Barbecue

Barbecue, (also spelled barbeque, or abbreviated BBQ) is a method of cooking food with the radiant heat and/or hot gasses of a fire, the cooking of food in a sauce that includes vinegar, the end-result of cooking by one of these methods, or a party that includes such food. Barbecue is usually cooked in a covered environment heated by an outdoor open flame of wood, charcoal, natural gas or propane. Restaurant barbecue may be cooked in large brick or metal ovens specially designed for that purpose.

Regional variations

Barbecue has a lot of regional variations, based on several factors:

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• the type of meat used
• the sauce or other flavoring added to the meat
• when the flavoring is added during preparation
• the role that smoke plays in preparation
• the equipment and fuel used to cook the meat
• how much time is spent cooking the meat

At its most generic, any source of protein may be used, including beef, pork, poultry, and fish. The meat could be ground, as with hamburger, processed into sausage or kabobs, and/or accompanied by vegetables. Sometimes the cut of meat (e.g. brisket or ribs) matters; sometimes the cut is irrelevant. Even vegetarian alternatives to meat, such as soyburgers can be barbecued. The meat may be marinaded or rubbed with spices before cooking, basted with a sauce or oil before and/or during cooking, and/or flavored in numerous ways after being removed from the heat.

Related Topics:
Protein - Beef - Pork - Poultry - Fish - Hamburger - Sausage - Kabob - Vegetables - Brisket - Ribs - Soyburger - Marinade - Spice

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Typically meat is covered with barbecue sauce which can be tomato or vinegar based. Vinegar-base sauce is typical of Southern barbecue while tomato-based sauce is Western style.

Related Topics:
Barbecue sauce - Tomato - Vinegar

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Many forms of barbecuing involve tough cuts of meat that require hours of cooking over low heat that barely exceeds the boiling point of water. Some forms of barbecue use rapid cooking over high heat, being barely distinguishable from grilled meats to those who would make such a distinction. With high heat barbecuing (often called grilling), the food is placed directly above the flame or other source of heat. With low heat barbecuing, the food is off to the side and almost always under a cover, frequently with added smoke for additional flavor.

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Sometimes an open flame is required, with the fuel source irrelevant. In other cases, the fuel source is critical to the end result, as when wood chips from particular kinds of trees are used as fuel.

Related Topics:
Wood - Tree

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Australasia

In Australia and New Zealand, barbecues are a popular summer pastime. Coin-operated public barbecues are common in city parks. Australasian barbecues do not involve the smoking or sugary sauces of an American barbecue; instead, plain or marinaded meat is grilled over the open fire. The barbecuing of prawns ('shrimp' in the USA) was virtually unknown before being popularised by an American TV commercial featuring Australian actor Paul Hogan. However seafood barbecuing is increasingly popular, especially as an outdoor Christmas meal, more luxurious than meat barbecue, and more appropriate to the Southern Hemisphere summer than a "traditional" roast turkey cooked indoors.

Related Topics:
Australia - New Zealand - Park - Australasia - Shrimp - Paul Hogan - Christmas - Southern Hemisphere - "traditional" - Roast turkey

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Caribbean

Jamaican jerk chicken is an example of barbecue. So is the Taíno method of slowly cooking meat over a wooden mesh of sticks.

Related Topics:
Jamaica - Jerk - Taíno

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Hong Kong

Outdoor barbecues (usually known simply as BBQ) are popular among Hong Kong residents on short trips to the countryside. These are invariably coal-fired, with meat (usually beef, pork, sausage, or chicken wing) simply marinated with honey, then cooked using long, hand-held forks.

Related Topics:
Hong Kong - Countryside - Honey - Fork

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Korea

Bulgogi (불고기) is thinly sliced beef (and sometimes pork) marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic and chilli pepper, cooked on a grill at the table. It is a main course, and is therefore served with rice and side dishes such as Kimchi. Bulgogi literally means "fire beef" and is often called "Korean BBQ."

Related Topics:
Bulgogi - Beef - Pork - Soy sauce - Garlic - Rice - Kimchi

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Mongolian

A style of cooking attibuted to the mobile lifestyle of nomadic Mongolians. Thinly sliced lamb and its seasonings are quickly cooked over a flat circular metal surface that has been heated over a wood or charcoal fire. Restaurants serving Mongolian barbecue follow this general idea with the exception that large variaties of meats vegatables and seasoning are available.

