Fld Lt Rogers, Mark,
I am truly amazed that General McOmish is so fond of BBQ but I certainly can't hold it against him. BBQ is good! What sort of BBQ do you like, Sir? They are many varieties of BBQ in these here Southern States!
Kansas City Style
Out here in the wild west, Kansas City style is the barbecue with which we’re most familiar, and is the dominant style of most of the sauces on the local grocery store shelves. In fact, it’s probably pretty darn near impossible to even find Carolina or Texas style sauces out here where the sun sets into the ocean every night. Kansas City style barbecue is characterized by thick, tomato-based sauces containing mucho sugar. An interesting variation to Kansas City barbecue is that Miners Mix (minersmix.com) barbecue sauce. This product is a dry mix that contains all of the stuff that makes Masterpiece and those other bottled sauces taste like barbecue, but you blend it yourself with ketchup, vinegar, molasses (or brown sugar if your molasses is all gone). Once blended, Miners Mix is a thick, dark, rich sauce that’s full of flavor. The best things about it though, are that it’s a dry, packaged mix, so it has little weight, takes up little space (good for camping), yet still makes over 5 cups of sauce, plus you can adjust the vinegar/molasses ratio to your sweet/tangy version of bbq heaven!
Kansas City style rubs are mostly brown sugar, or some other form of sugar as well. It’s imperative that Kansas City barbecue be cooked slowly over low heat, or you’ll end up with a crispy black lump from all that charred sugar. Not good! Kansas City style barbecue usually focuses on pork, pork ribs, and chicken. Miners Mix also makes a really good barbecue rub with flavor that mirrors that of the sauce above.
Memphis style
Memphis style barbecue is somewhat similar to Kansas City style, but doesn’t pack nearly as much sugar as that stuff from further west. Memphis style tends to be more spicy than Kansas City style, and pork ribs or butt are usually the primary meats found in Memphis barbecue joints. It’s usually served sans sauce, but the meat might get basted occasionally while cooking. Because sauce isn’t slathered on the meat, Memphis barbecue is not nearly as messy as Kansas City style so perhaps it’s not nearly as much fun to eat. If sauce is used, it’s generally served at the table for dipping or pouring over pulled pork. Memphis sauce is generally thinner, runnier, more tangy, and less sweet than Kansas City style sauce. Memphis style uses rubs as well, but the sugar in Memphis style barbecue is either greatly reduced, or lacking in the rub.
Texas style
Texas barbeque focuses on beef. Might be a little chicken or pork ribs tossed in as sort of garnish, but in general it’s beef, beef and more beef. No squeal, no cackle. Beef brisket, and beef ribs, cooked with a dry mustard and chili powder-based rub. Sauces tend to be thin and bold, more like a basting or mop sauce and are heavy with flavor from various kinds of ground chilis, cumin, onion, hot sauce, meat drippings and even beer or coffee. If you want your barbecue “wet” then the meat gets dunked into the mop bucket of sauce prior to plating.
Carolina style
As much as Texas style barbecue is beef, Carolina style barbeque is pork. What kind of pork, you ask? Pretty much all but the squeal, from pork butt (actually the pork shoulder) and ribs, all the way up to the whole critter done in a pit. Not much if any of a rub is used; this barbecue is sauce-based. Carolina sauce in general is thin and watery, tangy, and peppery. Depending on the Carolina region you’re talking about, the sauce can be golden yellow from the mustard base, or clear and vinegar-based and it might contain floating flecks of cayenne. Being tangy from the vinegar, the sauce cuts through the fat in the ribs and butt and soaks into the meat while cooking. Like the other three styles above, there are many variations on the theme.
I guess I'm into the Kansas City style of BBQ but I have had the Carolina style with the mustard base and even the vinegar based BBQ was pretty darn good.
Dang... there I've gone and made myself hungry. I wonder which style of BBQ will make the "Lyon of the West" the easiest to digest?
Keep up the good work, Sir! <salute>
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