Kansas City Still Barbecue Capital

 Kansas City is synonymous with barbecue. People have come from all over the world just to get a bite of tender smoked and sauce ribs and other meats. Is it still the capital? Yes! It's growing thanks to inclusivity and ethnic influence.

New contributor , Jed Portman, a major contributor of Serious Eats, wrote about tthis in yesterday's New York Times Wednesday's Food section. Kanasa City has a reputation for having a barbecue that is drenched in sauce as opposed to the more preferred  and more sophisticated Texas style barbecue.The city's heartland barbecue with it's wide variety of meats and thick sauce may feel too approachable to be considered cool Barbecue slathered in sauce doesn't fit the "Texas craft aesthetic" according to Robert Moss, the South Carolina based author of Barbecue: The Hisotry Of the American Institution.It's one of the great American barbecue styles and people have moved away from it. Yet all is not lost. More American prefer the large variety  of smoked meats that the city has to offer.It's a style that involves cooking inexpensive cuts of meat low and slow.Kansas City had one of the largest stockyards in the country .Brisket was almost handed to cooks .A Kansas City specialty - burnt ends , the ends of brisket, was given to peoples. It too is  drowned in sauce.

Kansas City has good barbecue joints that are noteworthy. There is Joe's Kansas City Bar-B-Que that has been lauded by former president Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain. Cheif stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are big fans of the restaurant which has three locations.Owners Jeff and Joy Steffney  felt the barbecue scene was stagnant, especially in the Seventies and Eighties. They brought a competition exactitude to such age old techniques that involved meat sauce , rub and coals., foreshadowing the rise of craft barbecue in Texas in the 2000s.Kansas City barbecue also has ethnic influences too. There are racks of baby back ribs seasoned with jerky seasoning from Lampang. Thailand. Barbecoa, a Mexican barbecue joint has smoked chicken with echeberra while the South Indian eatery Of COurse serves burnt ends with cardomiHome Chefs can also replicate the recipes at home. Mr. Portman gives recipes for sweet chile baby back ribs and burnt ends..

Kansas City will always be the capital of good barbecue. People will go to it and enjoy all sorts of smoked meats. It;s what the city is known for,