barbecue extends from Georgia into Florida with minor variations. In addition to pulled pork, baby back ribs, pork patties (sausage patties, rib patties, or spam), pork fillets, short ribs, chicken, steak, brisket, burgers, string sausages, and shish kebabs, local Floridian meats such as mullet, a type of fish, are also smoked. Other seafoods such as shrimp and lobster are also routinely grilled over direct heat.

In central Florida, the local barbecue style mixes traits of Northern Floridian (Deep Southern) barbecue with traits of Caribbean barbecue, particularly from the Bahamas, due to its proximity to Central Florida. It basically takes the same items grilled on a Deep Southern barbecue and mixes it with tropical flavors. The meat may also be marinated and sometimes be decorated with fruits, similar to a mix of Hawaiian and Australian barbecue styles.

In southern Florida, the influx of Cuban immigrants has brought with it a style of cooking pork shoulder outdoors in which the pork is marinated in mojo, a marinade including sour orange juice and garlic, and then placed in a caja china, (literally "Chinese box"), a wooden box clad on the inside with metal, and with hot coals placed in a tray on the top. When the pork is completely done, the resulting texture is very similar to American-style pulled pork.

Georgia

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Georgia barbecue is based on pork, usually a shoulder cut or "Boston Butt" which is slow-cooked over an open pit with oak and/or hickory and served with a spicy, tomato-based sauce. Georgia variants of this Memphis-style sauce may contain some combination of ketchup, molasses, bourbon, garlic, cayenne pepper, and other ingredients.

Barbecue in the eastern part of the Georgia (from St. Simons Island to Augusta) usually consists of finely chopped pork served with a side of hash (a thick, tomato-based stew often flavored with meat drippings and other vegetables) over long grain white rice. Pork ribs, chicken, or beef brisket accompany pork on many menus, 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 mayonnaise-dressing coleslaw are often served as a side dish. East Georgia barbecue is also known for the exotic flavors found in many of its sauces. Barbecue in central Georgia is most often served with Brunswick stew instead of hash, along with a wider selection of more traditional side items than in other areas of the state. Northeast Georgia barbecue is known to serve finely chopped pork most often taken from a slow roasted whole hog, rather than individual pork shoulders. The meat is served with a thinner, vinegar-based sauce similar to the sauces found in South Carolina. Barbecue found in the western sections of the state greatly resemble Alabama-style barbecue. Restaurants in this area 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 pickles and/or grilled slices of Vidalia onion. This area also 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. Other, smaller areas of the state feature numerous variations of these styles of barbecue including dry-rubs and hickory smoke sauces. Vienna, Georgia is notable as the home of The Big Pig Jig,[4] one of the Southeast's largest pork barbecue cook-offs, which has been featured on the Food Network.

The most easily recognized feature of Georgia is Brunswick stew, named after Brunswick, Georgia where tradition holds that it originated.

Hawaii

In Hawaii, the local barbecue style is mainly influenced by those of the South Pacific Islands of Oceania. However, many immigrants from the mainland brought their own styles into Hawaii and mixed it into the Hawaiian barbecue scene. The meats are glazed with sauce, cooked over Kiawe and Guava wood, and decorated with fruits when it is served. Overall, Hawaiian barbecue is best described as a mix of mainland American barbecue and Pacific Island barbecue styles.

Kentucky

In Kentucky, barbecue also has a long and rich tradition. Mutton is the most notable specialty in Western Kentucky, where there were once large populations of sheep. 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 traditionally served with the meat, though not always used in cooking. The Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Owensboro is the most famous of all Kentucky BBQ places, and Owensboro hosts an International Bar-B-Q Festival every year during 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 earned widespread favor. Traditionally, a combination of hickory and oak is burnt.

