Regional Barbecue Primer

Meat: Pork shoulder, pork ribs, beef ribs, chicken and whole hog.
Cooking Methods: Slow-smoked in a pit over hickory wood.
Sauce: A spicy tomato-based sauce is most common, but a mayonnaise-based "white sauce,"  thinned with vinegar and seasoned with black pepper is popular in the northern-most part of the state.
Serving Styles: Pork shoulder, chopped or sliced. Whole hog is usually served to large groups.
Traditional Sides: Slaw, potato salad, beans, French fries, baked potato.

Meat: Pork loin, pork ribs, pulled pork, chicken and beef brisket.
Cooking Methods: Slow-smoked in a pit over hickory wood. Chicken is covered in a dry spice rub then smoked whole.
Sauce: A synthesis of different regional variations. Typically, a thin, spicy, tomato-based sauce seasoned with vinegar and a lot of black pepper. Often, a sweetener like molasses is added for a slight tang.
Serving Styles: BBQ beef or pork sandwiches topped with a layer of mildly-sweet and crunchy Arkansas-style coleslaw on white bread. Rib sandwiches are also common: pork ribs between two slices of white bread. BBQ chicken is usually served by the half or pulled.
Traditional Sides: Coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, onion rings, fried dill pickles, collard greens and dinner rolls. Unique variations, BBQ Nachos and BBQ Baked Potatoes, include pulled pork or BBQ brisket.

Meat: Santa Maria-style whole tri-tip steak, chicken.
Cooking Methods: Meat is grilled over red oak wood or coals. Sometimes, chicken is first cooked over a red oak wood grill then finished in steamers filled with beer.
Sauce: Rather than a sauce, meat is either marinated or dry-rubbed with a spice mixture before being grilled–usually a combination of salt, pepper and garlic salt. The commercial blend Susie Q's is the most popular, however marinating meat overnight in flat beer is another older tradition.
Serving Styles: The meat is sliced and served with freshly-made salsa as a condiment.
Traditional Sides: Grilled corn on the cob, grilled French bread, pinquito beans, salad.

Meat: Chopped or pulled pork shoulder, beef brisket, pork ribs, chicken, smoked sausage.
Cooking Methods: Slow-cooked in a pit over wood coals.
Sauce: Ketchup or tomato-based sauce that can be seasoned with a variety of ingredients such as vinegar, garlic, onion, bourbon, black pepper, brown sugar.
Serving Styles: Very commonly served with Brunswick stew, a thick tomato-based stew that contains meat, corn, and beans.
Traditional Sides: Onion rings, French fries, potato chips, baked beans, cornbread.

Meat: Mostly chopped pork shoulder. However, beef brisket, pork ribs, and chicken are also common.
Cooking Methods: Slow-cooked in a pit over wood coals.
Sauce: Ketchup-based sauce that is seasoned with vinegar and other ingredients like bay leaves, Worcestershire sauce, honey, or cloves.
Serving Styles: Often, meats are accompanied by hash that is ladled over white rice.
Traditional Sides: Sweet pickles, mayonnaise-based coleslaw, potato salad in mustard sauce.

Meat: Chopped pork shoulder, beef brisket, pork ribs, smoked sausage.
Cooking Methods: Slow-cooked in a pit over oak coals.
Sauce: Spicy mustard and vinegar-based sauce that is often seasoned with hot peppers.
Serving Styles: Served in various forms, usually accompanied by dill pickles and white onion slices.
Traditional Sides: Collard greens, potato salad, lima beans, sweet potatoes, corn, slices of white bread, cornbread.

Meat: Pork, beef brisket, burnt ends, beef ribs, lamb, turkey and chicken.
Cooking Methods: Slow-smoked over hickory and oak wood, sometimes both types of wood are used in combination, other times they are used separately.
Sauce: Thick, sweet and spicy tomato-based sauce, often seasoned with molasses and applied liberally. The popular commercial brand KC Masterpiece is the most widely known version.
Serving Styles: Typically meat is sliced or pulled, served either by itself or in a sandwich. Sauce is either on top of the meat or on the side.
Traditional Sides: French fries, potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, pickles.

Meat: The signature meat in the western part of the state is mutton, but chopped pork and pork ribs are popular too. Beef and chicken, also often served.
Cooking Methods: Slow-smoked over hickory (though some places also combine it with oak). Meat is regularly basted in a dip while cooking to ensure it's moist and tender.
Sauce: A mild vinegar and tomato-based sauce with both spicy and sweet notes. There is also a uniquely local tangy dark sauce that is flavored with Worcestershire sauce.
Serving Styles: Typically served chopped by itself or in a sandwich.
Traditional Sides: Potato salad, coleslaw, green beans, macaroni and cheese, cornbread muffins, barbecue beans, burgoo (thick meat and vegetable stew).

