FAQ

Smoked meat. Literally, that’s it. We spell it “barbeque,” but you can spell it “barbecue,” “bar-b-q,” “BBQ,” whatever—as long as it’s smoked for a long time at a low temperature over indirect heat, it counts. Marvelous barbeque is smoked on-site a smoker stocked with a variety of hard woods.

We serve St. Louis–cut pork ribs. You may hear us refer to them as “bite off the bone,” rather than “fall off the bone.” Fact of the matter is, barbeque competition standards say you should be able to bite a rib, pull away the meat with your teeth with a gentle lil’ tug, and see a bite mark from where you took that bite. (Hard to visualize? Honestly, the easiest way to picture it is to go to City Barbeque, buy a slab, and test it for yourself). If ribs are falling off the bone, they’re overcooked.

Barbeque is personal and folks have feelings about sauce, so our beef brisket, pulled pork, smoked turkey, and smoked sausage are served without it. Sauce things up at our sauce station or leave your BBQ bare, it’s up to you! Our pulled chicken is served with a white ‘Bama barbeque sauce mixed in; our smoked chicken and St. Louis–cut ribs are both brushed with a touch of our Original sauce.

Not at all: every meat we serve is fully cooked. That pink color is called a “smoke ring,” and it’s an indicator of how slowly a piece of meat is cooked in a smoker (technically the pink comes from a reaction between the myoglobin in the meat and the nitric oxide in the smoke). Long story short, that smoke ring is a good sign that the barbeque you’re about to enjoy was cooked low and slow.

No way. Trust us, we smoke those chickens for a looooooong time—that pink color is actually an indicator of how slowly they cook in our smokers. Just like a smoke ring in a brisket, pork shoulder, or turkey breast, that pink color comes from a reaction between the myoglobin in the meat and the nitric oxide in the smoke. And, just like all the smoked meats we serve, our chickens are fully cooked, well done, and super tender.

Nope: it might look burnt, but to a lot of folks, bark is actually the best part of BBQ. It’s an incredible, mouthwatering crust that forms when spice rub and hickory smoke hang out on a piece of meat, under low heat, for a long period of time. If you smoke at too low a temperature, you won’t get any bark; smoke too high and you’ll char any chance you had of forming one. It takes patience, the perfect temperature, and—let’s be real—a killer rub recipe to achieve that perfect, chewy crust.