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South Africa

The braai (abbreviation of braaivleis, Afrikaans "meat grill") started out as a major social tradition amongst the Afrikaner people of Southern Africa, though the tradition has since been adopted by South Africans of all ethnic backgrounds. The word braai is very popular in South Africa; it replaces the standard English word barbecue, which is almost never used in South Africa, except on chips packages. One won't find barbecue wood or wood for the barbecue in the supermarket; instead one will find braaiwood.

Related Topics:
Braai - Afrikaans - Afrikaner

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United States

Although regional differences in barbecue are blurring, as are many other aspects of U.S. regional culture, variations still exist.

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Alabama

In Alabama, barbecue most often consists of pork ribs or pork shoulder, slow cooked over hickory smoke. Pork shoulder may be served either chopped or sliced; some diners also specify a preference for either "inside" or "outside" meat. Alabama barbecue is typically served with a spicy, tomato-based sauce.

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Alabama is home to Dreamland, which serves what many people consider some of the best ribs in the world. In the original restaurant in Tuscaloosa, there are no side dishes, only ribs, bread, and sauce.

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Alabama is also home to Big Bob Gibson's BBQ in Decatur. The people from Big Bob's have won many world championships in pork and chicken as well as for sauces. They are particularly famous for their unique "white" sauce with a mayonnaise and vinegar base.

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This style of barbecue was well-documented in Fannie Flagg's bestselling book Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, which was cooked and served at the cafe that is at the centre of the story.

Related Topics:
Fannie Flagg - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe

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California

Barbequed oysters are served at the Arcata Bay Oyster Festival at the beginning of every summer.

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In northern California many BBQ restaurants serve tofu, tempeh and Portobello mushrooms as BBQ for vegetarians.

Related Topics:
Tofu - Tempeh - Portobello mushroom

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Florida

Both pork and seafood are barbecued in Florida, with butter and lemon or lime juice as the base for the sauce.

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Georgia

In general, it can be said that Georgia barbecue is based on pork, which is slow-cooked over an open pit stoked with oak and/or hickory and served with a sauce based on ketchup, molasses, bourbon and other ingredients. The reality, however, is that Georgia barbecue is more of an amalgam of other states' recipes. In northwest and central Georgia, including Atlanta, Columbus and Macon, Alabama-styled barbecue is the most popular, with slow-cooked pork and thick, tomato-based sauce most common on tables. In 2001, the venerable Alabama franchise Dreamland successfully opened restaurants around Atlanta, and the Alabama-born Williamson Brothers have several locations in the area. Columbus shares many restaurants with nearby Phenix City, Alabama, where Mike & Ed's Barbecue challenges Country's for the most popular in the city. Between Atlanta and Columbus, in the town of Newnan, Sprayberry's Barbecue has become a destination for barbecue lovers. It was the favorite restaurant of the writer Lewis Grizzard, who often referenced it in his newspaper columns.

Related Topics:
Pork - Oak - Hickory - Ketchup - Molasses - Bourbon - Lewis Grizzard

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South Georgia barbecue is very much like that found in South Carolina. Mustard-based sauces are very popular in Augusta, Savannah and Statesboro - though it is interesting to note that Sconyers' Barbecue, Augusta's best-known and oldest continuously operating barbecue restaurant, serves barbecue that can be almost exclusively characterized as "eastern North Carolina style" (see below.)

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Northeast Georgia barbecue, centered around the city of Athens and its neighboring counties, has much in common with eastern North Carolina barbecue. Most restaurants in the region serve a more finely-chopped pork with thinner, vinegar-based sauce. Many also serve hash instead of Brunswick stew. Some of the more popular barbecue joints in this region include Carrither's in Athens, Paul's in Lexington, and Zeb Dean's in Danielsville.

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Georgia's principal contribution to barbecue culture may come from Brunswick stew. Many Georgians believe that the stew comes from the city of Brunswick, although a wider-held view claims it was first concocted in Brunswick County, Virginia.

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Kansas

Beef, pork and chicken are dominant meats and are usually slow smoked. Throughout the eastern half of the state the sauces and styles resemble those found in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. A barbecue competition and contest is held in Lenexa, a suburb of Kansas City.

