BBQRoadtripSeries-03

Gas in the car? Playlist all queued up? Are you hungry? Let’s hope so, because we’re heading out on a five-state road trip to find the best barbecue traditions in America. No matter what tradition we’re exploring, T. Marzetti Foodservice has Bold Blends™ to make the BBQ memorable.

No dry rubs, no smokers—they keep things simple when they BBQ in St. Louis. But whatever they’re cooking, it had better come with plenty of extra sauce. This town is a good place for T. Marzetti Bold Blends™ Sweet & Bold Barbecue Sauce, because St. Louis consumes more BBQ sauce per capita than any other city in the nation.

While pork butts (a flat, fatty cut of meat that’s sometimes also called a “pork steak”) are a mainstay with locals, it’s St. Louis style pork ribs that are the most popular culinary export of the Gateway to the West. The St. Louis style refers to the cut of the rib, in which the sternum bone, cartilage, and flap meat and rib tips have been removed. (In nearby Kansas City, ribs are trimmed less closely but have the hard bone removed.) This type of spare ribs are less tender and fattier than upper ribs, which are called baby back ribs.

And once you’ve served enough ribs, you might want to get hyper-regional and try serving what the locals call crispy snoots and what are—there’s no getting around it—barbecued pig snouts. They’re rich and fatty, like cracklins or pork rinds, and they’ve been described as being as addictive as potato chips. At Big Mama’s BBQ in East St. Louis, you can order sauced snoots in a sandwich or broken into pieces and served with sauce on the side.

What is St. Louis style barbecue?

T. Marzetti Tip

Looking for ways to spice up the BBQ on your menu? T. Marzetti Foodservice has Bold Blends™ for every taste. Choose from Western Barbecue Sauce, Mild Barbecue Sauce and Korean Barbecue Sauce, or try new Sweet & Bold Barbecue Sauce, made with tomato, vinegar, pineapple juice, onion and garlic for sweet, smoky and tangy flavor. Get any flavor in 4/1 gallons perfect for back-of-house, or increase ease with Sweet & Bold sauce in 72/2 oz. cups! Try a sample of our Bold Blends™ sauce.