re: Rank your favorite regional BBQ variations

Other regions rely on a special sauce, rub, secret ingredient, marinade, you name it. Down here, you put salt and pepper on a brisket, and if you know how to cook it right, it can be the best piece of smoked meat you'll ever taste. And if you've had brisket that tastes like leather or beef jerky, save your comments, because whoever cooked it didn't do it right.

I know pork is "traditional". But if that's all you care about, dig a hole in the ground and throw a pig directly on some hot coals. That's about as traditional as it gets. I'm all for tradition, don't get me wrong...unless someone comes up with a noticeably better way to do it. Pork barbecue is good, don't get me wrong. I smoked a pork butt just last weekend and it was delicious. But I had to really dig through the spice cabinet and doctor it up, and once I finished prepping it, I didn't look at it until several hours later. In a BBQ school, pork butt would be the 101 level course. Brisket would be the senior design project with a cranky professor who would fail you if you looked at him funny. But once you figure it out and get it right, there is nothing more rewarding in the whole world of smoked meat.

Both are delicious, I'm not discounting pork. It's much easier to make a great pulled pork sandwich than a great brisket. But when it comes down to it, beef is far and away the superior meat.

ETA: and don't even get me started on sauce. After spending literally all day outside cooking a brisket, nothing breaks my heart more than seeing someone pour sauce all over it. Except maybe seeing someone trim the fat cap off, that's probably worse. But sauce is 2nd worst.