Six-time World Barbecue Champion and Barbecue Hall of Fame inductee Tuffy Stone recently visited with The National Provisioner to discuss what makes great barbecue.
Barbecue is growing moderately in restaurants, with overall barbecue menu items growing 11 percent from the fourth quarter of 2016 to the fourth quarter of 2019, according to Chicago-based Mintel International’s Menu Insights (MMI).
It may come as little surprise to those in the meat and poultry industries, but barbecue, and everything that goes with it, is hot right now, with no signs of cooling off.
The popularity of barbecue across the country has allowed a surge in products catered toward new, experimental and often regional-based flavor profiles.
Sixty-two percent of nearly 1,600 chefs surveyed for the National Restaurant Association’s What’s Hot 2016 Culinary Forecast named barbecue a perennial favorite in 2016, making it one of the top three leading perennial favorites in restaurants.