BBQ - Kansas City Style Sauce

Kansas City style sauce is known for sweet and lowdown jazz music and great barbecue. This region's tomato-based sauce's signature element is that it's extra thick and spicy. This is due to the addition of molasses and sugar, both of which thicken the sauce and give it a nice, sweet taste. Vinegar is another key ingredient, which lends a particular flavor element. Many of the big brand sauces you'll find in mainstream grocery stores are more like Kansas City style sauce than other regions.

BBQ - Texas Style Sauce

Texas style barbecue is generally dry rubbed and slow cooked. The sauce is usually on the side, and many chefs like to serve it warm. It's known for being on the spicy side and thinner than a Kansas City sauce. This allows the sauce to penetrate the meat fully, as opposed to sitting on top like thicker sauces tend to. Some Mexican influence can be seen in many Texas style recipes, with liberal amounts of hot peppers, chili powder and cumin added to the tomato-based sauce. As with most sauces, vinegar is also important for the tangy flavor, but unlike other regions, some Texas recipes contain coffee.

BBQ - North Carolina Style Sauce

North Carolina has a couple of different styles of sauce. The sauce in the Eastern area of the state is vinegar based and very thin. Little to no sugar is used in these sauces, so they aren't sweet, but instead, rather bold and spicy. A liberal amount of sauce is traditionally added to chopped pork or beef brisket, which is served wet. The sauce in Western Carolina is also thin, but it uses a little bit of tomato or ketchup, resulting in a pinkish sauce.

BBQ - South Carolina Style Sauce

The meat of choice in South Carolina is pork, and the sauce is mustard-based. Vinegar, sugar and spices are added to yellow mustard, along with other ingredients like lemon juice and butter, depending on the person.  Honey or syrup is often added to thicken it slightly and add a sweeter edge.  In some parts of South Carolina, small amounts of ketchup are added, but most of the sauce recipes are strictly mustard baesd.