Dish of slowly smoked meat
Kansas City?style barbecue
is a slowly
smoked meat
barbecue
originating in
Kansas City, Missouri
in the early 20th century. It has a thick, sweet sauce derived from brown sugar, molasses, and tomatoes.
[1]
Henry Perry
is credited as its originator, as two of the oldest Kansas City?style barbecue restaurants still in operation trace their roots back to Perry's pit.
[1]
Overview
[
edit
]
Kansas City barbecue uses a wide variety of meats, such as
pork
,
beef
,
chicken
,
turkey
,
lamb
,
sausage
, and sometimes
fish
.
[2]
It is seasoned with a dry rub, slow-smoked over a variety of woods and served with a thick tomato-based barbecue sauce.
[3]
[4]
Most local restaurants and sauce companies offer several varieties with spicy and tangy flavor profiles. Historically, the sauces were not sweet until Rich Davis, a child psychiatrist from KC developed the KC Masterpiece sauce with molasses, which varies greatly from the more traditional sauces at the longtime KC BBQ restaurants where orders are made at a counter.
[5]
Burnt ends
are the crusty, fatty, flavorful meat cut from the point of a
smoked
beef
brisket
.
[2]
Side dishes include a unique style of
baked beans
,
French fries
, and
coleslaw
.
History
[
edit
]
The
Kansas City metropolitan area
has more than 100 barbecue restaurants, several of which are nationally renowned.
[6]
The area has several large
barbecue cooking contests
, such as the Great
Lenexa
BBQ Battle
[7]
and the
American Royal
World Series of Barbecue, the largest barbecue competition in the world.
[8]
[9]
Henry Perry
[
edit
]
Kansas City barbecue history originated with
Henry Perry
, who operated out of a trolley barn at 19th and Highland in the legendary
African-American neighborhood
around
18th and Vine
.
Perry served slow-cooked ribs on pages of
newsprint
for 25 cents a slab. He came from
Shelby County, Tennessee
, near
Memphis
, and began serving barbecue in 1908. Kansas City and
Memphis barbecue
styles are somewhat similar, although Kansas City tends to use more sauce and a wider variety of meats. His sauce had a somewhat harsh, peppery flavor.
Perry's restaurant became a major cultural point during the heyday of
Kansas City Jazz
during the "wide-open" days of
Tom Pendergast
in the 1920s and 1930s.
Arthur Bryant
[
edit
]
Working for Henry Perry was Charlie Bryant, who in turn brought his brother,
Arthur Bryant
, into the business. Charlie took over the Perry restaurant in 1940 after Perry died. Arthur then took over his brother's business in 1946, and the restaurant was renamed
Arthur Bryant's
.
Arthur Bryant's, which eventually moved to 1727 Brooklyn in the same neighborhood, became a hangout for baseball fans and players in the 1950s and 1960s, because of its close proximity to
Municipal Stadium
, where the
Kansas City Athletics or A's
played their home games during that period.
In April 1972, Kansas City native
Calvin Trillin
wrote an article in
Playboy
proclaiming Bryant's the best restaurant on the planet.
With new-found fame, Bryant did not change the restaurant's very simple decor, which consisted of fluorescent lighting, Formica tables, and five-gallon jars of sauce displayed in the windows, even when visited by Presidents
Harry Truman
,
Jimmy Carter
, and
Ronald Reagan
.
Bryant died of a heart attack, in a bed that he kept at the restaurant, shortly after Christmas 1982.
Along the main inner wall of the restaurant is photographic history of many famous politicians, actors, actresses and sports figures and other tribute pictures of military personnel displaying Arthur Bryant's memorabilia such as shirts or bottles of sauce.
Gates and Sons
[
edit
]
In 1946 Arthur Pinkard, who was a cook for Perry, joined with George Gates to form
Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q
. The restaurant was situated initially in the same neighborhood.
Gates also expanded its footprint in a more conventional way, with restaurants all displaying certain common features?red-roofed buildings, a recognizable logo (a strutting man clad in tuxedo and top hat) and the customary "Hi, may I help you?" greeting belted out by its employees as patrons enter.
Other restaurants
[
edit
]
Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue
[
edit
]
Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue
had its beginnings as the second restaurant in the Smokestack BBQ chain, which Russ Fiorella Sr. had started in 1957. Fiorella's eldest son Jack worked with his father until 1974, when he and his wife Delores opened their own Smokestack location in the
Martin City
neighborhood of south Kansas City.
[10]
Eventually Jack, along with his wife and children, decided to expand their menu selections, adding non-traditional barbecue menu items like hickory-grilled steaks,
lamb ribs
, crown prime beef ribs,
[11]
and fresh, hickory-grilled seafood, along with an extensive wine and bar selection.
They also began offering a higher level of comfort and service than most people were accustomed to at a barbecue restaurant. Smokestack BBQ in Martin City soon became one of the most successful restaurants in the Kansas City metro. In 1996, Jack Fiorella was named Restaurateur of the Year by the Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association.
[12]
By the mid-1990s, Jack Fiorella replicated the success of his Martin City Smokestack restaurant.