Related Topics:
Kansas City, Kansas - Kansas City, Missouri - Lenexa

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Kentucky

In Kentucky, barbecue also has a long and rich tradition and history. Mutton, pork, beef, chicken, and ribs have been smoked for years in the state. Mutton is one of the most notable specialties in most of Western Kentucky, where there were once large populations of sheep that were slaughtered for the mutton. However, mutton is virtually unknown in The Purchase of the extreme west, where "barbecue" without any other qualifier refers specifically to smoked pork shoulder. A vinegar and tomato based sauce with a mixture of spice and sweet is the traditionally served with the meat, though not always used in cooking. The Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn in Owensboro is the most famous of Kentucky BBQ places and Owensboro hosts a International BBQ Festival every year in the spring. Western Kentucky BBQ (more specifically, Purchase BBQ) has also been transplanted to Lexington by way of Billy's BBQ near downtown, a favorite among University of Kentucky basketball and football fans. A great deal of "Kentucky barbeque" has found its way into southern Indiana, where it has gathered widespread favor.

Related Topics:
The Purchase - Owensboro - Lexington - University of Kentucky - Indiana

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Mississippi

Like its neighbor Alabama, Mississippians prefer pork to other meats, usually pork shoulder, or whole hog. Most restaurants serve only pulled pork, though some also serve chicken halves. Unlike the surrounding states, a purely vinegar-based sauce is preferred; in fact, many sauciers take a great deal of pride in using absolutely no tomato in their creations.

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Though most barbecue in Mississippi is pork shoulder slow-cooked in a smoker (either a drum, or a converted shed), special events call for open-pit barbecue, which is still common practice in some parts of Mississippi. A whole, freshly slaughtered hog is brought to the site very early in the morning while a pit, generally half a foot deep by several feet wide and broad, is filled with hickory wood. The wood is allowed to burn to coals before a grill is laid down, and the hog is smoked whole over the embers. The process usually takes an entire day, and if begun early enough, is ready for dinner.

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Famous barbecue joints include The Little Dooey in Columbus and Starkville, Sonny's in Starkville (both favorites of Mississippi State University students), Sonny's Real Pit BBQ (no relation) in Jackson.

Related Topics:
Columbus - Starkville - Mississippi State University - Jackson

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Missouri

Beef is the dominant meat for barbecue, especially in St. Louis and the Ozarks. Often the beef is sliced and a tomato-based sauce is added after cooking. About half of the supply of charcoal briquets in the USA is produced from Ozark forests (e.g., Kingsford brand), with hickory "flavor" being very popular.

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In Kansas City in particular, barbecue is extremely popular. Backyard barbecues and tailgating are considered pastimes in the city and its surrounding area. Almost every type of barbecue is popular including beef, chicken, pork, sausage, ham and ribs.

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Kansas City is the home of famous barbecue restaurants such as Arthur Bryant's, Gates, Rosedale, BB's Lawnside, Zarda, L.C.'s and many others. There is usually a restaurant every few square miles. The area also hosts numerous barbecue competitions such as The American Royal.

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Kansas City is particularly well known for its sauce. Typical KC BBQ is basted heavily in sauce during and after cooking. KC BBQ Sauce usually is rather rich, tangy and spicy. KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce was invented in the city by Rich Davis. However, KC Masterpiece is thicker, sweeter and darker in color than most Kansas City sauces. It is also important to note that Dry Rub is used extensively as well. The Kansas City style is also found in central and northwest Missouri communities of Columbia, St. Joseph and Warrensburg.

Related Topics:
KC Masterpiece - Rich Davis - Columbia - St. Joseph - Warrensburg

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St. Louis-style barbecue features a sauce that is typically tangier and thinner than its Kansas City cousin, with less vinegar taste. It somewhat resembles the Memphis style sauce. St. Louis is also home to some famous barbecue restaurants such as Super Smoker's, Bandana's, Phil's, Mama's Coal Pot, C & K, Big Jake's, Smokin' Al's BBQ, Porky's Backyard BBQ, Smoki O's and many others. The most famous barbecue competition in St. Louis is held annually during the July 4th holiday at Fair St. Louis.

Related Topics:
St. Louis-style barbecue - Kansas City - St. Louis - Super Smoker's - Bandana's - Fair St. Louis

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A quick and easy Missouri-style barbecue sauce can be made from mostly ketchup, some brown sugar, a little mustard, and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

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Nevada

The city of Sparks plays host each Labor Day weekend to the Best of the West Rib Cook-off in Victorian Square. To denizens of the Reno/Sparks area, this is an event of quasi-religious significance and proves that when it comes to BBQ in Nevada, ribs are king.

