It took me so long to be less stabby!
We talked about this a bit but for the benefit of the readers, I recall saying that while I do enjoy barbecue I’m not any kind of expert about it. Although I did the other day have a conversation with someone from Texas who asked, “So did you find any good barbecue in Chicago yet?” and I said “Uhhhhhhhh not really?” and he was like I KNOW RIGHT
There’s ok barbecue here, but nothing especially great. I know that there’s great barbecue somewhere on the South Side but I’m never down there so I don’t get much chance to sample. And as he pointed out, Texas-style and Chicago-style are very different.
IDK, my love of being a snob about things is warring with my love of sampling true regional cuisine, so it’s hard to rank regional barbecue when I want to eat all of it. I do love a sweet sauce, I’d rather have sweet than hot, so I think my tastes generally run towards midwestern, KC-style. For the same reason I like Carolina, because it’s that mix of mustard and sweet. I’m big on burnt tips and smoked turkey and I do think you get a lot more of that outside of Texas, where it seems like it’s always about ribs and brisket.
But also, because I ate a pretty limited diet as a kid especially when dining out, one of the foods I love most in the world is a grilled hamburger, even though a lot of people don’t consider burgers to be barbecue (and of course purists don’t consider “grilling” to be barbecue). But if there’s a grill going I want to slap some burgers on it. Or some teriyaki chicken skewers. This is probably my California showing.
So I think probably like…KC-style, then Carolina, then Texas, then like, northern-midwest where I am now, and then whatever’s happening anywhere west of Texas. But also: hamburgers.
Come to think of it, I don’t know if the northeast has a barbecue tradition. Y'all got good cue out there? Don’t get me wrong, I love a lobster roll or some steamed crab or slow-cooked baked beans, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a recipe for like, Maine Smoked Pork Belly.
Anyway I do love A Meat cooked over A Fire in A Sauce, which I feel is what counts. :D
Burgers: 100% grill food, 0% barbecue (the sauce is an add-on, not a fundamental part of the burgering); I also like a good burger or hot dog done up on the grill.
Most northeastern folks just have BBQ (grill) cookouts, not “proper” barbecue (hours on the smoker, sauce, etc), but this seems to be changing.
Sometimes you find folks who will throw whole clams on the grill or line them up around a campfire to cook, but this is sort of barbecue-adjacent in the same way a crawfish boil is; it’s a social food thing with fire.