Missouri's Friendly Battle of the BBQs

The process of cooking meat over a slow, smoky fire is timeless, developed to tenderize and preserve meat and keep it from spoiling. First called barbacoa, what we now know as barbecue is central to American cuisine. Brought up from the South by Black Americans during the Great Migration, it quickly became popular across the country. Styles, sauces and spices vary, but aficionados know where to travel to get their fix, including Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina and Missouri.

Kansas City's BBQ history stretches back 100 years. However, in the past decade and a half, St. Louis has also burst onto the pit scene. It's kicked off a bit of a friendly war, with both Missouri cities vying for accolades and acclaim. Here's what you need to know about each city's style, what makes them different and why the rivalry has become such a boon for the state.

The Original KC BBQ

Kansas City's extensive BBQ scene began with a visionary named Henry Perry. Two of KC's oldest barbecue joints—Arthur Bryant's and Gates—trace their roots back to Perry and his magical pit.

Perry came to KC in the early 1900s after serving as chef on steamboats cruising the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. When he arrived, he found a hungry and enthusiastic crowd in the city's Garment District.

"He began with a food cart, where he featured his smoked meats," says Adam White, general manager of Arthur Bryant's. "Sometimes that included possum and raccoon! About a year in, he opened up his first brick-and-mortar store."

Perry expanded his menu and taught the cooking style he had long since mastered to apprentices, including George Gates and Charlie Bryant, who both founded their own restaurants.

"They birthed the BBQ scene here in Kansas City," White says.

Charlie later sold the business to his brother Arthur, who tweaked both the sauce and the restaurant's name. In the 1970s, Playboy's food critic called Bryant's the best restaurant in the world, and gave a shout-out to a particular little freebie for guests waiting in line: those humble burnt ends. The grisly, charred bits shaved off beef brisket are now a fan favorite in Kansas City; no longer a free handout, they star in dishes like Smoked BBQ Burnt Ends on farm-to-market sourdough at Rye and the Mr. Burns sandwich with cubed burnt ends and pepper Jack cheese at Q39.

Kansas City BBQ is typically basted with a heavier, tomato-based sauce that's more sweet than acidic. Brisket is cooked low and slow, ensuring a perfect bark—or crust.

White says it's the communal nature of the food that keeps people coming back.

"Barbecue brings people together," he says. "It's more than just food to me. It's something that unites people and something everyone likes."

New Kid On the BBQ Block

St. Louis could be considered the new kid on the BBQ block. And the city's modern BBQ boom first exploded at Pappy's.

Pals Mike Emerson and John Matthews loved taking part in backyard pit competitions. When people started asking the duo to cook and cater for them, they realized they had something special going. Fifteen years ago, they decided to give running a restaurant a go, and Pappy's was born in St. Louis's Midtown. When Pappy's was featured on the television show Man vs. Food one year after opening, word quickly got out. And hearts were often broken as sellouts occurred.

"When we're out of food, we sell out, we're done," sats Matthews, Pappy's managing partner. "That was a very strange thing for St. Louis to get used to in the beginning. 'What do you mean you don't have brisket sandwiches?' people would ask. Well, it takes 12 to 14 hours for us to cook it and we only want to serve what's spot-on."

Former Pappy's employees and other entrepreneurs have gone on to found other local BBQ restaurants, further burnishing St. Louis's rep as a serious barbecue town. (Bogart's Smokehouse, Salt + Smoke, Adam's Smokehouse and Dalie's Smokehouse are among our faves.) While burnt ends are on many St. Louis menus, the Gateway City tends to favor baby back ribs instead of the spares seen more often in KC. And St. Louis style doesn't lean in as heavy on the sauce, instead relying on dry rub and neutral smoke to impart flavor.

"Sauce is optional," Matthews says. "It's on the side because there's nothing to hide."

Common Ground for the Show-Me State

While there's a fair amount of good-natured ribbing—not to mention competition between Kansas City and St. Louis pitmasters—much more unites them than divides.

"We tease each other but everybody gets along very well," Matthews says. "You're competitors, but at the end of the day you're sitting on the back of a trailer sharing beers."

While cooking styles and flavor profiles differ, Missouri's overall star in the BBQ space continues to rise. Restaurants from both sides of the state are routinely named to national best BBQ lists. Visitors plan their own tour de barbecues across I-70 from St. Louis to Kansas City and vice versa.

"It's amazing how far people will go for this," Matthews says. "Like going to Chicago for pizza or Maine for lobster. There's a following in BBQ, and they're pretty devout."

And there's common ground and shared camaraderie for the Missouri pitmasters who've elevated the state's barbecue to its own culinary art form.

"Everybody who does it and does it well, they're not doing it for the paycheck," White says. "They're doing it because they love it, they love the flavors, they love the history."