regional differences in BBQ

[m beezo]

I have no other place to put this but here and so I will. I am planning on BBQ for the Memorial Weekend and was wondering about the regional differences in what is called BBQ. I know there are differences just from the little I have been around but thought this might me a time to educate me a bit more on what gets cooked and how in different locations.

St Louis sytle bar b que is almost always considered a meat that is cooked over charcoal (purists)or a gas grill (wanna be's) and for it to be truly called BBQ must have a sauce covering it. The sauce of choice here seems to always be a tomato based with a bit of either brown sugar or a bit of spice maybe a little garlic or pepper. Meats can be beef or pork although I think the prefered meat here is pork. Supposidly it is here that a "pork steak" was invented which is pork but sliced into steaks for grilling. Other popular choice are pork spareribs, snoots, chicken.

Hamburgers and steaks are usually considered just a grilled meat as would be anything like fish or shrimp. Although shrimp will sometimes be grilled and then brushed with a bit of BBQ sauce.

So what is cooking on your grill this weekend?

[littlebluetruck]

My brother who's a Paid call Firefighter just left for the local FD BBQ. I think they're doing Tri Tip.

[Rick Westmoreland]

Here in Kansas City, the BBQ capital of the World, BBQ is slow smoked. Anything else is just grilling. Gilled meat with BBQ sauce is just that, grilled meat BBQ sauce. :-)

[James Eggert]

BBQ Capitol of the World??? Sounds just like politics to me :-)

It does seem that every region has their take on how to do it right. I learned cooking in Chicago, and even got to cook ribs in Royko's Ribfest on the Lakefront before moving east. Now that was a time, 600 contestants all cookin RIBS for charity and an apron. I still have the apron....

Anyway, I got into rubs a few years ago, and really enjoy how they work, and I'm still experimenting with them...and yes, I still use some barbeque sauce sometimes because I love ribs.

Sauces. wow!! Once again, everyone has their secret ingredient which makes theirs the best!! I used to travel to Dallas from Chicago, and would bring back sauce from a little bbq restaurant that was to die for!!!

Best barbeque??? There is no bad Barbeque....unless the beer is warm!!

Ribs, it is for me this year, with a little chicken!!

Happy Memorial day to all, and may you remember why we celebrate!!

[Bill Robinson]

As LBT mentioned, we do Tri-Tip, Santa Maria Style.

http://www.beeffoodservice.com/Cuts/Info.aspx?Code=48
http://www.lospadrescounty.net/et/smbbq.html


It is pretty good stuff although I do look forward to my annual trip to KC.


Bill R

[Stuccoman]

Bill where do you like to eat BBQ in kc?

[m beezo]

Kansas City BBQ has to be maybe Gates, Authur Bryants, or there used to be a place called Smoke Stack in the same town as Jess and Jim's.Monroe City I think. I have to think about where else but I think it was called Zarda.

Amazing how so many places are the capital of something.

The smoking thing is done here in St Louis but I do not see it done as much for the homeowner as for the business. Or maybe done by the Rotary or the local cookout to raise money for some cause. Those guys usually have a pull behind trailer with a rotisserie that they smoke the meat in then suace it up.

Still waiting for someone out in Virginia or somewhere east where the sauce is mustard based. I had some realatives who complained about our BBQ since it was so tomato based. They sent me a bottle of their favorite sauce from back east and I never ruined so much meat in my life. Terrible stuff in my opionion.

[Stuccoman]

Try smoking cornbeef! No sauce! Just how it comes out of the package.

[Robert Z]

Beezo

The stuff you're thinking of is vinegar based. It's typically known as NC style BBQ. If the pork is ground really fine and put on a bun to make a sandwich, we like to put a layer of coleslaw on top of the meat as well.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Pork/PigPickin.htm

Personally, I love all types of BBQ and all cuts of meat used for BBQ.

It's taken me over 14 years, but I am finally training my wife and in-laws from NJ and NYC to stop refering to grilling hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks as "barbequing".

[m beezo]

Robert,
since you are in that part of the country I guess you would know and I guess that the vinegar would give it a yellow color to the sauce. I just remember seeing this yellow colored sauce and was thinking that it was made with mustard. I did not care for it at all. part of the reason is I prefer my suace to be a bit on the sweet side and I really like it when my sauce gets really thick and sticks to the meat. So I tend to use a few ingredients such as brown sugar or maybe a can of beer in my sauce to give it a little different flavor.

As far as rubs for the meats and marinades I have just begun to work with them the last year or two. I have tried some of the rubs and some are just a combination of peppers and garlic and salt that I do not get too excited about some of them that you buy. I have again tried to doctor some of them up to get them to where I like them. We have a marinade here in St Louis called Andres Steak Sauce that is pretty good. Only thing I do not like about it is that it is a dark brown sauce to start with. Once or twice I have used it and then have a hard time telling if my meat has been cooked enough since the outside is so brown to begin with. I am learning.

Over the weekend we had a thing called Rib America where there are 10-12 vendors who come into town and have some sort of cook off. You can go down and try as many as you want of the different cooks ribs as you can afford. Each year I think I am going to go down and try it out and it always seems like something gets in the way. I always thoughtthat would be a good way to experinces so different ways to eat your ribs.

[phillip]

how about some White BBQ Sauce

great on chicken

[Bill Lacey]

The best steak I ever had came from the Hereford House in KC. After I tried some of the BBQ ribs there, I told my wife that I won't eat another rib unless we were eating in KC.

[Lavrans]

There are three distinct types of BBQ common to the USA. Preference is usually regional (somewhat like the difference between mayonaise & Miracle Whip- which one you use tends to depend on where you grew up). Sweet (tomato based, sometimes with a capsicum pepper of one sort or another), vinegar, and rub. The rubs tend to be deeper south (jamaican jerk is a rub) vinegar more to the SE, and sweet N. midwest & west.

There is some variation, and the differences are not set in stone. But, there y'are.

Up in the NW the indigenous people did a nice twist by cooking fish on a cedar plank that had been soaked (often in seawater) & then set over a fire, giving it a smoked flavor- grilling without metal.

Lavrans

[bkerley]

If it doesn't come from the South, preferably the Memphis or N. MS area, then it is imitation BBQ. BBQ must be pork. I prefer tenderloin with a coffee based jerk rub (containing scotchbonnet or habenero peppers) marinated about four hours and grilled to 160 degrees. The sauce has oranges and apples in it and that is about all I can say. We pretty much stayed on the lake all weekend and I just got back around.

[Bill Robinson]

http://www.experiencekc.com/barbeque.html

Goin' to Kansas City, Kansas City here I come.

Will be there for the SkillsUSA National Competition.
Come by and see us at the TeamWorks competition in Municipal Auditorium June 21-22
www.teamworks-info.com
Bill R