Meat + Poultry - June 2017 - 22

BARBECUE REPORT

The Southeast is believed
to be the birthplace of
barbecue by many. The
Carolinas and Texas along
with the cities of Memphis
and Kansas City, are the
epicenters from which all
other barbecue across
the country originates.
(Source: "A Sociology of Rib
Joints" by Philip D Holley
and David E Wright Jr.)

22

method of cooking, the most notable came
from all the space that Texas had to offer and
consequent ability to raise cattle. While pork
dominated the barbecue landscape through the
East Coast and into Memphis, it was Texas that
brought beef into the mix.
Like Memphis, Texas also uses a dry rub
with sauce applied after the meat is done and
just before eating, but the formula morphed
into something more unique to the Lone
Star State. Mostly comprised of salt, pepper,
paprika, garlic powder and onion powder,
some will also add chili powder, especially
farther west. Texas uses a tomato-based sauce
with brown sugar added by some according to
preference. But Texas' barbecue calling card is
its penchant for brisket.
There's not really a singular reason that the
brisket became the measuring stick and cut of
choice for all things Texas barbecue. "I've been
in this market since the 70s and there used to
be a couple of barbecue places that specialized
in briskets, but they really took off when boxed
beef came along," says Jeff Savell, Ph.D.,
Regents Professor, E.M. "Manny" Rosenthal
Chairholder, leader of the Meat Science Section
in the Dept. of Animal Science at Texas A&M
Univ. and moderator of the wildly popular
Camp Brisket and Barbecue Summer Camp,
co-hosted by Foodways Texas and A&M. "So
once you had boxed beef, then you could end

MEAT+ POULTRY | 06.17 | www.meatpoultry.com

up specializing in things. Somehow, brisket
became the thing that Texas specialized in
compared to other places."

KANSAS CITY, HERE I COME
Kansas City represents the last stop on
barbecue's stylistic journey through the
country. In Kansas City, barbecuers combined
the best of the Carolinas, Memphis and Texas,
to create their own unique traditions. Due
to its location, the railroads and stockyards,
and cattle drives, among other variables,
Kansas City embraced all species rather than
specializing in just beef or pork.
Vinegar-based, sweet tasting and peppery
hot sauces all cohabitate along with dry
rub barbecue in some of the nation's most
famous joints in and around the Kansas City
metropolitan area. Taking Texas' specialty,
brisket, and cutting off the burnt ends, the
town created its own specialty barbecue item.
Today, the Kansas City metropolitan area
boasts well over 100 barbecue restaurants.
Some of them famous bucket list stops for
everyone from former presidents of the United
States to barbecue lovers from across the
country and world.
What started out as a cheap and efficient
way to cook for Native Americans, settlers and
colonists on the East Coast, has slow cooked
itself into the hearts of American diners.
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