Consider North Carolina, a state with a long barbecue tradition .. In eastern North Carolina, you would probably find shredded meat from an entire pig, doused with a peppery vinegar sauce, and if you chose to drive West a few hours from the coast, and you will most likely be served meat from just the shoulder of the hog, with a tomato based sauce. Throughout Carolina, there is a clear preference for barbecue pork and thin vinegary sauces, which is a distinguishing style echoed throughout the state.

Memphis, Tennessee is another superb barbecue location, home to “Memphis in May,” which is the largest barbecue competition and festival in the world. The city boasts over 100 barbecue restaurants and several different barbecue styles. Like North Carolina and much of the South, pork is the barbecue meat of choice in Tennessee and pork ribs are the most common cut, but the city is divided between “dry-rubbed” and “wet rib” versions. Dry-rubbed ribs are generously rubbed with a mixture of spices, smoked and then served with sauce on the side. Wet ribs are lacquered with tangybarbecue sauce before, during and after cooking. Another Memphis favorite is the pulled-pork sandwich – smoked pork shoulder stuffed inside a hamburger bun and topped with coleslaw.

Kansas City is the barbecue capital of the Midwest. Like Memphis, it’s also home to over 100 barbecue restaurants and hosts an annual barbecue competition an an event called American Royal. In Kansas City, both pork and beef are barbecued and it is best known for its BBQ sauce, which is traditionally heavy on tomato and uses molasses as a distinctive sweetener. The traditional thickbarbecue sauce you buy in supermarkets is based on Kansas City style sauce. The bottled varieties are much different from the small batches of sweet zesty sauce cooked up by Kansas City pitmasters. For those that aren’t familiar with the term, “Burnt ends,” are the crunchy, charred ends of brisket slabs, are a Kansas City specialty not to be missed.

Texas is famous for its cattle, and beef brisket is the barbecue meat of choice. But chopped beef and beef ribs are also state favorites. Texas barbecue isn’t only about the beef, it is also about spicy pork sausages, called “hot links,” and pork ribs are also common barbecue fare. Almost all Texas barbecue is cooked without sauce. The meat is rubbed with spices, known as BBQ rub, smoked and, sometimes, a sauce is served on the side. Barbecue in other states is most often smoked over hickory, oak or a handful of other similar hardwoods. But Texas barbecue usually uses mesquite, which gives the meat a distinct and unique flavor.