Louisiana

Louisiana is another crossroad point in American barbecue. The local barbecue style mixes Texas, Kansas City, Memphis, and Deep South barbecue traits with additional influences from Cajun cuisine and Louisiana Creole cuisine. Chicken, ribs, steak, and sausage are very common in the state. In addition, brochette, which consists of meat, vegetables, and bread on a stick, also known as shish kebab, frigărui, or souvlaki, is also cooked in the Louisiana barbecue due to the influence of Cajun cuisine, which is in turn influenced by French cuisine, a major branch of Mediterranean cuisine. As with other states, barbecue sauce is spread over the meat, but Louisiana in particular sometimes adds a garnish known as persillade, and olive oil may also be used.

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. Another, held during the annual Rivergate Festival in Tunica is one of several qualifying preliminary competitions for the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest in nearby Memphis, Tennessee.

Famous barbecue joints include^{[citation needed]} Leatha's Bar-B-Que Inn in Hattiesburg, The Little Dooey in Columbus and Starkville, Sonny's in Starkville (both favorites of Mississippi State University students), and Sonny's Real Pit BBQ (no relation) in Jackson.

Missouri

In Missouri, beef is a popular meat for barbecue, especially in 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^{[citation needed]}.

St. Louis

St. Louis-style barbecue often uses pork and 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. Maull's barbecue sauce is representative of the St. Louis style. 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.

Kansas City

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Kansas City is sometimes referred to as 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.

Kansas City barbecue typically consists of brisket and burnt ends, pork, lamb, and beef ribs, steaks, chicken, and turkey. Meat is more often sliced than shredded. Kansas City barbecue is served with the sauce on the side, or mixed into the meat, depending on the establishment or personal preference. Kansas City style uses a sweet, spicy sauce with a tomato base.

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^{[citation needed]}. 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^{[citation needed]} they have had little or no luck exporting the barbecue beyond the Kansas City metropolitan area.

In 1977 Rich Davis, a child psychologist, 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.^{[citation needed]}

Nevada

In Nevada, the local barbecue style blends traits from Texas, Arizona, and California, as well as from the Deep South. The sauce is vinegar based, and chicken, ribs, sausages, and steaks are the most common items grilled.

North Carolina

Within North Carolina, there are two regional barbecue traditions, both based on the slow-cooking of pork, served pulled, or chopped. In Eastern North Carolina, typically the whole hog is used, and the dominant ingredients in the 'sauce' are vinegar and hot peppers. In the Piedmont, Lexington-style barbecue is the norm. It is prepared from primarily pork shoulder and served with a mix of vinegar-based and tomato-based sauce. The western style of barbecue is a tomato- based sauce. The tomato-based sauce, called "dip" by some, can be made with ketchup and is thinner and less sweet than most bottled barbecue sauces available nationwide. Except for the "whole hog" preparation, hams are not generally barbecued. Throughout the State, the term "barbecue" refers to slow cooked pork. It is almost never used to refer to a backyard cookout. Any meat basted in a barbecue sauce and cooked over heat can be called "barbecued," for example, "barbecued chicken" or "barbecued ribs." A common home preparation called "chicken barbecue" is oven-braised chicken pieces with a sauce, usually thin and slightly spicy.

Common side dishes include hushpuppies, barbecue slaw, french fries, boiled potatoes, corn sticks, Brunswick stew, fried okra, and collard greens followed with cold sweet tea. In the popular North Carolina State Legislative Building cafeteria, accompaniments include fried pickle. Also popular is the "barbecue sandwich," consisting of barbecue, vinegar/pepper sauce, and sweet cole slaw served on a hamburger bun. A "barbecue tray" is a thick paper rectangular bowl with barbecue and french fries or hushpuppies served side-by-side. The meat may already have sauce mixed in, or the diner may add his own.

The states best known annual food festival is the [Lexington Barbecue Festival]. It is normally held on one of the last two Saturdays in October. Attesting to its popularity, Carolina-style barbecue restaurants are scattered along the Eastern seaboard and tubs of NC chopped barbecue can be found in many grocers.

Oklahoma

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The third crossroad point of American barbecue, the Oklahoma barbecue style 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.

