Central Texas-style barbecue originated in the Czech and German meat markets in the late 19th century. This barbecue style is typically associated with cooking brisket (the fattier portion is called point, while the leaner portion is called flat) low and slow, usually over post oak fire.
The meat is seasoned with salt, pepper, and maybe a bit of cayenne or garlic powder. It is then cooked in offset smokers, while the heat and smoke from the fire go across the meat, adding an irresistible smoky flavor to the brisket (although shoulder clod, chuck short ribs, and larger short ribs are also popular).
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South Texas-style barbecue is an American regional barbecue style in which it's all about barbacoa and cow heads – they are cooked in a pit lined with stones or bricks, and then a mesquite fire is started in the bottom of the pit. Agave leaves are placed on top of the coals, and the heads (or other meat) are placed on top of it, while the leaves are folded over before the lid is placed over the pit.
The resulting meat is so tender that it falls off the bone (or off the skull), and it is then served by the pound with sided such as onions, tortillas, cilantro, and various salsas. This barbecue style also uses cabrito – young goats that are spit-roasted or cooked over coals.
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Texas-style barbecue is an American barbecue style that can be divided into 4 separate subcategories: Central Texas, East Texas, South Texas, and West Texas barbecue.
The best-known variety is the Central Texas-style that originated in the Czech and German meat markets in the late 19th century.
This barbecue style is typically associated with cooking brisket (the fattier portion is called point, while the leaner portion is called flat) low and slow, usually over post oak fire. The meat is seasoned with salt, pepper, and maybe a bit of cayenne or garlic powder.
VARIATIONS OF Texas-style barbecue
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View moreMemphis is also known as the Pork Barbecue Capital of the World. This barbecue style usually employs pork ribs and shoulders, although some restaurants still use chicken or beef. Dry rub ribs are typically seasoned with paprika and salt, giving them a rich red color, while wet ribs are usually brushed with a barbecue sauce.
Combined with smoke and heat, the ribs develop a range of complex flavors during the barbecue process. When consumed on its own, the meat is often accompanied by a sauce consisting of slightly sweet vinegar and tomatoes, but pork can also sometimes get chopped and inserted into buns with mustard, vinegar, and coleslaw.
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View moreWest Texas barbecue (a.k.a. cowboy-style) is a type of American regional barbecue style in which the meat is not smoked, but cooked directly over mesquite coals instead. Goat, mutton, chicken, and beef are the most typical types of meat used in this barbecue-style.
The cooking time is fast, so thinner meat such as sausage, ribs, and chops are typically more successful with this barbecue method.
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Modern American barbecue stems directly from barbacoa, the tradition of smoke-cooking meat which Caribbean natives were doing long before the colonists arrived. Today, the centuries-old technique of smoking whole hogs over a pit is now common in both Virginia and North Carolina.
Barbecue was originally found mostly in rural areas, but in recent years it has moved to bigger cities, and how could it not with the aromatic and fragrant appeal of tender, juicy meats, elevating the mouth-watering bites to cult status. Varieties of barbecue are greatly linked to geography with styles varying wildly from North to South and East to West.
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View moreBarbecued meat is the gastronomic passion of the so-called "world capital of barbecue", also known as Kansas City. Barbecued pork ribs, flavorful slices of hot or cold beef brisket, or a "pig salad" of succulent pulled pork - those are just some of the delicacies of the Kansas City-style barbecue.
The barbecue craze dates back to around 1908, when Henry Perry, an African-American chef, first started slow cooking pork ribs over oak and hickory, drizzling them with a sauce consisting of molasses, chiles, and tomatoes. He served the meal in newspaper and sold it for 25 cents a piece, and the consumers' acceptance and love of barbecued meat went better than expected.
VARIATIONS OF Kansas City-Style Barbecue
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View moreEast Texas-style barbecue is an American barbecue style characterized by the acceptance of pork (along with the ever-popular Texas beef) and an emphasis on barbecue sauce. Pork ribs and smoked boudin are staples of East Texas-style barbecue, typically served on a bun, while the sides include some interesting things such as greens, fried okra, and banana pudding.
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View moreNorth Carolina barbecue can be split into two halves – in the east, they use the whole hog, while in the west, also known as Lexington-style barbecue, smokes only the pork shoulder. Eastern barbecue is usually chopped with a vinegar-and-spices-based sauce, while Lexington-style is typically used for sandwiches with a tomato-based sauce.
This is probably the oldest type of American barbecue, and the wood used for it is often hickory or oak.
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St. Louis-style barbecue uses spare ribs that are grilled (instead of being slow-smoked) and heavily sauced with a sweet, acidic, and sticky tomato-based barbecue sauce that is typically made without liquid smoke. The ribs are cut in a special way – sternum bone, rib tibs, and cartilage are removed so that the final product is a rectangular-shaped rack.
It is believed that this cut originated with meat-packing plants in the region in the mid-20th century.
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