Eating Like the Locals

Exploring the southern states? Here’s how to feast BBQ style and experience some of the south’s most famous flavors.

Nashville, TN

In Nashville, Tennessee, get a mouthful of slow-smoked ribs, often served ‘dry’ or ‘wet’. Dry ribs are brushed with spices before cooking and eating without sauce. Wet ribs are doused in sauce before, throughout and after the cooking process, for a juicier BBQ experience. In Nashville, sauces tend to be more piquant than elsewhere, the sauce being enriched with flavorings such as vinegar, mustard, soy and even whiskey.

Kansas City, KA

Kansas City BBQ is unique in its range. You’ll find beef, pork, chicken, mutton, turkey and fish, slow smoked over a selection of different woods. The signature ingredient is the sauce: a heady blend of tomato and molasses, it’s sweeter than your average BBQ condiment and forms the perfect accompaniment to the deep smokey flavor of the meat.

And when you’ve had your fill of some of the south’s best sauce-drenched meat, you may want to check into a Kansas City hotel to sit back and relax while you work off your food coma.

And if you’re really taken with Kansas City BBQ, you might want to check out The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle, that takes place in northeast Kansas State.

Austin, TX

While the Big Ls - Lockhart, Luling, Llano and Lexington - have formerly taken the spotlight on the Texan BBQ scene, Austin is now stealing the show, with a number of well-loved (and well-reviewed) restaurants claiming media attention and making themselves known. Central Texan BBQ is all about the meat.

You’ll find little discussion of sauces and accompanying dishes, the focus is all on the quality of the pork ribs, pork loin, beef shoulder, turkey breast and chicken. BBQ sandwiches are rarer than in other traditions; sauces are mild and served only as a (frequently neglected) dip.