South Carolina

South Carolina features 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 Palmetto State, barbecue is a noun, meaning hickory-smoked, pulled pork. You will never hear a South Carolinian refer to grilling hamburgers as barbecuing. In the Pee Dee and Lowcountry coastal region, a vinegar and pepper sauce is prevalent. Charleston(more specifically, Mount Pleasant) 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 "Piggie Park", Shealy's and Jackie Hites* (both located in Batesburg-Leesville) and Dukes BBQ (3 locations in Orangeburg, SC) use gold sauce made from mustard, apple juice, brown sugar, and other ingredients. The German immigrants, who first concocted mustard-based sauce, often used beer in place of apple juice. Maurice's BBQ sauce is found in grocery stores around the country. 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. Barbecue in South Carolina is often served over rice, and with such sides as fatback, cracklins, hash, cole slaw, hush puppies, potato salad, etc. No barbecue meal is complete without a glass of cold, sweet tea to accompany it.

Tennessee

While Memphis dominates the culture of Tennessee barbecue, some other restaurants in other cities have achieved some notoriety outside of their local markets. Ridgewood Barbeque in Elizabethton has been featured in national publications and network television for its smoked sliced pork, drenched in a light, spicy tomato-based sauce. Still in its original location, Ridgewood has served a variety of notable clientèle over the past six decades, including country music stars and NASCAR drivers who race in nearby Bristol. Bar-B-Cutie Bar-B-Que 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. Traditional Tennessee barbecue is saucy, slow-cooked pork ribs or pulled/sliced pork shoulder, though beef brisket (and sometimes sliced roast beef served with sauce) is also popular. The molasses content in the sauce usually becomes less pronounced in middle and east Tennessee, causing the sauces there to be thinner and less sweet. These eastern varieties more frequently use ketchup as a base, sometimes adding small amounts of Tabasco sauce or jalapeño for flavor.

In recent years it has become increasingly common for restaurants in the far eastern part of the state to serve the meat "dry" and offer customers a choice of either tomato or "Eastern Carolina-style" vinegar-based sauces. The use of cole slaw as a condiment on sandwiches varies from location to location. Typical side dishes include french fries, baked potatoes, potato salad, corn on the cob, barbecue beans, cole slaw, green beans, white beans, dinner rolls, and collard greens. Most barbecue restaurants are locally owned, no-frills establishments, though a handful of fast food chains (such as Buddy's BBQ in the Knoxville area) and several more upscale "rib houses" have proven popular regionally.

One particular area of interest is Robertson County (i.e. Springfield and surrounding areas, or the northern middle portion of the state, approximately 30 minutes to an hour north of Nashville), in which the norm is to serve pulled pork shoulder (or sometimes, pulled whole-hog barbecue) or a half- or whole-chicken with a finishing sauce consisting of almost pure apple cider vinegar, with a bit of ground cayenne pepper (sometimes with more pepper in a mild, medium, or hot choice), and perhaps some Coca-Cola for a little sweetening, depending on the establishment. This is a very similar sauce to the vinegar-based sauce served by the Athens, Alabama-originated Whitt's Barbecue chain of restaurants, now a very popular chain in Nashville-area/Middle Tennessee. While vinegar-based, the sauce is still rather different from the eastern North Carolina style of sauce, primarily due to the exclusion of ground black pepper, but is also different than much of the rest of the state (especially Memphis) in the lack of any tomato-based ingredients. Sometimes, the sauce may also be used as a "mop" sauce, applied during cooking, often with the addition of a vegetable oil (usually canola) to help adhesion to the meat. Common side dishes include a choice between a mayonnaise-based coleslaw or a mayonnaise-and-mustard-based potato-salad, as well as either slow-cooked white beans (usually Navy or Great Northern beans, usually cooked slow and low with bacon, ham, or other fatty pork meats) or "baked beans" which are again usually a white bean slow-cooked with pork, and then baked with a sauce of tomatoes, vinegar, and sometimes with brown sugar or molasses (but less frequently than in other parts of the country). The usual bread accompaniment is mass-produced "brown-and-serve" dinner rolls, or a cornbread dish, which can vary from cornbread-griddle-cakes to slices of sweetened cornbread baked in an oven in a cast-iron skillet.

