YJ GIS Industrial Limited

Americans love grilling! 

Outdoor barbecues are a favorite summer event for family and friends in the United States, especially on the Fourth of July. 
In the meat-loving South, when you pass through the Carolinas, it's mostly pork -- a pork shoulder or whole pig roasted on an outdoor grill.  Farther south -- in places like Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi -- roast chicken is as common as roast pork.

In Kansas City, local restaurants boast their barbecued meat in a sweet molasses sauce.  In Eastern Texas, food connoisseurs focus on the "Texas Trinity," brisket, sausage and pork chops.  

In Chicago, roast pork chops (cut into bite-size pieces) or roast chicken.  Travel to Memphis, Tennessee, and eat roast pork slathered in rich spices.  If you make your way through St. Louis, you're sure to see roasted pork jaws (snout and snout). 

The recipe origin  
American barbecue culture has strong Native American traditions, Miller said.  The first African American cooks adopted native American methods of using rotary forks, high tables and shallow pits to smoke all kinds of meat.  

Barbecue as it is known to Americans today emerged in the 18th century, when British colonists in Virginia forced African slaves to cook for them.  African Americans became grilling masters and have since spread it.  As their cooking continued to evolve, African Americans helped shape the regional barbecue styles prevalent today.  

Black barbequers who traveled by boat, carriage and train brought the authentic flavor of Southern barbecue to all parts of the country, Miller said.  "African Americans have long been the most effective ambassadors of barbecue," he said.  They were often the first industrialists to sell barbecue in urban areas, sometimes from their homes, alleys or restaurants.  

As barbecue moved from rural to urban areas in the 20th century, it developed local styles often associated with specific cities, Miller said.  

In Kansas City, local restaurants boast their barbecued meat in a sweet molasses sauce.  In Eastern Texas, food connoisseurs focus on the "Texas Trinity," brisket, sausage and pork chops.  

In Chicago, roast pork chops (cut into bite-size pieces) or roast chicken.  Travel to Memphis, Tennessee, and eat roast pork slathered in rich spices.  If you make your way through St. Louis, you're sure to see roasted pork jaws (snout and snout). 

People come here to taste the famous roast pork jaw that was featured on TV.  The palate tastes like bacon and is crunchy like a quesadilla, says Earlyn Walker. "They add barbecue seasoning, so it's even better," she says.  

The Walkers used Otis's mother's recipe for their opening.  His mother left Mississippi in the 1940s at age 15 to work in a restaurant in St. Louis.  Otis wanted to open his own restaurant after his mother died because "no one could cook barbecue like his mother," Ms. Earling said.  

Smoki O's has been part of the local community for years.  The Walkers regularly volunteer for local youth groups and have helped 16 students pay for college.  At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, they served lunch to local fire and police departments.  

Otis says he and his wife live in a place where they grew up, 'so we have to always help and always care.