If you search for Oklahoma Style BBQ on Google, you won’t see very many results. That is because it’s something that is a bit hard to define! Cave Tools blog will tell you, “Oklahoma barbecue is a combination BBQ styles from Texas and Southeastern areas. This includes the types of BBQ sauces that are similar to Kansas City and Memphis with their tomato-based barbecue sauces and Texas’s style of meat like brisket and ribs.” We would agree!
Full Custom Gospel BBQ will tell you in their blog, “Oklahoma Style Barbecue is usually described in terms of what it’s not: it’s not as saucy as barbecue from Kansas City and what sauce it has can be similar to K.C.’s with ketchup as a main ingredient. It’s not as tangy as Memphis barbecue and not as vinegary as what they serve in North Carolina. It’s not as dry as most classic Texas barbecue, and it’s not inclusive of just one kind of meat: both pork ribs and large cuts of beef (like brisket) play a major role.” We would also agree! At Bird Dog BBQ, we break it down even further. For us, Oklahoma Style BBQ has 4 main components.
OAK SMOKED MEATS
The first component of Oklahoma Style BBQ is Oak Smoked Meat. We believe meat should taste mostly like meat. A smoky flavor is great, but you shouldn’t trade the taste of the meat for the taste of the wood. Unlike smoking with hickory or mesquite (which are very pungent woods), oak has a mild flavor which allows for thorough cooking while preserving the taste of the actual meat.
SAUCE ON THE SIDE
Beware of BBQ that comes pre-sauced…a lot of places use it as a way to “revive” or disguise an over-cooked, dried out piece of meat. Our gluten-free BBQ sauces are our secret weapons and possibly the most powerful in the arsenal. Like any other BBQ joint, we have mild, hot, and x-tra hot. However, in our persistence to be different, we have original, unique recipes you won’t find anywhere else…like our Wasabi-Q sauce. We make them all from scratch, in-house, every day without a drop of water added. As amazing as they are, they must follow some basic rules, the most important being that they should be an option…not a requirement.
COUNTER STYLE SERVICE
We have a counter-side service line format where you can see the product and you can watch and talk directly to the people preparing and plating your food. The personal interaction between the staff plating the food and the customer ensures a sense of pride in the preparation of your food. This is Oklahoma Style BBQ at its finest. Want to test a sample before ordering? No problem. Just ask; but remember there is a line of people waiting patiently behind you ☺
VALUE
Along with our streamlined service format and low overhead, this is where value, the fourth and final component of Oklahoma Style BBQ, really starts to hit home. If you order a pound of brisket or pork and 10-25% of it is fat, that is a significant loss in value…not to mention it’s kind of gross. We trim virtually all the fat out/off of the brisket and pork so if you order a pound of meat, you get a full pound of 100%, delicious meat. That said, some people like the fat. If that’s the case, we’ve got tons of it and we can add it to your plate. It will be IN ADDITION to (not part of) the designated weight of your order and it will be free of charge.
To all of you BBQ connoisseurs out there, (we know there are lots of you), let us know what constitutes Oklahoma Style BBQ for you! Better yet, let us know what style of BBQ you prefer and why. After all, BBQ styles across the USA are defined by the people who make it and the people who eat it! Let’s all add more to the Oklahoma Style BBQ discussion so we can make a name for ourselves on the list🙂