How A Plate Of 25‑cent Ribs Changed Kansas City BBQ Forever

Barbecue and Kansas City, Missouri, are as inseparable as pork ribs and sauce. The city's been dubbed the "Barbecue Capital of the World" and it even has its own barbecue museum. Like other regions in the U.S. — from St. Louis to California's Central Coast — it also has its own style. In the case of Kansas City, it all started with 25-cent pit-smoked meat sold wrapped in newspaper by the self-proclaimed "King of Barbecue" Henry Perry. He's been credited with bringing barbecue to the city. Born in Tennessee in 1875, he arrived in Kansas City in 1907 after working as a cook on a steamboat on the Mississippi River.

Perry learned his craft while still a child. By the time he arrived in Kansas City, he was ready to wow its residents with his prowess. It was the perfect spot to make a living at his chosen profession. The city was a major meat processing center with access to hard woods, Perry's preferred cooking fuel. He only used hickory and oak, since, he told The Call newspaper in 1932, "the meat gets that delicious flavor, which is the cause of the tremendous popularity of barbecued meats." He began selling from a stand in the garment district in 1908, but as his business flourished, he eventually moved to 19th Street and Highland Avenue, where Kansas Citians, both Black and white, came to eat.

Besides bringing the tradition of using hard woods to slow smoke meat, Henry Perry also used a wide range of meats. In the beginning, he cooked everything from raccoon to possum. By the 1930s, he had settled on a variety of cuts of pork and beef. His choices may have influenced Kansas City's penchant for its variety of barbecued meats, from pork ribs to beef burnt ends. Like the term barbecue, which has a rich history rooted in several languages, barbecue's history in Kansas City isn't limited to Henry Perry. Although, even after his death in 1940, he cast a long shadow over the city's culinary scene.

Perry had ties to two famous Kansas City restaurants still thriving today: Arthur Bryant's Barbecue and Gates Bar-B-Q. Perry taught brothers Charlie and Arthur Bryant, with Arthur Bryant eventually ending up with Perry's business, which he renamed after himself in 1946. Perry also trained Arthur Pinkard, who helped George and Arzelia Gates launch their restaurant the same year. While Perry may have introduced KC's cooking method of choice, it was Arthur Bryant who helped develop the city's classic sauce style. Perry used a thin, vinegar-forward sauce heavily spiced with cayenne, but Bryant tamped down the spice, made it sweeter, and later added a tomato-base, a style that still prevails. Still, without the King of Barbecue, it's unlikely that Kansas City would be the Barbecue Capital of the World.