Bar-B-Cue, BBQ, BarBCue, or however else you'd like to spell it is true American food. It's probably more American than the burger. But where do you go if you absolutely have to get your taste buds the best BBQ? I've ate a lot of BBQ from all over the United States. I even had a guy in California explain to me how his electric smoker made the best BBQ. What an idiot. How can you have an electric smoker? Where is the smoke? Real BBQ has to have smoked flavor, the only way you get smoked flavor is with actual smoke, not that liquid smoke that comes in a bottle, but actual wooden chips that give it that smokey tenderness we all love. The BBQ sauce is just as important as the smokey flavor. There are lots of factors that make BBQ meat taste perfect and they all have to be well respected. There is a long ongoing rivalry between Austin and Kansas City in the BBQ department
Austin TX
Everything is bigger and better in the great state of Texas. That's what they'll tell you down there. And they have claims that Texas BBQ is the best in the world. Those are some hard claims but they back them up pretty well. Whether you are out at a fair and you get your BBQ from a stand, or you go to one of their famous restaurants like Franklin Barbecue you will have some fine tasting food. No doubt about it. Its delicious. As they should, they have huge slabs of brisket or a nice rack of ribs always ready for you to eat. May be a nice coleslaw and cornbread on the side and you have yourself a perfect dinner, lunch, or may be even breakfast if you are into that. Here is where it gets tricky though. In Texas they cook their meats with the BBQ sauce on them. They believe that the sauce soaking in will give the meat the flavor it needs as well as create a nice glaze. A bit of sweetness tangled in with some spice makes any meat there taste great. But we are not after just any meat, we are after quality, and as much as I enjoy Freedman's or John Mueller Meat Co I want to have the best possible meat for my BBQ.
Kansas City
That takes us to Kansas City. Same long BBQ traditions as Austin, just done a little differently. In KC, they cook the meat as it is. Most of the time it's not even marinated at all. It's just cut and cooked, that's it. They add the sauce after. The meat has to be prime in order to get the best flavor out of it. Its slowly smoked just as it is in Austin, but it is not smothered in BBQ sauce while it's in the smoker. There is a ton of places in KC to get your BBQ at. From upscale Q39 or Jack Stack to budget friendly and delicious LC's or Gates Bar-B-Q, but the most famous is Oklahoma Joe's (which is now Joe's Kansas City BBQ, but it will always be OK Joes for me). Here is where you might have caught on to my bias knowing the intricate details of Kansas City but trust me, I've had lots of BBQ from Austin as well. Now that that's out of the way, let me tell you some more insider information on KC's BBQ scene, they've got these delicious bites called "Burnt Ends". Thats the end of the brisket cut up separately after cooking. Why the end you might ask. Well it's because that's where all the good stuff is, when the fat goes down from the rest of the meat it drips from the ends and they get crispy and delicious that way. Better than anything else you will ever taste in your life.
The Verdict
The clear verdict on this post is most definitely Kansas City. I am not going to go into much detail on why, you'll just have to go there. But what I will do is show you a picture below of the line at a freaking gas station that sells BBQ in KC and you do the math.
