A barbecue sandwich is a

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

that is typically prepared with

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke t ...

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

s.Garlough 2011
p. 315
Several types of meats are used to prepare barbecue sandwiches. Some varieties use cooked meats that are not barbecued, but include

barbecue sauce Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a sauce used as a marinade, basting (cooking), basting, condiment, or topping for meat cooked in the barbecue cooking style, including pork or beef ribs (food), ribs and chicken as food, chicken. I ...

. Many variations, including

regional variation In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

s, exist, along with diverse types of cooking styles, preparations and ingredients.

Types

A plethora of meats and preparation styles for barbecue sandwiches exist. Meats may be sliced, chopped or pulled, and various types are used, such as

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

pulled pork Pulled pork is an American barbecue dish, more specifically a dish of the Southern U.S., based on shredded barbecued pork shoulder. It is typically slow-smoked over wood (usually outdoors); indoor variations use a slow cooker. The meat is th ...

pork shoulder A Boston butt is the slightly wedged shaped portion of the pork shoulder above the standard picnic cut which includes the blade bone and the "lean butt" (which is boneless), both extensions of the tenderloin cut and can be used in place of the te ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

,Levine 2011, p. 157. beef

brisket Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the nine beef primal cuts, though the definition of the cut differs internationally. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectora ...

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

sausage A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs may be included as fillers or extenders. ...

pork ribs Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then ...

and

turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Some versions use slow-

smoked Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Meat, fish, and ''lapsang souchong'' tea are often smoked. In Europe, alder is the tradi ...

meats. Barbecue sandwiches typically have

included in their preparation, either when the meat is cooked, as a sauce within a sandwich, or both. Some meats may be seasoned with a

spice rub Spice rub is any mixture of ground spices that is made to be rubbed on raw food before the food is cooked. The spice rub forms a coating on the food. The food can be marinated in the spice rub for some time for the flavors to incorporate int ...

. Some barbecue sandwiches may use cooked meats that are not barbecued, but include a barbecue sauce.

Coleslaw Coleslaw (from the Dutch term ''koolsla'' meaning 'cabbage salad'), also known as cole slaw, or simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrette ...

is sometimes served with barbecue sandwiches, either on the sandwich itselfLampe 2007, p. 62. or as a

side dish A side dish, sometimes referred to as a side order, side item, or simply a side, is a food item that accompanies the entrée or main course at a meal. Sometimes sautéed vegetables such as onion and garlic are also used. Some versions prepared with beef brisket include both lean and fatty portions from the cut of beef to enhance their flavor. Pre-packaged barbecue sandwiches are also manufactured. Breads used in the preparation of barbecue sandwiches include

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. This milling pro ...

, hamburger buns,

whole wheat bread Whole wheat bread or wholemeal bread is a type of bread made using flour that is partly or entirely milled from whole or almost-whole wheat grains, see whole-wheat flour and whole grain. It is one kind of brown bread. Synonyms or near-synonyms ...

and even

rye bread Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat f ...

. The bread can help to prevent the meat from drying and to retain its temperature.

Regional variations

Sloppy yummy BBQ beef and smoked beans from The Mean Pig

Asia

East Asia

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

cuisine A cuisine is a style of cooking characterized by distinctive ingredients, techniques and dishes, and usually associated with a specific culture or geographic region. Regional food preparation techniques, customs, and ingredients combine to ...

, the northern Chinese

rou jia mo Roujiamo or rougamo () is a street food originating from the cuisine of Shaanxi Province and widely consumed all over China. In the United States, it is sometimes called a Chinese hamburger. Overview The meat is most commonly pork, stewed for ...

and southern

gua bao The ''gua bao'' (), also known as pork belly bun, ambiguously as bao, or erroneously as bao bun, is a type of lotus leaf bun () originating from Fujian cuisine. It is a popular snack in Taiwan and is commonly sold at night markets and restaura ...

are common foods.

Bánh mì In Vietnamese cuisine, or banh mi (, ; , "bread") is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust and soft, airy texture. It is often split lengthwise and filled with savory ingredients like a submarine sandwich and served as a meal, called ''bánh ...

sandwiches may contain BBQ chicken or marinated beef and roast pork.

United States

Illinois and Pennsylvania

In northeastern Pennsylvania, a barbecue sandwich generally refers to ground beef cooked in barbecue sauce, served on a hamburger bun, known in other parts of the country as a

Sloppy Joe A sloppy joe is a sandwich consisting of ground beef, onions, tomato sauce or ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and other seasonings, served on a hamburger bun. There are several theories about the sandwich's origin. History Early and mid-20th c ...

. In northeastern Pennsylvania, the sandwich is often served at pizza places. see menu for Victory Pig Pizza, Wyoming, PA

Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

, beef brisket barbecue sandwiches are common, and are served with sauce atop them or dry.

North Carolina

Chopped pork barbecue sandwiches with coleslaw served on the sandwich are common in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. The term "barbecue" in North Carolina commonly refers specifically to barbecued, chopped pork, whereas other barbecued foods are often referred to by their actual food name.Lampe 2007, pp. 34-35.

Tennessee

Chopped pork shoulder barbecue sandwiches served with coleslaw atop them are common in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. For example, Leonard Heuberger, who in 1922 founded a barbecue restaurant in Memphis named Leonard's, has been reputed there as being the inventor of the "classic Memphis pork barbecue sandwich".Egerton, John (1987)
''Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History''
UNC Press Books. p. 167. This sandwich was prepared on a bun with chopped or pulled pork shoulder meat, a tomato-based sauce, and coleslaw. In the book ''Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in History'', it is stated that other restaurants "followed suit" regarding this sandwich style, and that "...the standard has not changed in more than 60 years." At the Memphis restaurant chain Tops, pork shoulder sandwiches are described in this book as a "mainstay" that have existed as such since 1952, when the first Tops restaurant opened.

Texas

=East Texas

= Barbecue in

East Texas East Texas is a broadly defined cultural, geographic, and ecological region in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Texas that comprises most of 41 counties. It is primarily divided into Northeast and Southeast Texas. Most of the region consi ...

is often chopped beef or pork and is typically served on a bun.Smith 1973, pp. 38, 40. Griffin Smith, Jr. of the magazine ''

Texas Monthly ''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...

'' described East Texas barbecue as "...basically a sandwich product heavy on hot sauce."

References

Bibliography

* Garlough, Robert; Campbell, Angus (2011)
''Modern Garde Manger: A Global Perspective''
Cengage Learning. * Lampe, Ray (2007)
''Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Road Trip!''
Macmillan. * Levine, Ed (2011
''Serious Eats: A Comprehensive Guide to Making and Eating Delicious Food Wherever You Are''
Random House Digital, Inc. 030772087X *