Kansas City Resteraunts

Every region has its own special dishes that you just have to try when you're there. As you're well aware of, trade mark Canadian cuisine consists of such high-cholesterol delicacies as the beaver tails of Ottawa, the poutines of Quebec and the turpentine-like alcohol concoction known as screech that is popular in Newfoundland. In Kansas City, the traditional foodstuff is barbecue. The city is known as a hub of barbecue sauce development and experimentation and its many restaurants feature the results of their extensive study of the barbecue craft. If this sounds like a process you would like to hear/eat more about, read on:

The Father of Kansas City Barbecue

The particular stylings of Kansas City barbecue date all the way back to the early 1900s. It originated with a restaurateur named Henry Perry, who came to Kansas City in 1907 after having worked on riverboats in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. Though the keel designs of such boats quickly left his head the cooking styles remained as he began to sell smoked meats to workers from a stand downtown. Perry cooked beef, possum, woodchuck and raccoon seasoned with a harsh, peppery sauce over oak and hickory and served it wrapped in newspaper. It cost 25 cents.

Kansas City Barbecue Spreads

After Perry's death, Kansas City barbecue spread as his former employees took over the trade. Charles Bryant and later Arthur Bryant modified the recipe and used it as the basis of their restaurant, Bryant's. Another employee, Arthur Pinkard, founded Gates and Sons Bar-B-Q with George Gates. Then, with the speed at which players move during hockey tournaments, the movement spread. Today the city has more than 100 dedicated barbecue restaurants and collectively the state of Missouri is known as the "world barbecue capitol." The Kansas City Barbecue Society promotes over 300 annual barbecuing contests worldwide.

The Kansas City Barbecue Recipe

CAUTION: this section of the article will make you want to drop all the paperwork you're supposed to be doing for the auto dealer supply and rush down to Kansas City for dinner. Kansas City barbecue starts with meat: it can be pulled pork, pork ribs, smoked sausage, beef brisket, chicken, turkey, burnt ends or even sometimes fish. The type of meat itself is less important than the sauce, which has a sweet, tangy flavor with a bite of spice. Often the meat is served with specially prepare baked beans or seasoned French fries, and Cole slaw.

Where to Get a Taste of Kansas City Barbecue

The best places on earth to sink your teeth into Kansas City Barbecue are, obviously, restaurants in Kansas City. Some of the most well-known establishments are Arthur Bryant's, Gates and Sons, Fiorella's Jack Stack, KC Smokestack, Okalahoma Joe's and BB's Lawnside. If you can't get down to Kansas City, you can find a more commercialized version of the sauce for use at home occupying space on grocery shelves all over North America next to Q-Tips and women's pants. It's called KC Masterpiece.