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St. Louis–style barbecue

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Pork steaks cooking

St. Louis-style barbecue refers to spare ribs associated with the St. Louis area. These are usually grilled rather than slow-cooked over indirect heat with smoke which is typically associated with the term "barbecue" in the United States.[1] Often overshadowed by its more famous cousin, Kansas City-style barbecue, St. Louis-style barbecue struggles to distinguish itself from other city based styles of barbecue. Although St. Louis-style barbecue takes inspiration from other styles of barbecue it still retains its own distinct style.

Characteristics

St. Louis-style barbecue is characterized by its process of grilling and then saucing the meat. The cooking time for St. Louis-style barbecue is faster than other styles because it does not require smoking the meat for hours or applying a dry rub.[2] St. Louis barbecue sauce is tomato-based, sweet, and vinegary.[2] It traditionally contains ketchup, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper, and other spices.[2] Instead of baby back ribs, traditional St. Louis ribs have a specific cut called spare ribs. The typical St. Louis spare rib cut is rectangular or square-shaped to give the ribs more aesthetic appeal, while also cutting off more cartilage from the sides causing them to be meatier.[2] Popular cuts of meat that are typically used include: brisket and burnt ends, pork ribs, pork steak, rip tips, and snoots, which are pig noses and cheeks and are typically dehydrated or slow-grilled until crispy. [2] White bread is a popular side addition to St. Louis-style barbecue, and is used to absorb the barbecue sauce.[2]

Popularity

Barbecue in St. Louis is incredibly popular and is a part of general St. Louis culture. Barbecue is a popular communal food commonly eaten at celebratory occasions in St. Louis like graduations, birthday parties, and tailgates. There are many famous and award winning barbecue restaurants based in St. Louis, like Salt & Smoke, Sugarfire Smokehouse, and BEAST Craft BBQ Co. which was named the best barbecue in Illinois by Food & Wine.[3] Sugarfire Smokehouse popularized St. Louis-style barbecue. They have 13 locations located in Missouri, Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky. St. Louis is host to a thriving barbecue culture, with many barbecue competitions throughout the year. St. Louis-style ribs are often a class entry in barbecue competitions. Missouri has a long history of food competitions, beginning back to the annual Missouri State Fair in 1901.[4] Popular barbecue sauces include regional favorite, Maull's barbecue sauce.[2]

History

The ribs are often heavily sauced; St. Louis is said to consume more barbecue sauce per capita than any other city in the United States.[5] St. Louis-style barbecue sauce is described by author Steven Raichlen as a "very sweet, slightly acidic, sticky, tomato-based barbecue sauce usually made without liquid smoke."[1] St. Louis is said to be home to the first barbecue sauce in the country, which was created by Louis Mall in 1926.[2] In the 1950s, pork butt became a staple in local St. Louis-Style barbecue when local grocery chain Schnucks began selling it.[2]

St. Louis-style ribs have deep roots to Kansas City style-barbecue. Kansas City is often credited as developing a very distinct regional style of barbecue and because the two cities are physically close St. Louis barbecue has taken a lot of cues from Kansas City. Barbecue had long been a part of the cities culture, but it began to have wide spread popularity in the 1920s.

St. Louis ribs, ready to eat

St. Louis-style spare ribs are cut in a particular way with the sternum bone, cartilage and rib tips removed so that a well-formed, rectangular-shaped rack is created for presentation. This cut of ribs, formalized by the USDA as "Pork Ribs, St. Louis Style," allegedly originated with numerous meat-packing plants located in the region in the mid-20th century and put into the policy by a diehard fan of the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.[6] Butchers after World War 2 employed this cut because it eliminated much of the fat and gristle and they could charge a premium for it. This cutting technique eventually gained popularity as local meatpackers realized they could advertise the cut as St. Louis-style ribs and differentiate themselves from competitors.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Raichlen, Steven (2003). BBQ USA: 425 fiery recipes from all across America. New York City: Workman Publishing. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-0-7611-2015-5.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "St. Louis-Style Barbecue: History and Elements". December 2, 2021.
  3. ^ "The best BBQ in St. Louis". www.stlmag.com. 2021-01-01. Retrieved 2023-02-28.
  4. ^ Corbett, Suzanne. A Culinary History of Missouri : Foodways & Iconic Dishes of the Show-Me State. ISBN 978-1-4396-7358-4. OCLC 1311965051.
  5. ^ "Reno's Road Trip Randoms". The Great American Road Trip. NBCUniversal. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  6. ^ "St. Louis-style is a hit with rib lovers". STLToday.com. St. Louis Post-Dispatch L.L.C. 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-07-04.
  7. ^ Love, James (2021-03-24). "The History of BBQ in St. Louis". Draper and Kramer, Incorporated. Retrieved 2023-02-28.

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