This post was produced byNational Geographic Traveller(UK).
In the area of 10 minutes, what was a little scattering of individuals outside Chef J BBQ has actually ended up being a significant line. Under an azure dome of Midwest sky, the November air is crisp in Kansas City's West Bottoms area as midday techniques. There's no apparent dining establishment signs here, conserve for a faded combination raiding a wall with white painted lettering on each scratched slab, marketing beef brisket, turkey, pork ribs, charred ends.
The doors open and we're beckoned up the creaking wood stairs of Chef J's old redbrick townhouse. Inside, a big blackboard hanging above a counter flanked by pillars of corrugated iron promotes a selection of cuts, sandwiches and sides; an extreme whiff of smoke and meat originates from the cooking area behind.
“I'm a rough-around-the-edges kinda guy,” states owner and pitmaster Justin ‘J' Easterwood, looking happily around the dining establishment he opened in 2020. “I do not like brand-new and glossy things.”
Using a dull green sweatshirt with brown hair connected back into a ponytail and red tattoos dancing up his best arm, Justin has actually been a fan of the flame given that his teenagers. Now, years later on, a monstrous 1,000-gallon cigarette smoker sits outside his dining establishment like a submarine in a dry dock, burning all night long. He cooks as numerous pieces of fresh brisket as possible for the next day, and when it's gone, it's gone.
“There's something to be stated about cooking over fire,” Justin informs me. “You need to adapt to what it's doing– it's not simply a concern of switching on a burner or setting the oven to high. That fire determines what's going on flavour-wise. You got ta regard the fire. It actually resembles a living, breathing thing.”
And from those crackling ashes, Justin provides me with a piece of fatty brisket, caramelised ribs with a sweet glaze and some fragile pork tummy charred ends. Charred ends, a Kansas City barbecue staple, are typically drawn from beef brisket, however Justin chooses pork. They're soft, sweet and with a light kick from the peppery rub. Biting into the brisket, any strength quickly falls away into a buttery, salted nirvana.
Traditional Kansas barbecue meals such as the caramelised rum-glazed pork rib, can be discovered all over Kansas City.
Photo by StockFood, News Life Media
Justin tends to shun the thick, sticky molasses-heavy sauces that Kansas City barbecue is likewise understood for, choosing to let the meat's natural flavours shine through. This is a city that's constantly played a little quick and loose with the guidelines.
Straddling the state line in between Missouri and Kansas, the city they call ‘KC' sits right in the heart of America's Midwest; in the 19th century, it was an important trading post and crossroads on the Missouri River. When restriction showed up in the 1920s, Kansas City established a lawless credibility under mob employer Tom Pendergast and its speakeasies brought in stars,
