In the United States, there are four styles of BBQ. OK, before you start sending me evil messages there are many others, but most of the experts (and I am not one of them) talk about the four styles. Two are named after cities, and two are named after states, but all four represent a good portion of the Midwest and South.

Kansas City Style

Kansas City barbecue is characterized by its use of a wide variety of meat – pork, beef, chicken, turkey, mutton – (and sometimes even fish) and an equally wide variety of preparation methods. Slow-smoking – traditional barbecue – is the most common method, but dishes cooked by other means, such as grilled chicken, also can be found on the menus of local barbecue restaurants. Just about any type of barbecued meat served in the country’s other barbecue capitals, from Carolina pulled pork to Texas brisket, is served here. However, burnt ends – the crusty tips of a brisket of beef or pork – are distinctive to the city.

Barbecue sauce is an integral part of Kansas City barbecue. The sauces found in the region are tomato-based, with sweet, spicy, and tangy flavor profiles. Most local restaurants offer several sauce varieties, but the staple sauce tends to be both spicy and sweet. Ribs are mostly pork but also come in beef varieties and can come in several different cuts. Burnt ends, the flavorful pieces of meat cut from the ends of a smoked beef or pork brisket, are a popular dish in many Kansas City-area barbecue restaurants. Kansas City barbecue is also known for its many side dishes, including a unique style of baked beans, French fries, cole slaw, and other soul food staples.

Memphis Style

Like many southern varieties of barbecue, Memphis style barbecue is mainly made using pork, usually ribs and shoulders, though many restaurants will still serve beef and chicken. Memphis style barbecue is slow-cooked in a pit, and ribs can be prepared either “dry” or “wet”. “Dry” ribs are covered with a dry rub of salt and various spices before cooking and are normally eaten without sauce. “Wet” ribs are brushed with sauce before, during, and after cooking.

Carolina Style

Carolina barbecue is usually pork, served pulled, shredded, or chopped, but sometimes sliced. It may also be rubbed with a spice mixture before smoking and mopped with a spice and vinegar liquid during smoking. It is probably the oldest form of American barbecue. The wood used is usually a hardwood such as oak or hickory.

Two styles predominate in different parts of North Carolina. Eastern North Carolina barbecue is normally made by the use of the “whole hog”, where the entire pig is barbecued and the meat from all parts of the pig are chopped and mixed together. Eastern North Carolina barbecue uses a thin sauce made of vinegar and spices (often simply cayenne pepper). Western North Carolina barbecue is made from only the pork shoulder, which is mainly dark meat, and uses a vinegar-based sauce that includes the addition of varying amounts of tomato. Western North Carolina barbecue is also known as Lexington barbecue, after the town of Lexington, North Carolina in which the style comes from, home to many barbecue restaurants and a large barbecue festival, the Lexington Barbecue Festival.

South Carolina has three regional styles. In western parts of the state, along the Savannah River, a peppery tomato or ketchup-based sauce is common. The central part of the state (the Midlands), barbecue is characterized by the use of a yellow “Carolina Gold” sauce, made from a mixture of yellow mustard, vinegar, brown sugar and other spices. Then there is the coastal “Pee Dee” region, they use the whole hog and use a spicy, watery, vinegar-and-pepper sauce. In the Piedmont area of the state shoulders, hams, or Boston butts are used.

Texas Style

Texas barbecue traditions can be divided into four general styles: East Texas, Central Texas, South Texas, and West Texas. The Central and East Texas varieties are generally the most well-known. In a 1973 Texas Monthly article, Author Griffin Smith, Jr., described the dividing line between the two styles as “a line running from Columbus and Hearne northward between Dallas and Fort Worth”.

Additionally, in deep South Texas and along the Rio Grande Valley, a Mexican style of meat preparation known as barbacoa can be found. In Spanish, the word barbacoa means “barbecue,” though in English, it is often used specifically to refer to Mexican varieties of preparation.

Generally speaking, the different Texas barbecue styles are distinguished as follows:

• East Texas style: The beef is slowly cooked to the point that it is “falling off the bone.” It is typically cooked over hickory wood and marinated in a sweet, tomato-based sauce.
• Central Texas style: The meat is rubbed with spices and cooked over indirect heat from pecan or oak wood.
• West Texas style: The meat is cooked over direct heat from mesquite wood.
• South Texas style: Features thick, molasses-like sauces that moisten the meat.

The barbacoa tradition is somewhat different from all of these. Though beef may be used, goat or sheep meat is common as well (sometimes the entire animal may be used). In its traditional form, barbacoa is prepared in a hole dug in the ground and covered with maguey leaves.

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