American BBQ recipes

Vespa´s recipes have appeared in "Midwest Living" & "Taste of Home" magazines. She belongs to "Cook´s Recipe Testers" for Cooks Illustrated.

Profile

Baby Back Ribs | Source

Early Native American Barbecue | Source

Barbecue Sauce Recipes: 5 BBQ Sauces

Nowadays the word "barbecue" is often synonomous with "grill", such as when we grill a juicy hamburger directly over a flame. Originally, though, the definition of "barbecue" was to slow-cook meat over an indirect heat source, such as in a pit heated with charcoal or wood. It seems that native North and South Americans introduced this method to Europeans as a way to tenderize tough meat.

There are as many barbecue styles worldwide as there are opinions about it. Barbecue in the United States can be traced back to Caribbean slaves brought to the Carolinas in the 17th century. Meat smoking techniques came from German and Czech peasants who immigrated to North America.

The origins of U.S. barbecue sauce are much more vague. Some claim that Christopher Columbus brought the sauce back from Hispaniola while others say its origins lie in the 17th century American colonies. How do you like your BBQ sauce? Tangy, sweet, smoky, thick or thin? The answer probably depends upon where you grew up.

Each region of the United States boasts its own unique barbecue style involving type of meat, method, rub and sauce. Although there are fruit-based and even white barbecue sauces, most of the popular sauces in the U.S. fall into four categories: light tomato, heavy tomato, pepper-vinegar and mustard. Join us on a tour around the country as we sample top recipes for the five most common sauces, in no particular order (so as not to offend anyone)!

Our first stop on the tour: Memphis.

Memphis Barbecue

Memphis, best known for The King of Rock 'n Roll Elvis Presley, is also home to many famous barbecue sauces. At a typical Memphis barbecue expect to find smoked and often pulled pork and dry rubbed baby back ribs.