When you’re in the mood for some really good and authentic barbeque, there’s nothing quite like the gut punch that comes when you find the place you’ve selected is really serving glorified Sloppy Joe sandwiches. If you want to know that you’ve found the real deal, look for these signs, as provided by a group of certified BBQ pitmaster aces.
- Smoke Ring – Look for the “pink hue on the outside crust”…that’ll tell you it’s been smoked
- Bark – During the “low and slow” cooking process, the collagens and juices break down and meld with the spices and salts giving you a flavorful crust on the outside. If it’s “charred all the way through,” then it’s been cooked in an oven
- Smell – Look for notes of smoke and pepper…you should smell it the moment you get out of the car. If it’s been cooked in an oven and treated with liquid smoke, you’ll only smell it around the meat
- Saucing – Good barbecue doesn’t need sauce…but the sauce adds to it. Beware of anyplace that highlights the sauce and uses it to glorify bad meat
- Bones – If the bones stick out a lot and “look bleached,” it hasn’t been smoked
- Seasoning – The great BBQ joints use their own blend of seasonings, and not the store-bought ones
- Tenderness – The perfect tenderness is “brisket that snaps apart when pulled” and “ribs that’ll still hold the bone after smoking, but bite off cleanly” when you eat them
- Wood – Texas BBQ uses oak and mesquite wood, parts of the South use “hickory or fruity woods,” Georgians use hickory and apple woods, and each give a distinctive flavor and texture to the finished product
Source: BroBible