Nashville: Your Destination for Tennessee BBQ
While Memphis has long been known as the king of Tennessee barbeque, the bustling city of Nashville has brought some serious heat!
In 2022, Memphis was dethroned by Southern Living magazine, as they crowned Nashville BBQ joint Peg Leg Porker as number one in the state.
Talk about saucy competition!
Travelers to Music City and long-time locals alike can’t deny the fiery flavors, perfect smoking techniques, and succulent sandwiches that are served out of the city’s endless BBQ restaurants.
Since we’re all about honest to goodness ingredients here at Nature’s Garden, honesty is our policy. Credit is given where credit is due, and it’s the city of Memphis and barbeque styles of Western Tennessee that have inspired the BBQ culinary sensation sweeping the Northern city of Nashville.
Western Tennessee-style barbeque tastes like dry-rubbed ribs, tender pulled pork, and juicy smoked chicken – typically served with indulgent sides such as smoked green beans and creamy shells and cheese.
Are you drooling yet? Because we are!
A Brief History On Barbeque
To create one of the most celebrated dishes in America, it’s taken hundreds of years and the marriage of three different food traditions – Southeastern Indian, West African, and West European.
To truly understand the history of Nashville BBQ, we have to turn back the clock a few centuries, all the way to the 1500s. During the European exploration of the Americas in the 1500s, they watched in awe as Southeastern Indians cooked their meat on slotted wooden platforms high above a fiery heat source. The etymology of the word barbeque is first recorded from the Carribean Indian tribe. They called the wooden platform cooking device a “barbacoa”.
Then in 1539, Europeans introduced pigs to North America. With their long traditions of roasting pigs over a spit fire, pork then became the dominant choice for these new settlers to cook using their new system.
The Atlantic slave trade took millions of Africans from their homelands, forcing them into labor all across America. Accustomed to savory cuisine in Africa that praised spicy, hot, and tart flavors, the Africians strived to produce these flavors in America. The Africians also brought their tradition of cooking meat with indirect heat on top of pits filled with hot coals to America.
The American BBQ we know and love today is truly a marriage of international flavors, cooking techniques, and a shared love for meat, sauce, and finger-licking goodness.
Saucy and Short Story of BBQ Sauce
Speaking of sauce… that savory and sweet brown BBQ sauce we’ve grown to love hasn’t always been in the picture. In fact, tomato-based sauces emerged at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Dominican missionaries reported visiting the French West Indies and saw cooks using lime juice and hot peppers to season barbecued meat. This sauce was likely rooted in African culture where cooks traditionally used both lemon and lime juice.
Vinegar-based sauces dominated the 1800s, as vinegar was readily available in the South, more so than limes and lemons.
Then came the uniquely sweet Memphis-style barbeque sauce. As a port city along the Mississippi River, folks in Memphis could easily ship in goods, including molasses – the key ingredient in today’s beloved BBQ sauces found across the country.
Go Nashville Nuts Anywhere, Anytime
Today, Nashville BBQ is commonly associated with blends of spice, sweetness, and smokiness. Our R&D team searched diligently, sourcing the freshest spices and highest quality nuts to bring the iconic taste of Nashville BBQ to our savvy snackers.
And now, you can dive into the famous flavor of Music City’s culinary scene anytime, anywhere. Fire up the smoker! We’ve thrown starter fuel on the fire with our Nashville BBQ Almonds.
GET OUR NASHVILLE BBQ ALMONDS NOW
Made our dry-rub seasoning has a rich, smoky taste that’ll have you moving, grooving, and doing the boot scootin’ boogie. This signature blend of smoked paprika, garlic, oregano, cayenne, and black pepper seasoning, generously coating our crunchy almonds makes for an unforgettable treat that’s healthy yet totally indulgent.
Almonds are one of the healthiest, highest-protein nuts you can snack – also loaded with fiber, which is essential to maintain regularity and healthy digestion. The healthy fats in almonds combined with their high protein content means staying fuller for longer, and keeping your blood sugar levels regulated.
Get your hands on a bag today and celebrate the history and flavor of the South. Be sure to try our other new flavors of artisanal nuts including S’Mores, Apple Cinnamon, and Baja Taco.
Thank you to our friends at Smithsonian Magazine, the Tennessee State Museum, and the Memphis Flyer for information provided in this article.