What makes your regions BBQ special?

I think that I understand the different regions of bbq and their slant on it but Maybe you guys could give me the basic style of the BBQ where you live...Really interested in the geographic boundaries in the Carolinas...When does Vinegar take over for Mustardddd and when dow Tomato take over before it runs into Vinegar?

Andy KC is the classic tomatop based sauce...what else makes it unique?

In California we have your basic Santa Maria Style that is really great. It comes from the old Rancheros that started by digging a whole and lighting a huge red oak fire and then reducing it to coals and burying the cow...it transitioned to open fire on red oak and the ability to raise and lower the food...The Santa Maria aera is a cool climate with a steady breeze and the cool air acts as convection. The primary meat cooked is Tri Tip or top sirloin. The seasoning is garlic salt and pepper...no sauce. It is served with Santa Maria style beans which are not sweet and feature pinto beans. Instead of the sauce it is served with a chunky mild salsa.

Lets hear it from Florida, Texas, Arkansas, Memphis, Oklahoma (jeanie?thx)

KC is really the only BBQ region that really takes to heart both the PIG and the COW. if you look at other regions.... there is a focus... "whole hog", "ribs", Brisket...KC embraces all the meats and really has a style and flavor profile for each.

KC is a great melting pot for BBQ.... and as the baseline for all the judging in the KCBS, I think that is part of why you see sweet dominating the scene... that molasses/sweet/complex sauce style is always a favorite.

But, I alwasy order my ribs dry. No sauce for me at all, thanks.

We dont have a style here in NW Iowa but we have the meat for it, hog buildings every mile and cattle in between the hog buildings all corn fed don't get much better

That is why I bought a pellet smoker grill because you cant get good BBQ around here, but like I said trhe meat is plentiful

people around here think good eats is boiled meat swimming in commercial sauce


man i should open up a roadside eatery and show folks what real BBQ is


LTS

There aren't many Q joints around here.. This is beef country but there are several of us that raise pork. So as far as the private cookouts around here go, we have whole hogs, lots of beef, briskets, ribs etc.. I always serve sauce on the side, vinegar, red sauces and tomato based sauces. No mustards or white Q (mayo) sauces.
Underground cooking is popular here, also trench cooking. Someone digs a 20' trench with a backhoe, burns enough wood to get a good bed of hot coals....then we lay metal bars across the long pit and set seasoned meats and pots of beans to slow roast all day.

But.... when I do go out to eat local Q, pork seems to rule. Ribs, pulled pork, sausage, ham and usually beef brisket. The ribs are slathered in sauce. Tomato based sauces seem to be the most popular.

Not sure if I even answered your question BP! lol!

Well, in Florida, mostly everyone seems to be from somewhere else,(try being a sports fan) so there really isn't a style as much as a melting pot of everything. You'll find North Carolina Style, South Carolina, KC, Georgia, you name it.

In the more commercial (not roadside) joints you are more likely to find the (IMHO) overly sweet sauces covering bland ho-hum meat. Its all about the sauce. Some of them can bring the heat, but there is still a lot of sugar at the party.

When I lived in South Carolina, we used to judge the BBQ joints by the state of disrepair of the building. It seemed that the more run down, the better the 'Q. They seemed to work on the food more than the building. I remember the "magic rice" that seemed to expand in your belly especially when mixed with iced tea, giving you that "overly full" feeling.

Here in Indiana, my experience is similar to LTS's. If you order a "BBQ pork sandwich" or "Pulled pork sandwich" in a restaurant, 99% of the time it will have been cooked in a slow cooker with sauce - not smoked.
That's the biggest reason I bought a pellet grill, so I could do "real" barbecue - low and slow smoking.

In Western Kentucky it is pork, pork, and more pork. It's all slow smoked over hickory and the sauce is typically a vinegar based tomato/pepper sauce. It's all very simply done. No frills.

Big Poppa said:

It is served with Santa Maria style beans which are not sweet and feature pinto beans.

Click to expand...

They're actually pinquito beans grown locally which are about half the size of pintos.