# Fav style of BBQ **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381 "2012-06-17T00:35:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/21 "2012-06-17T15:12:13Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Any barbecue is better than no barbecue. People say this about a lot of things. I just wonder if they haven’t had really bad versions of those things. (Or perhaps I’m pickier about sex.) Bad barbecue (and I’ve made my fair share when I was learning) is terrible and I wouldn’t inflict it on any of my friends. And I’ve had plenty of bad commercial barbecue here in Chicago, too. There’s maybe like a half dozen barbecue places I even consider eating at anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/22 "2012-06-17T15:43:34Z")
I picked “other”. My favorite is the free kind. If you invite me over and serve me, I’m probably happy with any species of meat, any kind of sauce or dry rub, and any cooking method, that you put in front of me. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/23 "2012-06-17T15:47:39Z")
Well, sure, free food almost always tastes good. I can’t think of a single time I’ve ever been at anyone’s place and not enjoyed the food and company completely and thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/24 "2012-06-17T15:49:06Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > South Carolina mustard. > Barbecue is like sex. > Any barbecue is better than no barbecue. 1. Heretic 2. Do you mean low and slow or getting sauce all over your face? 😛 There are few things as over-rated as bad sex or as under-rated as a good shit. 3. Bad BBQ is an affront to all that is Holy. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/25 "2012-06-17T16:09:54Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > 1. Bad BBQ is an affront to all that is Holy. Calm yourself. You’re gonna bust somethin’. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/26 "2012-06-17T16:18:30Z")
I said other because I like most of those styles. My favorite would be more of a generic southern barbecue that covers Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, among other locales. Open pit smoked with wood and a dry rub is what I’m after. The type of rub can vary, most are very good. For wood, I use hickory, maple (preferably sugar maple), or apple. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/27 "2012-06-17T16:56:03Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > South Carolina mustard. Have to say that much to my own surprise that’s the best bbq I’ve had to date. Out here in the SF Bay Area bbq is mostly Texas-style which I like just fine, but I find the most convenient local joints maddeningly inconsistent. The same place can be pretty good one day and dried out crap the next, which tends to put me off it a bit. Meanwhile purported KC-style joints _in CA_ ( I’ve never been to KC itself ) have mostly failed to impress. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/28 "2012-06-17T16:57:35Z")
Grew up with St. Louis style (not officially recognized, but still a style), and split the rest between KC and Memphis. Memphis is probably my fave. Second the idea that the best BBQ is the one I’m being served; style-wise, I’ve never had bad BBQ; the only bad BBQ I’ve had was just good meat ruined by incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/29 "2012-06-17T16:58:59Z")
Oh, I wasn’t referring to style. All styles of BBQ I’ve had have their merits. But there is badly done barbecue out there. A lot of it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/30 "2012-06-17T17:08:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > But there is badly done barbecue out there. A lot of it. Ex-Tank has never eaten my ribs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/31 "2012-06-17T17:18:22Z")
Oh, yeah. There is bad stuff out there. For too much of the Midwest BBQ can be pork cooked in a Croc Pot with a bottle of sauce stirred in. And then you’ve got people who call direct grilling barbecued. Some of my favorite cooking memories have been serving real pulled pork to these people. You can’t convert them all though. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/32 "2012-06-17T17:22:56Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > Oh, yeah. There is bad stuff out there. For too much of the Midwest BBQ can be pork cooked in a Croc Pot with a bottle of sauce stirred in. Oh, I’m not even talking about that stuff that they call “BBQ.” I mean real honest-to-goodness barbecue slow cooked and smoked. There is definitely a lot of skill involved in being a good pitmaster, and there’s a lot of mediocre-to-bad pitmasters out there. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/33 "2012-06-17T18:29:08Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > You can’t convert them all though. But you can try. 😃 Bad BBQ is everywhere. _In my experience_, some of the worst is being done by upper-class white guys/corporations. The most horrific example being the late and surely unlamented foray of RUB into Las Vegas. Gawds, that was bad. The sides were tolerable, but the meat was just…inedible. I like Calvin Trillin’s ideas for finding good BBQ while traveling: he first asks if the place has plates. If the answer is “Of course!” then he keeps looking. He knows he’s hit paydirt when someone says “Well, there’s this old black guy out off Loop 7, who is only open 4 days a week…ornery cuss.” ---
**Author:** ![ThisIsNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d78d45/32.png) [@ThisIsNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisIsNowhere)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/34 "2012-06-17T18:52:17Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > How timely for me - I’m getting married next month … Wow. Third time’s the charm? ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/35 "2012-06-17T19:45:36Z")
In my book, “Other” = “All” I’m willing to experiment 🙂 Rite now I prefer Memphis Dry Rub or Kansas City Wet. Had some extra-thin-sliced Texas beef … something-on-a-bun once, somewhere south of Oklahoma, with jalapenos that was EXCELLENT & very different to me. Would like to try Kentucky goat and the East Coast mustard-style. Just feed me … goin’ out to the Four Points BBQ in Winterport, ME tonite for (probably) their Carolina Chopped Hog + Live Blues. YUM. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/36 "2012-06-17T19:49:10Z")
> [@ThisIsNowhere](#): > > Wow. > > Third time’s the charm? Was for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/37 "2012-06-17T20:26:00Z")
Whoops. Make that KY MUTTON … I’m thinkin’ of the the goat Q that can be had in Hill Country, Mississippi, along with a fife & drum band … I WISH. Never had the goat, but have heard the fife & drum in situ. Great stuff! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/38 "2012-06-17T22:14:33Z")
> [@ShelliBean](#): > > How timely for me - I’m getting married next month and we are setting up a BBQ bar for people to pick their area sauce for the Boston butt or pulled pork. We have some north Alabama white sauce fans, “Yeah Baby!” I love a good white sauce, but it’s very hard to come by even in central Alabama. (There’s a legendary place in north Alabama called [Greenbrier](http://www.oldgreenbrier.com/)’s that sells white sauce by mail if you’re interested, and any north Alabamian who says they love white sauce and says they haven’t heard of Greenbriers is lying about something. (And congratulations, btw.) It has recently come to my attention that [Chloe Sevigny loves barbeque](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z3c-4W3LJI). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/39 "2012-06-17T22:16:13Z")
And here, I didn’t know that there was anywhere in the country where mutton or goat was a standard dish. I’ll definitely have to try those, if ever I get the chance. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381/40 "2012-06-17T22:32:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And here, I didn’t know that there was anywhere in the country where mutton or goat was a standard dish. I’ll definitely have to try those, if ever I get the chance. Yep. Owensboro is know for its mutton barbecue. Moonlite is the most well known place, but there’s also Old Hickory, Ole South, and George’s. My favorite was Old Hickory for the mutton BBQ, and George’s for the burgoo (a local style of thick stew. Awesome stuff.) Evansville, IN, also has some mutton. The sauce (“mutton dip”) they use is interesting, too. It’s thin like a Carolina vinegar sauce, but heavy on the Worcestershire, like up to equal parts vinegar and Worcestershire. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fav-style-of-bbq/625381.md?page=3)