Each state or region has its own particular variety of barbecue and sauce.
North Carolina is broken into two regions. Eastern North Carolina barbecue is made by the use of the “whole hog”, where the entire pig is barbecued and the meat from all parts of the pig are chopped and mixed together. Eastern North Carolina barbecue also uses a thin simple vinegar-based sauce with some red and black pepper and a few spices. Sometimes a little sugar is added to tone down the vinegar. Western North Carolina barbecue is made from only the pork shoulder, which is mainly dark meat, and uses a thicker and sweeter sauce which is the vinegar-based sauce mixed with ketchup.
South Carolina is usually pork and has three regional styles. In the western parts of the state, a tomato-based sauce with pepper and spices is common. In the central part of the state, barbecue is characterized by the use of a yellow “Carolina Gold” sauce, which is your basic vinegar and spices sauce but yellow mustard and brown sugar have been added. In the coastal region, they use the whole hog, and use a spicy, watery, vinegar-and-pepper sauce.
Memphis barbeque is best known for their sweeter and spicier tomato and vinegar-based sauces. Memphis bbq is predominately ribs. In most establishments, meat is rubbed with dry seasoning (dry rub) and smoked over hickory wood without sauce; the finished barbecue is then served with barbecue sauce on the side. In some places you can opt for wet ribs which has the sauce brushed onto the ribs before, during, and after the cooking but this is not the norm for Memphis style bbq.
Alabama, Georgia& Tennessee barbeque is almost always pork served with a sweet tomato-based sauce. However, several regional variations exist as well. Alabama is particularly known for its mayonnaise and vinegar-based sauce which is called a white sauce. It originated in northern Alabama, and is most used predominantly on chicken, turkey and pork.
St. Louis style of bbq is usually pork. The mainstay being the St. Louis style ribs which are spare ribs with the sternum bone, cartilage and rib tips removed to create a rectangular-shaped rack. The meat is often heavily sauced and re-sauced during cooking with a sweet tomato-based barbecue sauce.
Kansas City claims to be the “BBQ capital of the world” and has more bbq restaurants per capita than any other place in the world. It is characterized by its use of different types of meat (including pulled pork, pork ribs, burnt ends, smoked sausage, beef brisket, beef ribs, smoked/grilled chicken, smoked turkey, and sometimes fish) but ribs and brisket are the favorite. Hickory is the primary wood used for smoking in KC, while the sauces are typically tomato based with a sweet, spicy and tangy flavor. Kansas City style sauce is extremely thick and sweet and based on tomatoes and molasses. Burnt ends, the flavorful pieces of meat cut from the ends of a smoked beef or pork brisket, are a popular dish in many Kansas City area barbecue restaurants.
Texas barbecue is often assumed to be primarily beef. Texas has four main styles, all with different flavors, different cooking methods, different ingredients, and different cultural origins. East Texas style, which is essentially Southern barbecue and is also found in many urban areas; Central Texas “meat market style,” which originated in the butcher shops of German and Czech immigrants to the region; West Texas “cowboy style,” which involves direct cooking over mesquite and uses goat and mutton as well as beef; and South Texas barbacoa, in which the head of a cow is cooked (originally underground). The Texas style sauce is a spicy and tangy tomato-based sauce and is usually served on the side or lightly spooned onto the meat after cooking.
Kentucky particularly Western Kentucky, is unusual in its barbecue cooking, in that the preferred meat is lamb or mutton. This kind of mutton barbecue is often used in communal events in Kentucky, such as political rallies, county fairs and church fund-raising events. In western Kentucky the sauce is a watery-ketchup based sauce mixed with Bourbon, otherwise referred to as “Black Dip”.
Maryland-style pit-beef is often enjoyed at large outdoor events, which are common in the warmer months. It is not the product of barbecue cookery in the strictest sense, as there is no smoking of the meat involved; rather, it involves grilling the meat directly over a high heat. The meat is typically served rare, with a strong horseradish sauce as the preferred condiment.
California Santa Maria style bbq dates back to the mid-19th century and is today regarded as a “mainstay of California’s culinary heritage.” It centers around a poor, often-discarded piece of meat called a tri-tip roast, which is a boneless cut of beef from the bottom sirloin. The rub is a simple blend of black pepper, salt, garlic salt and a little parsley. It is mostly grilled over coals of native Red Oak wood. Other items popular in Santa Maria cuisine are chicken, other steaks, and ribs. Western-style baby back pork ribs are favored over the spare ribs preferred in the Southern United States. When used, barbecue sauce is a sweet tomato-based sauce, as with other western states.
Hawaii style barbecue is the cooking customs of the indigenous peoples of Polynesia and became the traditional Hawaiian Luau of the native Hawaiians. It was brought to international attention by 20th century tourism to the islands and usually involves pork and fish. It is traditionally cooked in an open pit dug out of the ground.