A License to Grill...

The History of American Barbecue



Barbecue History

The weekend barbecue has become a staple in American cuisine, but many of us smoke beef or pork without really knowing the history of this delicious tradition. To understand the ongoing feud in the barbecue belt between the four main styles–Texas, Carolina, Kansas City, and Memphis–you’ll need to learn more about how barbecue came to be, and how it’s evolved into these distinct styles.

How it All Started
Christopher Columbus encountered indigenous people on an island called Hispaniola, where they had developed a new way of cooking their meat among their tribes. This new method of cooking meat involved cooking meat over an indirect flame, which was made possible by using green wood. The green wood would prevent the food from burning, and so a new style of cooking was born called barbacoa.

Beef vs. Pork
Many BBQ enthusiasts believe that in order to make traditional barbecue, you need to only use pork. This is because the southern colonies who originally made barbecue depended on using pigs as their main source of meat. Pigs were cheaper to maintain, and would often be let free in the woods to look for their food. This kept them lean and led southerners to use a slow-and-low method of cooking that could tenderize the meat.

The Different Styles
The four main styles of barbecue all have their own unique flair, but to find where the influences came from, we need to look beyond the United States.
  • Carolina: this style of barbecue can be traced back to the ideas of British and German immigrants, who believed adding sauce to the meat would help preserves the juices, with the Germans bringing a mustard based sauce to the tradition. 
  • Texas: German immigrants traveled westward, and brought their traditions to an entirely new animal. They had the space to raise cattle and started applying Carolina BBQ techniques to this new meat.
  • Memphis: Memphis BBQ has a unique taste, as they were able to utilize their location along the Mississippi River to obtain exotic goods, such as molasses. This is where the region’s sweet barbecue flavors come from. 
  • Kansas City: this style barbecue blends the meats used in Texas style with the sauces used in Memphis and the Carolina’s. In Kansas City, they don’t stick with the strict pork-only requirements and use different types of meat in their BBQ. 

To try the best blend of BBQ styles near you, visit BBQ King Smokehouse! Visit our website to browse our entire menu, then stop in to grab a delicious barbecue platter for yourself!



References

Comments