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America’s diversity is clear when you look at what the country has going for it when it comes to barbecue. Each region in the nation has its own preferred and unique methods of smoking, grilling, and barbecue meats. Some of the country’s traditional cooking techniques have been around for generations, and with several new grilling tools and techniques, cooking barbecue in America has never been so convenient and easy.

Whether it’s using pink salt for curing or roasting a whole hog, this article is sure to help you understand how to go about barbecuing using traditional American cooking styles. Here are some of the most popular regional styles and flavors.

Texas BBQ Style

Texas BBQ is hugely famous all across America, with its history dating all the way back to the nation’s 9th-century period. Smoked and grilled meats that Czech and German settlers originally sold found their way to the Texans, who then put a spin on things and transformed them into the BBQ they are today.

Slow and low is how it goes with the East Texas style. This usually entails cooking the meats until you can easily pull them from the bone. Its characteristic flavor typically comes from the hickory wood it’s burned over alongside the tomato-based, sweet BBQ sauce.

Memphis BBQ Style

Memphis barbecue mostly focuses on the pig and is one of the most famous cooking styles in the whole country. This style also uses hickory wood to develop that smoky and sweet flavor. It’s especially popular when it comes to grilling and smoking the pig because of the pungent smoke that comes from the hickory hardwood.

There are two ways you can use this style. The dry method is where you rub the meat with a special spice mix, pepper, and salt before finally serving it without sauce. The second way is the wet method, where you sauce the meats before barbecuing them and then lightly caramelize the crust before service.

California BBQ Style

One of the nation’s all-time favorites is how Californians barbecue their meats. The Santa Maria BBQ style, which originally comes from California’s central coast, is one of the region’s most popular and traditional styles. Stemming from the 19th century as well, this American BBQ style is definitely one of the state’s favorites.

Seasoned with garlic, salt, and black pepper, the meats using this style are then burned over live native coast oak wood that helps bring out a unique Santa Maria flavor. The meats are then typically served alongside a fresh green salad, pinquito beans, or grilled French bread. This specific style normally doesn’t involve any saucing up of the meats because it doesn’t want the meat’s natural flavors to overlap. The green salad or salsa served alongside the meats is what’s usually meant to act as the sauce.

Carolina BBQ Style

Just like the Memphis style, the Carolina BBQ style also loves working with the pig. Sliced, shredded, or pulled, whatever the case may be, Carolina’s got it. With so many techniques involved, the state’s perfect style is usually open to the user’s interpretation. For instance, Carolina’s northern region prepares its meat in two ways. However, they all use either oak or hickory hardwood to barbecue their meats.

The eastern part of Carolina, on the other hand, is well-known for grilling the whole pig and cutting the hog down into different pieces once it’s ready. They’re also known for rubbing the hog down with some light BBQ sauce both before and after they’ve grilled the meat. To spice things up a bit, they rub the dark parts of the meat with vinegar both before and after they cook it as well.