Related Topics:
Sparks - Reno

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North Carolina

Within North Carolina, there are multiple regional traditions, all based on the slow-cooking of pulled or chopped pork. On the east coast, the dominant ingredients to the sauce are vinegar and hot peppers. Proceeding west into the Piedmont (as in Lexington), the sauce becomes more tomato- or ketchup-based, but never as thick as commercial (Texas-style) sauces.

Related Topics:
Piedmont - Lexington

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In the eastern part of the state, the whole hog is typically used; in the west, sometimes only pork shoulders are used for barbecue. But under any circumstances, North Carolinian use of the term "barbecue" will refer to slow cooked pork, and not to backyard cookouts, or any sort of beef, chicken or other meats, regardless of how they are prepared.

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In general, a hog half (Eastern) or shoulder (Lexington) is placed in a "hog cooker" over wood coals and cooked slowly, usually overnight. What wood to use is subject to some debate (often oak or hickory; never pine). In modern times, gas, electric, or charcoal heat are often used for convenience, although most will agree that the long exposure to hardwood smoke improves the flavor of the final product and is generally preferred.

Related Topics:
Oak - Hickory

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Other variations include cooking times, turning during cooking, and how finely the meat is chopped after cooking.

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For both Eastern and Lexington style, hushpuppies and barbecue slaw are commonly served as side dishes at North Carolina barbecue restuarants.

Related Topics:
Hushpuppies - Barbecue slaw

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Lexington's Annual Barbecue Festival is well known within the state and normally held on one of the last 2 Saturdays in October of each year.

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Oklahoma

Oklahoma barbecue reflects the state's geographic location. Located south of Kansas City, north of Texas and west of Memphis, Oklahomans like the beef brisket favored by their neighbors in Texas, the sweet spicy sauce typical of Kansas City and the pork ribs that are found in Memphis. However, Oklahoma barbecue also includes pork, chicken, sausage, and bologna. In Oklahoma, barbecue refers to meat that has been slowly cooked over wood smoke at a very low temperature, for a very long time. The woods most commonly used for smoking meat include hickory, oak, and pecan. Some of the most popular barbecue joints in Oklahoma include Bad Brad's in Stillwater & Pawhuska, Elmer's in Tulsa, Head Country in Ponca City, Earl's Rib Palace in Oklahoma City, and Van's Pig Stands in Shawnee, Norman and Moore.

Related Topics:
Oklahoma - Hickory - Oak - Pecan - Stillwater - Tulsa - Oklahoma City

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South Carolina

While the meat used in South Carolina is consistent throughout the state, slow-cooked pulled pork, three regional sauce variants can be found. In the Pee Dee and Lowcountry coastal region, a vinegar and pepper sauce is prevalent. In the Midlands area around Columbia, a mustard-based sauce sometimes referred to as "Carolina Gold" is the predominant style. Maurice Bessinger's "Piggy Park" gold sauce is made from mustard, apple juice, pear juice, and other ingredients. In the Upcountry or Piedmont region, it shares a ketchup-based sauce also seen in North Carolina.

Related Topics:
Pee Dee - Vinegar - Columbia - Ketchup

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Tennessee

Memphis is known for

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• wet ribs, made with a mild, sweet barbecue sauce that's basted on the ribs before and after smoking;
• dry-rub ribs, made with a spice rub applied during or right after they've been cooked; and
• pulled or chopped pork sandwich topped with sweet, finely chopped coleslaw and served on inexpensive hamburger buns, which some locals insist is Memphis barbecue's highest form.

For people who simply can't get enough barbecue, there's also barbecue spaghetti, barbecue pizza, and barbecue nachos.

Related Topics:
Spaghetti - Pizza - Nachos

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Memphis is also home to the "Memphis in May" World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (WCBCC), an annual event which regularly draws over 90,000 pork lovers from around the globe. The title of "the largest pork barbecue cooking contest in the world" was bestowed on the WCBCC in the 1990 Guinness Book of World Records.

Related Topics:
Pork - Guinness Book of World Records

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It is also home to over 100 barbecue restaurants, including Corky's, Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous, the Germantown Commissary, Leonard's, Pig-N-Whistle, Central BBQ, the Bar-B-Q Shop, Hog Wild Barbecue, Neely's, Gridley's, Three Little Pigs, Tops Barbecue, and Cozy Corner. Several have been so successful that they have branches dedicated to shipping barbecue overnight via FedEx (especially convenient for these restaurants, as the primary hub for FedEx is Memphis International Airport).

