Regional Barbecue Sauces

If you like grilled meat -- no matter if it is pork, beef, or chicken -- there is a good chance that you will like some kind of barbecue sauce to go with it. Whether you want the sauce slathered all over the meat or served on the side for dipping, the sauce you use may very well be determined by the region in which you live. There are definitely regional differences when it comes to barbecue sauce.

Kansas City
Folks in Kansas City tend to think that they invented barbecue and that theirs is the original and most popular. (People in Memphis might argue that point.) Kansas City barbecue sauce is tomato-based and usually contains molasses. The taste is sweet and tangy.

Memphis
Pitmasters in Memphis tend to use a dry rub on their ribs; however, the barbecue sauce served with them -- usually on the side -- is a bit thinner than that common to Kansas City, due to the fact that it is both tomato-based and vinegar-based. Memphis barbecue sauce is a bit sweeter, too, with brown sugar being added along with some mustard.

Texas
Texans always believe that everything is bigger and better in the Lone Star State, and the same may be true of their barbecue sauce. Depending in which area of the state you may be, the typically tomato-based sauce may be a little spicier than other regions. For example, in East Texas, you will generally find a sweeter ketchup-based sauce flavored with Worcestershire sauce and chilies. West Texas will offer up a tomato-based sauce with even hotter chilies.

The Carolinas
Most people think of a thin vinegar-based sauce when they think of barbecue sauce from North and South Carolina. Generally, this is true. In Western North Carolina, a base of tomato is added to the sauce made mainly of vinegar, salt, and red pepper flakes (or cayenne pepper). Throughout the Carolinas, however, you will find the thin vinegar-based sauce flavored with salt and red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper. In the lower part of South Carolina, though, you will run into the yellow mustard and vinegar-based sauce for which this particular region is famous.

Alabama
You will find a tomato-based, spicy barbecue sauce in Alabama. The state, however, is more famous for its white, mayonnaise sauce.

Kentucky
Kentucky produces a Worcestershire and vinegar based sauce. They do, however, also offer up a tomato-based sauce flavored with -- it only seems natural -- Kentucky bourbon.

These are the main barbecue regions of the United States. With the growth in popularity of barbecue, however, other areas of the country are adding their own regional twists to the basic barbecue sauce. In Louisiana, for instance, you will find a thick tomato-based sauce full of Cajun and Creole flavors and some heat. In Florida, expect some citrus flavors in your barbecue sauce, specifically lemon and lime. It stands to reason that if you decide to try an Hawaiian barbecue sauce that you will probably taste some pineapple.

If you have not tried the various sauces and ever have the opportunity, do give them a sample. For instance, there is a local barbecue joint in my town of Johnson City, Tennessee, which has almost every type of barbecue sauce that you could imagine. I spent one visit there sampling every kind that they had to offer from the Carolina vinegar-based to a hot and spicy Texas sauce. I even tried a little -- a very little -- of the Alabama white sauce. (I hate mayonnaise.) When you start trying the different sauces, you will also find that you can actually "taste" the region from which they come.

References:

Jamison, Cheryl Alters, and Bill Jamison. Born to Grill. Boston, MA: The Harvard Common Press, 1998.

Bill's Barbecue: Regional BBQ Sauce Variations.

Kitchendaily: Know Your Regional Barbecue by Hannah Raskin