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 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 [5].

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).

Texas

In much of the world outside of the American South, barbecue has a close association with Texas. Texas barbecue is often assumed to be primarily beef. This assumption, along with the inclusive term "Texas Barbecue" is an oversimplification. Texas has four main regional styles of barbecue, all with different flavors, different cooking methods, different ingredients, and different cultural origins.

East Texas 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 Lockhart as its capital.

The border between the South Texas Plains and Northern Mexico has always been blurry, and this area of Texas, 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-marie

The last style of Texas Barbecue also originated from Texas ranching traditions, but was developed in the western third of the state by Anglo ranchers. This style of "Cowboy" barbecue, cooked over an open pit using direct heat from mesquite, is the style most closely associated with Texas barbecue in popular imagination. The meat is primarily beef, shoulder clods and brisket being favorite cuts, but mutton and goat are also often found in this barbecue style.

Snow's Barbecue in Lexington received Texas Monthly's award for top BBQ restaurant in Texas for 2008.

Upper Midwest

In northern Illinois (including Chicago), Wisconsin, Minnesota, Northern 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 the Midwest 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.

Chicago is an exception to the rule in the Midwest. It has a very large population of African Americans who migrated from the Mississippi Delta in the middle of the 20th century. The million or so African Americans who live in Chicago today inherited the food, music, and religion of their parents and grandparents. The barbecue described in the Memphis, Arkansas, and Mississippi sections of this entry has become a part of the Chicago landscape and has evolved since leaving the South. South- and West-side Chicago is noted for smoked ribs and Deep South style rib sauce.

Many of the migrants to Chicago came for jobs in the meatpacking industry at the time Chicago was still known as the hogbutcher to the world. Pork spare ribs served with hot or mild sauce are a product of this happy cultural confluence. While barbecue is typically associated with tough cuts of meat, barbecue ribs in Chicago tend to be from very good cuts of pork, perhaps because of the abundance of good meat and resulting higher expectations in this meat industry town.

Virginia

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 him or herself whether there is a genuine variation or not.

Virginia Gentleman a brand of BBQ sauce made from 90 proof, small batch bourbon whiskey, can be found throughout most of Virginia. The Bourbon is a product of Smith Bowman Distillery of Fredericksburg, Virginia. The sauce is bottled and distributed by Ashman manufacturing & Distributing Company in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Washington

In the Pacific Northwest, barbecue is approached using different smoking techniques and is primarily used for cooking 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 is especially affordable, 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.

Other items cooked on a Washington barbecue include chicken, sausage, and steak.

Mexico

In Mexico, the carne asada (literally meaning "roasted meat") consists of marinated cuts of beef rubbed with salt and pepper, and then grilled. Normally, it is accompanied with tortillas. This dish is more common in Northern Mexico, however in Central Mexico it can be also found.

American South

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Chicken wings being cooked slowly over charcoal ashes

In the southern United States, barbecue initially revolved around the cooking of pork. During the 19th century, pigs were a low-maintenance food source that could be released to forage for themselves in forests and woodlands. When food or meat supplies were low, these semi-wild pigs could then be caught and eaten.

According to estimates, prior to the American Civil War, Southerners ate around five pounds of pork for every one pound of beef they consumed. Because of the poverty of the southern United States at this time, every part of the pig was eaten immediately or saved for later (including the ears, feet, and other organs). Because of the effort to capture and cook these wild hogs, "pig slaughtering became a time for celebration, and the neighborhood would be invited to share in the largesse. These feasts are sometimes called 'pig-pickin's.' The traditional Southern barbecue grew out of these gatherings."

