subject: America Has A Great Variety Of Barbecue Sauce Tastes And Tradition [print this page] The majority of barbecue sauce recipes can be traced within the rich roots of North Carolina barbecue. The earliest and most simplified recipes can were made popular by African slaves who were very well versed in the art and creation of American barbecue.
The barbecue sauce recipes were made up of vinegar, ground pepper, and hot chili flakes. It was primarily used as a mopping sauce that basted the meat while cooking and used as a dipping sauce once prepared. There is very little if no sugar in this style of barbecue sauce.
In Lexington (Western Carolina) hill areas the sauce is not referred to as a sauce but as a dip. It resembles the East Carolina barbecue sauce in that it is made with tomato paste, vinegar, pepper, chili flakes and ketchup.
Also, in the high ranks is Kansas City. Their bbq sauce is thick and based in tomato with molasses, vinegar and spices. It is evolved from the Lexington dip and is different in that it is thick and sweet and is not absorbed deeply into the meat itself as much as it is on the surface.
This barbecue sauce is the most common and traditional form that is used in the United States.
In example, barbecue sauce recipes in Memphis are created from the same ingredients but have a larger quantity of vinegar added, which means that they cannot necessarily be called a regional sauce, like that of the Kansas City recipe.
In certain parts of South Carolina the yellow barbecue sauce that is primarily made of yellow mustard, vinegar, sugar and spices is common across the board from Columbia to Charleston, areas that are primarily of German settlement. Hence, it was the Germans who first invented and introduced America to the mustard sauce.
In some of the more historical restaurants in Texas, the more traditional sauces are seasoned with cumin, chili peppers, bell peppers , chili powder, lots of pepper and onions, a little bit of tomato, Tabasco sauce and meat drippings. These sauces are usually medium thick in texture like that of a soup so that they can absorb more into the meat rather than sit on the surface.
Many bottled sauces come out of Texas and are quite different from those that are used in other restaurants in the south because they do not have meat drippings in the sauce.
Other bbq sauce recipes in America come from Chinese, Japanese and Indian cultures where yogurt and soy based sauces are used for marinating and grilling the meat
So, when you are thinking about barbecue sauce, remember that the origins of most sauces are deeply rooted in the southern region. Also, remember that these recipes originated from other world cultures and were introduced to us in the states: German, Scottish, Irish, Mexican, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese and Indian to just name a few, so keep this history in mind if you ever decide to get creative with one of these recipes.