Other members of the Fiorella family told Jack that he was not permitted to use the Smokestack name for his new restaurant, so both the new restaurant (opened in 1997 in
Overland Park, Kansas
) and Jack's existing restaurant in Martin City dropped the Smokestack name and were rebranded as Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue. They also opened a full-service catering operation in Martin City and their third location in the historic
Freight House
building in the
Crossroads Arts District
.
They began shipping their barbecue nationwide in 2000, and in October 2006 they opened a fourth location on The
Country Club Plaza
. In 2014, a fifth Jack Stack restaurant opened in
Lee's Summit, Missouri
.
The original Smokestack chain closed its last remaining location in 2012.
Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue has been featured on
The Food Network
and
The History Channel
, and has been rated as among the best barbecue in the United States by several national organizations and magazines. Most notably, the
Zagat Survey
has named it the "#1 Barbecue House in the Country."
[13]
Joe's Kansas City
[
edit
]
Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que
can be traced to competition barbecue and the
Kansas City Barbeque Society
(KCBS). Accompanying friends at the
American Royal
and The Great Lenexa BBQ Battle
[14]
inspired Jeff Stehney to start cooking on his own. The first smoker purchased was an Oklahoma Joe's 24" smoker, christened in April 1991.
By 1993, Jeff, his wife and business partner Joy, and Jim "Thurston" Howell were ready to join the KCBS competition circuit. Their competition team, Slaughterhouse Five, won eight Grand Championships, including the prestigious American Royal BBQ, three Reserve Grand Championships, and the KCBS's Grand Champion "Team of the Year" in 1993. Over the next several seasons Slaughterhouse Five won dozens more awards and was generally recognized as one of the top competition BBQ teams in the Country.
Jeff and Joy opened
Oklahoma Joe's Bar-B-Que
(later renamed to Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que) in a gas station in
Kansas City, Kansas
in 1996.
[15]
There are also locations in
Olathe, Kansas
and
Leawood, Kansas
.
Celebrity chef
Anthony Bourdain
listed Joe's original Kansas City, Kansas location as one of "13 Places You Must Eat Before You Die".
[16]
Men's Health magazine named it America's manliest restaurant.
[17]
Joe's was featured on Season 3 of
Man v. Food
in August 2010.
[18]
It was also named "Kansas City's Best Barbecue" by
Zagat
.
[19]
KC Masterpiece
[
edit
]
In 1977,
Rich Davis
capitalized on the reputation of Kansas City barbecue to form
KC Masterpiece
, which evolved from his "K.C. Soul Style Barbecue Sauce". KC Masterpiece is sweeter and thicker than many of the traditional Kansas City sauces served in the region. The KC Masterpiece recipe uses extra
molasses
to achieve its thick, sweet character.
[
citation needed
]
KC Masterpiece was sold to
Kingsford charcoal
in 1986 and now claims to be the number-one premium barbecue brand in the U.S. When Davis sold the rights to his sauce to Kingsford, he announced plans to build a franchise of barbecue restaurants. The franchises were successful for a few years, but have since all closed.
Curt's Famous Meats
[
edit
]
Curt's Famous Meats
was a meat market founded in 1947 by Curtis Jones and sold to Donna Pittman in 1989. With clientele from all across America, Curt's specializes in barbecue prepared with Kansas City rub. It has a long history of award-winning barbecue, having won eight times the
American Royal
barbecue competition, the largest in the world. It closed and was for sale as of July, 2018 after seventy years of operation.
Located on East
Truman Road
in the Kansas City suburb of
Independence, Missouri
, Curt's has been a large competitor in many local barbecue competitions.
[20]
Curt's was also known for its predominantly female staff, nicknamed the Lady Meat Cutters.
[21]
Jones Bar-B-Q
[
edit
]
Jones Bar-B-Q
is an independent barbecue joint on Kaw Drive in Kansas City, Kansas, owned by Deborah and Mary Jones.
In 2001 Doug Worgul featured Jones Bar-B-Q in the afterword of
The Grand Barbecue: A Celebration of the History, Places, Personalities and Techniques of Kansas City Barbecue.
[22]
: 120
Worgul said the sisters' barbecue "represent[ed] an artisan approach that cannot be replicated in higher-volume barbecue restaurants" and calls the location, a former taco stand, "the jointiest joint I've ever seen."
[23]
In 2016
Ardie Davis
called it "old school", saying the barbecue is straightforward, not oversmoked, and not overtrimmed.
[23]
As of 2016, the
Kansas City Star
considered them possibly the only Kansas City barbecue owned and operated by women pitmasters.
[24]
[25]
[26]
The sisters do not participate in the
barbecue competition circuit
.
[27]
In 2018, they appeared on an episode of Steve Harvey's
Steve
in a segment titled "The Queens of Barbecue".
[28]
[29]
In March 2019, the sisters and the barbecue were featured on the third season of American television series
Queer Eye
,
[30]
which was filmed in and near Kansas City.
[31]
Both they and the restaurant received a makeover, and they started bottling their sauce.
[30]
In the aftermath, they had to put in a second barbecue pit to handle demand.
