Barbecue Sauce by Region

Kansas City

A big pork  rib and beef brisket town. Kansas City sauces are usually tomato-bases with vinegar and are sweet,thick, spicy and commandinding.Many believe kansas City barbecue to be the best of all regional styles

Texas

Beef country! the Sauce used is a tomato-based blend spiked with chili powder. paprika and cumin limited only by what's in the pantry.

Eastern North Carolina

Notable for whole hog cooked over oak or hickory wood the chopped and mixed with a vinegar-based sauce spiked with crushed redpepper flakes,black pepper,salt, and sometime granulated sugar.

South Carolina

Historically regarded as the birthplace of barbecue in American, this is where Spanish settlers met with south Carolina Native Americans in the 1500s. Again "pulled" pork is the the meat but the sauce can be one of four different types including a mustard-based variety with vinegar and honey or molasses.

Western North Carolina

Specializes in Boston butt(shoulder) pulled and bathed with to tomato-based sauce with a strong vinegar taste.Sometime Worcestershire and molasses are added to the sauce,

Memphis,

Ribs and shredded pork dominate in Memphis. Memphis ribs come wet or dry--with or without sauce --but most come dry with a thick crust of dry rub. Western Tennessee s, somewhat less spicy than a Texas-style sauce shredded pork is mixed with a sweet tomato-based sauce.

Kentucky

Sauces here include a mild tomato-based a peppery hot sauce or unique black sauce made of a basic vinegar sauce with molasses. during cooking, a combination of Worcestershire sauce,vinegar,lemon,salt,black pepper and water bastes the meat.

Alabama

Barbecue in Alabama is traditional Southern-style, but what make Alabama stand is it's barbecue sauce. Unlike others that are tomato-based,northern Alabama features a white barbecue sauce,similar to a classic French Bechamel, Made with mayonnaise,vinegar,salt and pepper the sauce adds a delicate flavor to barbecued meat

Fiery Food & BBQ  January/February 2008