Related Topics:
FedEx - Memphis International Airport

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While Memphis dominates the culture of Tennessee barbecue, some other restaurants in other cities have achieved some notoriety outside of their local markets. Jack's Barbecue in Nashville is a popular destination for tourists, and Sticky Fingers, a chain based in Charleston, South Carolina, but whose founders hail from Chattanooga, has overcome the stigma that hardcore barbecue fans tend to attach to chains and is widely regarded throughout the southeast for its ribs.

Related Topics:
Charleston, South Carolina - Chattanooga

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Texas

Sliced brisket, sausage, and pork ribs are the most popular meats in Texas barbecue. Central Texans often refer to these three meats as The Holy Trinity. Chicken, beef ribs, and chopped beef are also often found. Even more exotic variants such as turkey, pork loin, pork chops, prime rib, mutton, and cabrito are sometimes available.

Related Topics:
Brisket - Sausage - Pork ribs - Meat - Texas - Central Texans - Chicken - Beef ribs - Chopped beef - Turkey - Pork loin - Pork chops - Prime rib - Mutton - Cabrito

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In Texas, barbecueing refers to what others call "hot smoking"—cooking with both smoke and low heat for hours over woods such as oak, mesquite, or pecan. Cooking with direct heat, such as a propane-fueled flame, is not referred to as barbecueing, but is instead known as grilling. Meat prepared by Texas barbecue often has a red tinge even when fully cooked, and a pink smoke ring around the edges of the meat. This is caused by myoglobin in the meat reacting with carbon monoxide in the smoke to form a heat stable pigment.

Related Topics:
Oak - Mesquite - Pecan - Propane - Grilling - Smoke ring - Myoglobin - Carbon monoxide

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If used, traditional sauce consists of tomatoes with a vinegar base. It can be sweet or spicy and thick or thin, depending on the chef. At barbecue cookoffs in Texas, however, meat is generally judged without sauce, as sauce can cover up for poor-quality meats and cooking. Commercially available sauces usually bear little resemblance to traditional barbecue sauce, and are frequently made from tomatoes and corn syrup.

Related Topics:
Sauce - Tomato - Vinegar - Barbecue cookoff

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Since creating proper barbecue requires considerable expense of money and time, in that one needs a specialized smoker and has to start smoking many hours before the meat is ready, most Texans simply visit a local restaurant known as a barbecue joint. Such establishments typically serve the meat in a no-frills manner, on a plastic tray and butcher paper with white bread or crackers, or, to-go, in a brown paper sack. Traditional side dishes include potato salad, coleslaw (mustard or vinegar), pinto beans, which are often spicy. Banana pudding, peach cobbler and Blue Bell ice cream are popular dessert options. However, they are not always available—the film Kreuz Market: No Sauce, No Sides, No Silverware depicts a popular barbecue joint in Lockhart that lacks the three items mentioned in the title.

Related Topics:
Smoker - Restaurant - Plastic - Butcher paper - Bread - Crackers - Potato salad - Coleslaw - Pinto beans - Pudding - Cobbler - Blue Bell - Ice cream - Dessert - Lockhart

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Slight regional variations in Texas barbecue exist. In Central Texas barbecue is more likely to consist of leaner meats, while East Texans prefer more fatty cuts. It is possible, however, to find both kinds of meats all over the state.

Related Topics:
Central Texas - East Texans

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In Texas, barbecue, and the best barbecue joints, are popular topics both in individual discussions and the media. The documentary film Barbecue: A Texas Love Story depicts the culture associated with Texas barbecue. Texas Monthly magazine periodically performs roundups where they rate scores of barbecue joints across the state. The most recent roundup was in 2003.

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Upper Midwest

In northern Illinois (including Chicagoland), Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, and Michigan, barbecue typically means a cut of meat with bone-in, either slow-cooked or cooked over an open flame. No-bone cuts of meat are usually said to be grilled. Fire, in the Upper Midwestern style, is necessary for barbecue; similar slow-cooked meat dishes prepared in an oven or a Crock-Pot are quite tasty, but not barbecue. Most of these bone-in meat cuts are beef and pork spareribs, and chicken quarters (thigh and drumstick together). Beef brisket has become increasingly popular in recent years. Restaurant chains named "Carson's Ribs", "Famous Dave's", and "Robinson's" use these meats with a variety of sauce styles.

Related Topics:
Chicagoland - Crock-Pot

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Upper-Midwesterners typically serve barbecued meat with corn on the cob and baked potato (with butter, sour cream and chives) as side dishes, and sometimes baked beans and potato chips (potato crisps in the British terminology).

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