page_title: Pit barbecue
section_title: Southern-style pit barbecue
hierarchical_section_title: Pit barbecue / Southern-style pit barbecue
caption_attribution_description: Pork ribs at the start of slow cooking in an above-ground barbecue "pit" at Leonard's Pit Barbecue - Memphis, Tennessee, USA
context_page_description: Pit barbecue is a method and/or apparatus for barbecue cooking meat and root vegetables buried below ground. Indigenous peoples around the world used earth ovens for thousands of years. In modern times the term and activity is often associated with the Eastern Seaboard, the "barbecue belt", colonial California in the United States and Mexico. The meats usually barbecued in a pit in these contexts are beef, pork, and goat.
context_section_description: Across the  "barbecue belt"  of the United States, pit barbecue can also refer to an enclosed, above-ground "pit" such as a horno or outdoor pizza oven. The method of cooking the meat is slowly, using various hardwoods to flavor the meat. This breaks down the connective tissue in the meats, producing a tender product. The types of meat cooked in this fashion include both beef and pork.
caption: Pork ribs in a barbecue "pit", Memphis, Tennessee, USA
exif: {}