Each Southern locale has its own particular variety of barbecue, particularly concerning the sauce. North Carolina sauces vary by region; eastern North Carolina uses a vinegar-based sauce, the center of the state (around Lexington, NC) uses a combination of ketchup and vinegar as their base, and western North Carolina uses a heavier ketchup base. Lexington, NC boasts of being "The Barbecue Capital of the World" and they have more than one BBQ restaurant per 1,000 residents. Another distinguishing characteristic of North Carolina barbecue is barbecue slaw, which has no mayonnaise, is composed of cabbage, ketchup, vinegar, and black pepper and can be served either on the side or on a sandwich. South Carolina is the only state that includes all four recognized barbecue sauces, including mustard-based, vinegar-based, and light and heavy tomato-based. Memphis barbecue is best known for tomato- and vinegar-based sauces . In some Memphis establishments and in Kentucky, meat is rubbed with dry seasoning (dry rubs) and smoked over hickory wood without sauce; the finished barbecue is then served with barbecue sauce on the side.

The barbecue of Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee is almost always pork served with a sweet tomato-based sauce. However, several regional variations exist as well. Alabama is particularly known for its distinctive white sauce, a mayonnaise- and vinegar-based sauce, originating in northern Alabama, used predominantly on chicken and pork. A popular item in North Carolina and Memphis is the pulled pork sandwich served on a bun and often topped with cole slaw. Pulled pork is prepared by shredding the pork after it is barbecued.

Pit-beef prevails in Maryland and is often enjoyed at large outdoor bull roasts, which are common in the warmer months. Maryland-style pit-beef is not the product of barbecue cookery in the strictest sense, as there is no smoking of the meat involved—rather, it involves grilling the meat over a high heat. The meat is typically served rare, with a strong horseradish sauce as the preferred condiment.

Texas

Typical South Texas grill

In much of the world outside of the American South, barbecue has a close association with Texas^{[citation needed]}. Texas barbecue is often assumed to be primarily beef. This assumption, along with the inclusive term "Texas barbecue" is an oversimplification. Texas has four main regional styles of barbecue, all with different flavors, different cooking methods, different ingredients, and different cultural origins.

East Texas 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 Lockhart as its capital.

The border between the South Texas Plains and Northern Mexico has always been blurry, and this area of Texas, 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-marie.

The last style of Texas barbecue also originated from Texas ranching traditions but was developed in the western third of the state by Anglo ranchers. This style of "cowboy" barbecue, cooked over an open pit using direct heat from mesquite, is the style most closely associated with Texas barbecue in popular imagination. The meat is primarily beef, shoulder clods and brisket being favorite cuts, but mutton and goat are also often found in this barbecue style.

Events, and gatherings

Diagram of a propane smoker used for barbecuing

The word barbecue is also used to refer to a social gathering where food is served, usually outdoors in the early afternoon. In the southern USA, outdoor gatherings are not typically called "barbecues" unless barbecue itself will actually be on the menu. The device used for cooking at a barbecue is commonly referred to as a "barbecue," "barbecue grill," or "grill."

• Often referred to as "The World Series of Barbecue," The American Royal Barbecue Contest is held each October in Kansas City, Missouri. This event comprises two distinct competitions held over the course of four days. The first contest is the Invitational Contest, with competing teams being required to obtain an invitation by winning other qualifying contests throughout the year. The second competition is an open contest that any team can compete in. This open contest is the largest championship barbecue competition in the world, with the 2007 event attracting 496 teams.

• The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest is held annually in Memphis, Tennessee, during the Memphis in May festival. Other barbecue competitions are held in virtually every state in the United States during the warmer months, usually beginning in April and going through September. One of the best known was the Ribfest, first organized by former Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko, which attracted over 400 contestants in 1982, ballooned to 750 entries and over 10,000 attendees by 1990, and helped popularize the distinctions between different regional styles to a much wider audience.These events feature keen competitions between teams of cooks and are divided into separate competitions for the best pork, beef and poultry barbecue and for the best barbecue sauces.