[27]
In 2019, Jones Bar-B-Q's Coconut Pineapple sauce was named by Bloomberg News as one of their five favorite barbecue sauces.
[32]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Wicks, Lauren (2018-06-30).
"Styles of Regional BBQ in the US"
.
TastingTable.com
. Retrieved
2022-08-24
.
- ^
a
b
Class, Master (June 3, 2022).
"Kansas City?Style BBQ Guide: History and Characteristics"
.
- ^
"Experience Kansas City - Barbeque Kansas City Style"
. Experiencekc.com
. Retrieved
2015-05-14
.
- ^
Fazio, Heather (June 1, 2015).
"Prominent BBQ Styles In The United States"
. Retrieved
2019-11-30
.
- ^
Silver, Jennifer (23 November 2019).
"The history behind Kansas City-style barbecue and its star burnt ends"
.
Fox 4 Kansas City
. Retrieved
6 November
2022
.
- ^
"Kansas City Barbecue Restaurant List"
. Official Kansas City Restaurant Listing
. Retrieved
2013-10-04
.
- ^
"Great Lenexa BBQ Battle"
.
www.lenexa.com
. Retrieved
2020-08-03
.
- ^
"BBQ"
.
American Royal
. Retrieved
2020-08-03
.
- ^
Gorce, Tammy La (2012-06-29).
"Fire Up the Pit: My Brisket Can Burn Yours"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
2020-08-03
.
- ^
"Ribs and Ritual in Kansas City"
. SAVEUR. 2011-06-08
. Retrieved
2015-05-14
.
- ^
"Crown Prime Beef Rib Feast | Ship BBQ Ribs | Jack Stack BBQ"
.
www.jackstackbbq.com
. Retrieved
2021-03-23
.
- ^
"From the Embers"
.
- ^
"Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue at the Freight House"
. The Kansas City Convention & Visitors Association. Archived from
the original
on 2008-04-06
. Retrieved
2008-01-17
.
- ^
"Great Lenexa BBQ Battle"
.
www.lenexa.com
. Retrieved
2021-03-23
.
- ^
Olmsted, Larry (2013-09-10).
"Share"
.
USA Today
.
- ^
"International Dining | Men's Health"
. Menshealth.com. 27 September 2011
. Retrieved
2015-05-14
.
- ^
Polis, Carey (2012-11-21).
"The Manliest Restaurant In America"
.
Huffington Post
.
- ^
Tone, Joe (2010-08-12).
"Man v. Food takes on Oklahoma Joe's, Stroud's and one gross sando at Papa Bob's Bar-B-Que | The Fast Pitch"
. The Pitch
. Retrieved
2015-05-14
.
- ^
13 places to eat - Oklahoma Joe's
- ^
"Heroes can be closer than you think"
. 2009. Archived from
the original
on 2011-09-27
. Retrieved
2011-05-05
.
- ^
"
"Behind the Grind" Story"
. KMBC Channel 9 News. 2006-07-21
. Retrieved
2011-04-10
.
- ^
Worgul, Doug (2001).
The Grand Barbecue: A Celebration of the History, Places, Personalities and Techniques of Kansas City Barbecue
. Kansas City Star Books.
ISBN
978-0-9709131-2-8
.
- ^
a
b
Wendholt Silva, Jill (August 30, 2016).
"True pitmasters: The Jones sisters are rare gems in man's world"
.
KansasCity.com
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
- ^
Silva, Jill (August 30, 2016).
"Why female barbecue pitmasters are still a rarity in KC and beyond"
.
Kansas City Star
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
- ^
"You Can Now Buy The BBQ Sauce From The Jones Sisters As Seen On Netflix's 'Queer Eye'
"
.
Essence
. Retrieved
2019-08-24
.
- ^
Williams, Corey (March 19, 2019).
"This BBQ Sauce Is Flying off Shelves After 'Queer Eye' Made It Famous"
.
Food & Wine
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Lynn, Samara (March 28, 2019).
"Life after "Queer Eye": Interview with Deborah Jones, Co-Owner of Jones BBQ"
.
Black Enterprise
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
- ^
Midkiff, Sarah (March 17, 2019).
"The Jones Sisters Got The Queer Eye Glow Up This Weekend & Sold Out Of Their Famous BBQ Sauce"
.
www.refinery29.com
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
- ^
"Secrets of the 'Queens of BBQ' Kansas City Smoke Sisters"
.
IMDb
. Retrieved
August 25,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Morabito, Greg (March 18, 2019).
"
'Queer Eye' Sends Jones Bar-B-Q Sauce Sales Through the Roof"
.
Eater
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
- ^
Bradley, Laura (March 20, 2019).
"Queer Eye Update: The Jones Sisters' Barbecue Business Is Booming"
.
Vanity Fair
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
- ^
Kronsberg, Matthew (June 18, 2019).
"Five Barbecue Sauces That Will Test Your Regional Allegiances"
.
www.bloomberg.com
. Retrieved
August 24,
2019
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Cooking
styles
| | |
---|
Regional
variations
| |
---|
Cookers
and related
| |
---|
Foods and
dishes
| |
---|
Societies
& festivals
| |
---|
Misc.
| |
---|
|