{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}} {{short description|American pasta dish}} {{Infobox food | name = Barbecue spaghetti | image = File:Barbecue spaghetti.jpg | image_upright=1.2 | image_alt = plate of spaghetti with red-brown sauce | caption = | alternate_name = | type = | course = | country = Memphis, Tennessee, US | region = | national_cuisine = | creator = Brady Vincent <!-- or | creators = --> | year = | mintime = | maxtime = | served = | main_ingredient = Spaghetti, barbecue sauce, pulled or smoked pork | minor_ingredient = green peppers, onions | variations = | serving_size = | calories = | calories_ref = | protein = | fat = | carbohydrate = | glycemic_index = | similar_dish = Cincinnati chili, Filipino spaghetti | cookbook = | other = }} '''Barbecue spaghetti''' is a dish from Memphis, Tennessee, that combines spaghetti with a sauce made from shredded smoked pork or pulled pork, vegetables, and barbecue sauce.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cxJ3CQAAQBAJ&q=spaghetti|title=Memphis Barbecue: A Succulent History of Smoke, Sauce & Soul|last=Meek|first=Craig David|date=June 10, 2014|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=9781625850669|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-qnAgAAQBAJ&dq=barbecue+spaghetti&pg=PA26|title=The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 7: Foodways|last=Edge|first=John T.|publisher=UNC Press Books|year=2014|isbn=9781469616520|language=en}}</ref> It is served as a side dish in some Memphis barbecue restaurants.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uha0mHZ-N8oC&dq=barbecue+spaghetti&pg=PA132|title=500 Things to Eat Before It's Too Late: And the Very Best Places to Eat Them|last1=Stern|first1=Jane|last2=Stern|first2=Michael|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2009|isbn=9780547059075|language=en}}</ref> ''Southern Living'' called the dish iconic and "perhaps the city's most unusual creation".<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.southernliving.com/bbq/barbecue-spaghetti-a-memphis-icon|title=Barbecue Spaghetti: A Memphis Icon|last=Moss|first=Robert|date=March 20, 2015|website=Southern Living|language=en|access-date=September 10, 2019}}</ref> ''HuffPost'' called it "a Memphis staple".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/should-you-try-barbecue-spagetti_n_594d491ae4b0da2c731b40e4|title=Barbecue Spaghetti, The Memphis Specialty You Need To Try|date=June 23, 2017|website=HuffPost|access-date=September 10, 2019}}</ref>
== Preparation and serving == Barbecue spaghetti can be made with pulled pork<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/memphis-barbecue-spaghetti/14099/|title=Memphis Barbecue Spaghetti|last=Lindsey|first=Deb|date=June 25, 2014|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=September 10, 2019}}</ref> or shredded smoked pork. The sauce is "half marinara and half barbecue sauce",<ref name=":3" /> sometimes with onions and peppers included, and is simmered before adding the pork; the consistency is close to that of barbecue sauce.<ref name=":2" /> The spaghetti is cooked until soft, then tossed in the hot sauce.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0nCFBAAAQBAJ&dq=barbecue+spaghetti&pg=PT20|title=Lexicon of Real American Food|last1=Stern|first1=Jane|last2=Stern|first2=Michael|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2011|isbn=9780762768301|language=en}}</ref> This dish is served as a side.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":1" />
== History == The dish was invented by former railroad cook Brady Vincent, who opened a barbecue restaurant called Brady and Lil's.<ref name=":0" /> In 1980 Frank and Hazel Vernon bought the restaurant and renamed it The Bar-B-Q Shop. Vincent also taught the recipe for barbecue spaghetti to Jim Neely, who opened Interstate Bar-B-Q in the late 1970s; Interstate modified the sauce recipe by adding the "extra back flap meat" from a rack of ribs and cooking it in a pot with peppers and onions.<ref name=":0" />
State Park restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, serves a "Memphis BBQ spaghetti" that uses pulled pork in a marinara that uses a barbecue sauce as its base.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=https://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/memphis-bbq-spaghetti-0235252|title=Memphis Barbecue Spaghetti|last1=Shapiro|first1=Steak|last2=Allen|first2=Ted|website=Food Network|access-date=September 10, 2019}}</ref>
== Similar dishes == According to John Shelton Reed, "Barbecue spaghetti is to spaghetti Bolognese as Cincinnati chili is to the Tex-Mex variety".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ck3CwAAQBAJ&dq=barbecue+spaghetti&pg=PT34|title=Barbecue: a Savor the South® cookbook|last=Reed|first=John Shelton|publisher=UNC Press Books|year=2016|isbn=9781469626710|language=en}}</ref>
Filipino spaghetti is spaghetti noodles in tomato sauce mixed with banana ketchup or other sweetener, topped with hot dogs and cheese.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/local/bayanihan/2017/04/01/sweet-and-tangy-filipino-spaghetti/99440394/|title=Sweet and tangy Filipino spaghetti|last=Lee|first=Sue|date=April 1, 2017|website=Pacific Daily News|language=en|access-date=September 21, 2019}}</ref>
== See also == {{Portal|Food|United States}} * List of foods of the Southern United States * List of pasta dishes * List of pork dishes * List of regional dishes of the United States * Culture of Memphis, Tennessee * Cincinnati chili, another example of a fusion-cuisine spaghetti dish * Filipino spaghetti, another example of a fusion-cuisine spaghetti dish * Haitian spaghetti, another example of a fusion-cuisine spaghetti dish
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
{{Pasta dishes|state=expanded}}
Category:Barbecue in the United States Category:Cuisine of the Southern United States Category:Culture of Memphis, Tennessee Category:Spaghetti dishes Category:American pork dishes Category:American pasta dishes Category:Cuisine of Tennessee