Techniques

Barbecuing encompasses two distinct types of cooking techniques. One type is grilling over direct heat, usually a hot fire (i.e., over 500°F) for a short time (minutes). Grilling may be done over wood or charcoal or even gas. The other technique is cooking by using indirect heat or low-level direct radiant heat at lower temperatures (usually around 240°F) and longer cooking times (hours), often with smoke.

Grilling

Wood

Large beef steaks over wood

The choice and combination of woods burned result in different flavors imparted to the meat. Woods commonly selected for their flavor include mesquite, hickory, maple, guava, kiawe, cherry, pecan, apple and oak. Woods to avoid include conifers. These contain resins and tars, which impart undesirable resinous and chemical flavors. If these woods are used, they should be burned in a catalytic grill, such as a rocket stove, so that the resins and tars are completely burned before coming into contact with the food.

Different types of wood burn at different rates. The heat also varies by the amount of wood and controlling the rate of burn through careful venting. Wood and charcoal are sometimes combined to optimize smoke flavor and consistent burning.

Charcoal

Cooking with charcoal, like cooking with gas, is a more manageable approximation of cooking over a wood fire. Charcoal cooking does not impart the rich flavour of cooking over hardwoods but is cheap and easy to purchase in sizes appropriate for close proximity cooking in typical commercially available home grills.

Charcoal grilling generally begins with purchasing a commercial bag of processed charcoal briquettes. An alternative to charcoal briquettes is lump charcoal. Lump charcoal is wood that has been turned into charcoal, but unlike briquettes, it has not been ground and shaped. Lump charcoal is a pure form of charcoal and is preferred by many purists who dislike artificial binders used to hold briquettes in their shape, and it also burns hotter and responds to changes in airflow much more quickly. Charcoal cannot be burned indoors because poisonous carbon monoxide (CO) is a combustion product. Carbon monoxide fumes may contribute to the pink color taken on by barbecued meats after slow cooking in a smoker. Many barbecue aficionados prefer charcoal over gas (propane) for the authentic flavor the coals provide.

Chimney starter in use

A charcoal chimney starter is an inexpensive and efficient method for quickly obtaining a good charcoal fire. A few pages of newspaper are wadded up underneath the chimney to start the fire. Other methods are to use an electric iron to heat the charcoal or to soak it with aliphatic petroleum solvent and light it in a pyramid formation. Charcoal briquettes pre-impregnated with solvent are also available. Although the use of solvents is quick and portable, it can be hazardous, and petroleum solvents can impart undesirable chemical flavors to the meat. Using denatured alcohol ("methyl hydrate," "methylated spirit") instead of commercial petroleum-based lighter fluids avoids this problem.

Once all coals are ashed over (generally 15-25 minutes, depending on starting technique), they can be spread around the perimeter of the grill with the meat placed in the center for indirect cooking, or piled together for direct cooking. Water-soaked wood chips (such as mesquite, cherry, hickory or fruit trees) can be added to the coals for flavor. As with wood barbecuing, the temperature of the grill is controlled by the amount and distribution of coal within the grill and through careful venting.

For long cooking times (up to 18 hours), many cooks find success with the minion method, usually performed in a smoker. The method involves putting a small number of hot coals on top of a full chamber of unlit briquettes. The burning coals will gradually light the unlit coals. By leaving the top air vent all the way open and adjusting the lower vents, a constant temperature of 225°F can easily be achieved for up to 18 hours.

The Japanese-style kamado cooker utilizes lump charcoal for fuel. The kamado is made from ceramics and can be adjusted to cook for more than 30 hours on a single load of lump, the heat being retained in the ceramic walls, radiating into the food. There is no need to use water pans or replenish fuel during the cook, as is the case with steel water smokers. Furthermore, lump charcoal contains no additives or fillers as contained in charcoal briquettes. The very small amount of air needed to keep a ceramic cooker going at low temperature helps maintain a moist environment, whereas in a steel smoker, steam must be added from a water pan over the briquettes to keep the food from drying out. The kamado dates back several thousand years with roots in China and Japan.

