Kansas City home to America's best barbecue, chefs claim: 'Our variety makes us unique'

Kansas City, Missouri, is home to the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs — who won their 2024 season opener on Thursday night against the Baltimore Ravens. 

Outside Arrowhead Stadium on home game days this year, Chiefs fans are sure to be serving barbecue at the tailgates. But not just any barbecue. Specifically, Kansas City barbecue.

"For Kansas City, 'barbecue' is a noun. It's not a verb," Rod Gray, chief executive officer of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, told Fox News Digital via email. 

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Kansas City, he said, has one of the highest numbers of barbecue restaurants per capita in the United States. 

"If it can be cooked indirectly, with low heat and smoke, we do it," Gray said. "Our variety of barbecue makes us unique."

Kansas City Chiefs fans make the city's renowned barbecue a staple of any tailgate outside Arrowhead Stadium. (Kansas City Barbeque Society; David Eulitt/Getty Images)

Barbecue was brought to Kansas City a little over a century ago by a man named Henry Perry, Philip Thompson told Fox News Digital in an email.

Thompson is the executive chef at Q39, a championship barbecue restaurant in Kansas City. 

After Perry's arrival, "the city became a melting pot of barbecue flavors from around the country," he said.

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Eventually, Kansas City barbecue became known for "a signature tomato-and-molasses-based barbecue sauce," Thompson said, and something called "burnt ends." 

"Burnt 'edges' were initially discarded," he said. 

Now, these "burnt ends" are "a staple of Kansas City barbecue, combining the bark from the top of the brisket with the marbled, juicy meat underneath." 

While burnt ends were initially discarded, now they're emblematic of Kansas City barbecue.  (Kansas City Barbecue Society)

Brisket, Thompson said, "is made up of two muscles – the flat and the point." 

"The point is the heavily marbled muscle on top that has rich fat running through it," he said. When future Barbecue Hall of Famer Arthur Bryant would smoke brisket, he "would trim off the burnt edges from the top and hand them out to customers." 

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"They became so popular, they were added to his menu and renamed burnt ends," Thompson said. 

At Q39, burnt ends are "finished over a wood-fired grill, which gives them a wonderful, crispy, caramelized finish and a last kiss of smoke." 

One of the best things about Kansas City barbecue is the variety of meats, Rod Gray, chief executive officer of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, told Fox News Digital. (Kansas City Barbeque Society)

At its core, "Kansas City barbecue is really a combination of great meat, a beautiful, flavorful rub combined with sweet and tangy barbecue sauce," Thompson said. 

But, Gray insists, there is much more to it than just the sauce that makes Kansas City barbecue stand out. 

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"Our sauce is as varied as our barbecue offerings," he said. 

"Beyond sauce, we offer poultry, pork and beef – where, until recently, the other cities didn't, and some still don't." 

Kansas City barbecue, shown here, is known for its tomato-based sauce. (Kansas City Barbeque Society)

Beyond briskets and sauce, Gray and Thompson spoke highly of another aspect of Kansas City barbecue: the people. 

"Barbecue is about friends and family, it's about hopes and it's about dreams," Gray said. 

"I love barbecue because everyone I've ever met loves something about it, and that's undeniable." 

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Barbecue, Thompson said, "is really the ultimate gathering food." 

"We obsess about it. We work hard to perfect it." 

"You hang out and cook for hours, sharing stories around the smoker, and then you sit down and enjoy a delicious meal together," he said. 

For Thompson, "barbecue is essentially America's cuisine, and we see travelers from around the globe flock to Kansas City to try our famous brand of barbecue." 

In Kansas City, "barbecue is a noun," Gray told Fox News Digital. (Kansas City Barbeque Society)

"Barbecue is very competitive," Thompson said, "and everyone always says their city or state has the best." 

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People come to Thompson's restaurant to find out just what makes it so different, he said. 

"I love giving tours of our kitchen and pits. Everyone wants to know your secrets – find out what wood you are using or what you use in your dry rub. All of those details make a big impact," Thompson added. 

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For people in Kansas City, "barbecue is a way of life," Gray said. 

"We obsess about it. We work hard to perfect it."