Meat: Pork spareribs cut St. Louis-style (nicely-trimmed racks) are this style's most recognizable representative, but pork ribs, pork butt, pulled or sliced pork, and beef brisket are also featured.
Cooking Methods: High quality meat is slow smoked until it's falling off the bone. Wet ribs are basted in sauce before and after cooking.
Sauce: Sauces are tomato and vinegar-based, sweet and mildly tangy, seasoned with molasses, brown sugar, and Tabasco sauce or jalapeño depending on the part of the state. But this style is perhaps best known for its dry rubs. Ingredients vary but staples include: cumin, paprika, and garlic and onion powder.
Serving Styles: Two ways, ribs on a slab or pulled and left dry with a side of sauce. Pulled pork sandwiches are served in hamburger buns, with mildly sweet coleslaw. Other regional specialties, which feature sauce and chopped or pulled pork, include: BBQ Pizza, BBQ Barbecue Nachos and BBQ Spaghetti.
Traditional Sides: Baked potatoes, potato salad, French fries, BBQ baked beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw, green beans, collard greens, hoe cakes and dinner rolls.

Meat: Whole hog and pulled pork shoulder are the most predominant, but pork and beef ribs and chicken are also served at many places.
Cooking Methods: Slow-cooked either in a smoker or over a hickory wood pit.
Sauce: The sauce is strictly vinegar-based and mildly hot.
Serving Styles: Pulled pork is the most popular preparation.
Traditional Sides: Coleslaw, potato salad, corn on the cob, onion rings, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, baked beans

Meat: Whole Hog
Cooking Methods: Whole hog is slow-cooked, typically without basting, over hickory coals. Once cut, sauce is added.
Sauce: A strictly vinegar-based sauce (no tomatoes), seasoned with black pepper, cayenne, hot pepper or hot pepper flakes, and other spices. Some people would really consider this a wetting agent.
Serving Styles: Typically sliced, and sauce is either served on top of the meat or on the side.
Traditional Sides: French fries, paprika-dusted boiled potatoes, collard greens, black-eyed peas, and deep fried dill pickle slices are typical sides in much of North Carolina but mayonnaise or mustard-based coleslaw, hushpuppies and sweet tea typify eastern accompaniments.

Meat: Pork shoulder is the most popular.
Cooking Methods: Slow-cooked over hickory smoke (oak is sometimes used too).
Sauce: Vinegar-based sauce, similar to that in eastern North Carolina, but with heavy doses of ketchup and often with small amounts of molasses.
Serving Styles: Sliced, pulled or chopped.
Traditional Sides: Slaw, Hush Puppies (often with onions), collard greens and hand-cut French fries.

Meat: Pork Spare Ribs, Pork Steak, Crispy "Snoots" (BBQ pig's cheeks) and Sausage
Cooking Methods: Often, meats are quickly seared then covered and cooked at a low temperature for a few hours, drenched in sauce, replaced on the grill and caramelized.
Sauce: This style of BBQ is typically characterized by an abundance of sauce— a mildly sweet and spicy tomato-based one thinned with vinegar.
Serving Styles: Meat is generally always served with a generous amount of sauce.
Traditional Sides: Corn on the cob (often grilled), vinegary or creamy coleslaw and barbecue baked beans.

Meat: Typically, this style uses the leaner meats. Brisket is the most popular, followed by Pork Ribs and Sausage (often referred to as the "holy trinity.")
Cooking Methods: Slow-smoked in a pit over oak (and sometimes mesquite).
Sauce: Meats are simply seasoned and often served "naked" without a sauce. If one is offered it will likely be tomato-based.
Serving Styles: With crackers, pickles, and onion slices.
Traditional Sides: In Texas, it's more about the meat than the sides but you'll usually find German potato salad, sauerkraut, chili and pinto beans.

Meat: Beef brisket and ribs, pork ribs, steak, sausage, pork shoulder, turkey and chicken.
Cooking Methods: Slow-cooked over indirect heat (hickory wood).
Sauce: Moderately thick, sweet tomato-based sauce that can range in spiciness.
Serving Styles: Meat is generally served thinly sliced.
Traditional Sides: Baked beans, creamy coleslaw, sweet pickles, Texas toast, jalapeno cheese bread.

Meat: Mainly pork shoulder or butt, but pork ribs and chicken are also widely available.
Cooking Methods: Slow-cooking in a smoker (hickory wood) and pit-cooking.
Sauce: Thin tomato and vinegar-based sauce that is slightly sweet and tangy.
Serving Styles: Pulled pork sandwiches are most common, with the sauce mixed into the meat and sometimes topped with coleslaw.
Traditional Sides: Coleslaw, baked beans, cornbread, potato salad and French fries.