Natural gas and propane

A typical propane barbecue grill in an urban backyard

Grilling with natural gas or propane is a step further removed from cooking over a wood fire. Despite this, and the higher cost of a gas grill over a charcoal grill, many people continue to prefer cooking over a gas flame.

Gas grills are easy to light. The heat is easy to control via knob-controlled gas valves on the burners, so the outcome is very predictable. Gas grills give very consistent results, although some charcoal and wood purists argue that it lacks the flavors available only from cooking with charcoal. Advocates of gas grills claim that gas cooking lets you "taste the meat, not the heat" because it is claimed that charcoal grills may deposit traces of coal tar on the food. Many grills are equipped with thermometers, further simplifying the barbecuing experience. However, propane and natural gas produce a "wet" heat (combustion byproducts include water vapor) that can change the texture of foods cooked over such fuels.

Added wood smoke flavor can be imparted on gas grills using water-soaked wood chips placed in an inexpensive smoker box (a perforated metal box), or simply a perforated foil pouch, under the grilling grate and over the heat. It takes some experience in order to keep the chips smoking consistently without catching fire; some high-end gas grills include a built-in smoker box with a dedicated burner to simplify the task. Using such smokers on quick-grilled foods (steaks, chops, burgers) nearly duplicates the effects of wood and charcoal grills, and they can actually make grilling some longer-cooked foods, such as ribs, easier, since the "wet" heat makes it easier to prevent the meat from drying out.

Gas grills are significantly more expensive due to their added complexity. They are also considered much cleaner, as they do not result in ashes, which must be disposed of, and also in terms of air pollution. Proper maintenance may further help reduce pollution. The useful life of a gas grill may be extended by obtaining replacement gas grill parts when the original parts wear out. Most barbecues that are used for commercial purposes now use gas for the reasons above.

Solar power

There have been a number of designs for barbecues that use solar power as a means of cooking food. The device usually involves the use of a curved mirror acting as a parabolic reflector, which focuses the rays of the sun on to a point where the food is to be heated.

Smoking

File:Porkribssmoked1.jpg

The result of smoking pork ribs

Smoking can be done with wood or charcoal, although many common commercial smokers use a gas, such as propane, to heat up a box of wet wood chips enough to cause smoke. The heat from the propane fire helps cook the meat while the smoke adds its unique and delicious flavor. The distinction between smoking and grilling is the heat level and the intensity of the radiant heat; indeed, smoking is often referred to as "low and slow." Additionally, during grilling, the meat is exposed to the open air for the majority of the time. During smoking, the BBQ lid or smoker door is closed, making a thick dense cloud of smoke to envelope the meat. The smoke must be able to move freely around the meat and out of the top of the apparatus quickly; otherwise, foul-tasting creosote will build up on the meat, giving it a bitter flavor. Smoked meats such as pork exhibit what is known as a smoke ring: a thin pink layer just under the surface which is the result of the smoke interacting with the water in the meat.

Other uses

The term barbecue is also used to designate a flavor added to foodstuffs, the most prominent of which are potato chips. This term usually implies a strong smoky flavor and often denotes a flavor reminiscent of barbecue sauce.

Issues about air quality and health

It is believed that the air quality in the event area is associated with the cooking material used and the activities are even health-hazardous in some situations, such as barbecuing fresh meat. Therefore, the Maryland Department of the Environment in the United States regulates the facilities installed in households under Maryland's Air Quality Regulations, Code of Maryland Regulations COMAR 26.11.02 . Lee et al. has provided a review on the issues relating to indoor air quality in restaurants.

External links

• National Barbecue Association
• Barbecue Food Safety (US Dept. of Agriculture)
• The Internet BBQ FAQ
• History of BBQ from the South Carolina BBQ Association

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