Since Veb killed our discussion in this thread, I thought I’d continue the [del]riot[/del] discussion here.
Exactly what is barbeque, to you? Sauce or no sauce? Pork or beef? Goat? Tomatoes in the sauce? Vinegar? Coffee? Where is the best place to get your style of BBQ? Are all the others heretics? Do Texans know jack about it? How do you deal with the South Carolina Heresy? Inquiring minds want to know.
Pulled pork and hot sauce, squished between white bread.
slow cooked pulled pork shoulder, on a bun with a spicy tomatoey vinegary sauce and slaw. Memphis is the only place for this style barbecue. Other styles I am sure are good but they aren’t what I mean when I say I want barbeque.
Barbecue is a method of cooking. Coals in a pit or grill. Slow. Can be almost any meat such as pork, chicken, goat, beef, rabbit. Sauce is optional. Bread is optional. If I want a barbecue sandwich it’s most likely going to be pork with hot tomato-based sauce, pickles, and maybe cole slaw. Sides would include corn-on-the-cob, French fries, camp stew. I accept other varieties of sauces and sides.
But just because something is cooked outside doesn’t make it barbecue. Not to a Tennesseean or Alabamian.
No sir. You’re describing a kind of barbecue found through most of Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. Memphis is most strongly associated not with sauce, but with dry rubs.
And barbecue is not, and has never been, about cows. ( 
)
Barbecue is something cooked on a barbecue.
But in the sense most Americans think of, barbecue is steak with barbecue sauce (A4 steak sauce, for example).
I’ll add that, in my neck of the woods (Scottsboro to Decatur, AL,) there is another variant of sauce that is mostly used for chicken, but is also superb on pork…Alabama white barbecue sauce. As far as I know, this sauce is unique to this particular hundred-or-so mile swath of Alabama.
And Kansas City, think KC Masterpiece sauce.
North Carolina slow cooked pork and a sauce based on vinegar and hot pepper flakes pegs my BBQ meter.
Good lord, no. To a Southerner, every single clause of this post is wildly incorrect. 
Native Texan here. I have experienced E. North Carolina vinegar stuff, Memphis style wet ribs, Georgia tomato sauce style, and even California tri-tip. It’s all good.
But…
Barbecue is beef brisket, pork ribs, links, and occasionally turkey and chicken. Brisket, poultry, ribs are mandatorally brined and then DRY RUBBED (rub should contain paprika, chili powder, mustard, brown sugar, cumin, and cayenne, and of course there are optional spices to add if one wishes… don’t go overboard) and should rest after the rub for at least a day or so. Slow cooked over mesquite, apple wood, hickory… anything like that. Sauce is NEVER added during the cooking process. You put it on the side and optionally, dip your meat in it. Do not slather sauce on the 'cue 'til you’ve tasted it. And as a cook, I pay careful attention to the sauce distribution. If I smoked it right, you won’t want to add any.
Sides: tater salad, German style. Sweet/hot pickles. White bread. Pinto beans.
All served on white butcher paper. Washed down with a Shiner Bock, Lone Star, or Dr. Pepper.
Nothing’s better than Texas ‘cue. From Kreutz’s, to The Salt Lick, to Luling City Market, it can’t be topped. However - if I could never return to Texas, I’d be able to subsist on Memphis’ Rendezvous and San Luis Obispo’s Moe’s. The vinegar stuff from NC is okay, but I don’t love it. Georgia tomato stuff - no thanks, and take that Brunswick stew with you…
Putting a burger or steak on a grill is not barbecue. It’s outdoor grilling!
Pork or beef, although I prefer pork for ribs. Many Texans will say they eschew pork in barbecue, but it still gets served, still gets eaten, and is still delicious. Actually, though, I don’t know how many of them will say “eschew.”
Beef, a very, very slow mesquite smoked dry rubbed brisket with suitable smoke ring. German style sausage also good. Chicken, occassionally. Sauce, a tangy tomato, mustard, garlic, onion, brown sugar, worcesteshire, chile powder and other undisclosed ingredient concocton, occassionally including beer, with consistency ranging from thick to thin. At least I think that’s what’s in it. Usually, asking what’s in the sauce will get you trown out of an establishment.
Sides should include pinto beans, cole slaw and potato salad. Also, you should be given several side items and condiments with no clear indication or instruction whatsoever on how to use them. These generally include a couple of slices of white bread, several crossways slices of white onion, some dill pickle slices, and some pickled jalapenos. It is up to the diner to figure out exactly how these items fit into the mix.
Now, I’m not going to be claim that Texas has a monopoly on good barbecue; other regional styles are also very, very good (e.g., pulled pork is awesome). However, I will strongly maintain that if you do not like Texas barbecue, you haven’t had it from the right place yet. For example, there is a wonderful little house in Hunstville, Texas owned by a local black church where some extremely elderly church ladies will give you some of the best barbecue you’ve ever had in your life. Watching them slowly, slowly, slowly get it to you is a wonderful way to spend several hours.
Well, bless your little heart! I have lived in Memphis all of my life. Dry rub ribs are mainly from a couple of restaurants, the best known being the Rendezvous and Corky’s. Most of the people I know when they say they are having barbecue have a sandwich similar to what I described in my previous post. Personally my favorite joint is Three Little Pigs. While, you are are more than welcome to express your opinion of your favorite barbecue and place if you are going to claim to be an expert on Memphis barbecue you will need to establish some credentials sir.
And I am a ma’am.
Hmmm…let’s see. Multiple relatives living there, hundreds of trips there varying from a day to several weeks over a lifetime. Et cetera. None of which is the point.
The point is that
is not a description of a style of barbecue found only in Memphis. You either described what you actually meant extremely vaguely, or you’re unaware that
is actually served over a very wide geographical area, including most of Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Memphis’s unique barbecue style, and one which garners the most attention, is ribs. Dry rubs and wet sauce.
You are certainly welcome to your opinion, but in MY opinion Memphis does puleld pork barbecue sandwiches better than anywhere else I have ever been in ARkansas, Tenessee and Mississippi.
As far as dry ribs being the style of barbeque Memphis is known for, when my dad fixed dry ribs (which are way better than the Rendezvous or Corky’s) most of the people, such as friends and neighbors, who were lucky enough to be invited to eat had never heard of dry rub ribs. So the folks who live in Memphis that I know don’t agree with you. Your anecdotal evidence doesn’t outrank my anecdotal evidence. You can have the last word cause I am done.
Your bizarre hissy fit aside (calm down, ferchrissakes,) nobody said anything about “better.” I merely said that the barbecue as you described it is not unique to Memphis. Perhaps there are other characteristics which you forgot or failed to mention which make it a style unique to Memphis, but your description as written neatly fits a style served over a large section of the South.
Really, switch to decaf. It’s OK. Sheesh.
So, technically, making burgers on the grill is barbecue?
HERETIC! Stone the unbeliever!
Oh, no.
Fair enough. But at least send me to my grave with the answer!
Forgot to mention that the main difference between Barbecuing and grilling is the temperature. Folks with an egg will recognize this. Barbecue is best done at 285º, IMO. My best friend/ex-brother-in-law’s uncle had a barbecue team, and still produces one hell of a pulled pork sandwich.