A look at American barbecue styles across the United States.
American Barbecue Styles Across the U.S. According to the
archaeological evidence, human beings have been cooking meat
over hot coals for half a million years. Before we baked,
boiled, fried or broiled, we barbecued. After 500,000 years,
people tend to become set in their ways. Although Americans
share a love of good barbecue, they feud over what to cook, how
to cook it, how to season it, how (or whether) to sauce it and
what to serve with it. The differences from region to region and
from cook to cook may be major or minor, but they are always
considered vital and worth defending at length. An Arizonian and
an Alabamian may think as one about God, sex and the Democratic
party; they will disagree about barbecue. Some differences
clearly evolved because of a diversity of available resources.
The wood that provides the “proper” smoke flavor generally grows
in the surrounding forests; the meat that “belongs” on the grill
has probably been the mainstay