Best Barbecue Dish

Thick-cut beef plate or short ribs nicknamed dino ribs for their size, smoked for 8–10 hours and widely popularized by Texas barbecue restaurants during the 2010s.

Slow-smoked whole pork shoulder pulled into strands and dressed with vinegar-based sauce, a tradition spanning North and South Carolina with distinct regional variations.

Caramelized cubes of point-cut beef brisket, popularized in Kansas City, Missouri, originally served as free scraps at Arthur Bryant's barbecue restaurant.

Whole beef brisket slow-smoked over post oak for 12–18 hours, the defining dish of Central Texas barbecue and a staple of legendary 20th-century pit houses.

Pork ribs coated in a dry spice rub and smoked without sauce, a Memphis, Tennessee specialty that prizes the meat's natural flavor over sweet glazes.

Picanha is a Brazilian cut from the top of the rump cap with a thick fat layer, the centerpiece of churrasco cooking and grilled on curved skewers at rodízio steakhouses across Brazil.

Bulgogi is a Korean dish of thinly sliced, marinated beef grilled over flame or a tabletop burner, with roots traceable to the Goguryeo era and now one of Korea's most recognized exports.

Lechon is a whole spit-roasted pig central to Filipino celebrations, recognized as the national dish and notable for its crispy skin achieved through hours of slow rotation over live coals.

Yakitori are Japanese skewered chicken pieces grilled over binchotan charcoal and seasoned with tare sauce or salt, a street food and izakaya staple with centuries of culinary history in Japan.

Tandoori Chicken is an Indian dish of yogurt-and-spice-marinated chicken cooked at high heat in a clay tandoor oven, popularized in Delhi by Kundan Lal Gujral at his Moti Mahal restaurant around 1947.

Bone-in pork shoulder slow-smoked for 8–14 hours until tender enough to pull apart, a foundational cut in Southern United States barbecue traditions.

Satay consists of seasoned, skewered meat grilled over charcoal and served with peanut sauce, recognized across Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand and granted UNESCO cultural heritage status in 2021.

Bun Cha is a Hanoi specialty of grilled pork patties and sliced pork belly served in a sweetened fish sauce broth with rice vermicelli, distinct from southern Vietnamese grilled pork dishes.

Siu Yuk is Cantonese crispy roast pork prepared by air-drying the skin and roasting at high heat to produce crackling, a technique refined in Guangdong province and central to Hong Kong cuisine.

Asado de Tira are Argentine cross-cut short ribs sliced thin across the bones, a defining element of the Argentine asado cooked low and slow over wood coals.

Shawarma is a Levantine street food of thinly shaved meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie, with origins in the Ottoman Empire's döner kebab tradition and now ubiquitous across the Middle East and globally.

Döner Kebab is a Turkish dish of seasoned meat stacked on a vertical rotating spit and shaved as it cooks, introduced to Germany in the early 1970s and now one of Europe's most consumed fast foods.

Ojo de Bife is the Argentine name for ribeye steak, considered the prestige cut of the asado for its heavy intramuscular fat and deep flavor when grilled over wood embers.

Beef navel or brisket cured with a spice rub then smoked, a preparation with Romanian Jewish origins that became a staple of New York delicatessens in the 19th century.

Cantonese Roast Duck is whole duck lacquered with a maltose-based glaze and roasted on hooks to achieve glossy skin and moist meat, a cornerstone of Cantonese siu mei roast-meat tradition.

Chicken Tikka is an Indian dish of boneless chicken marinated in spiced yogurt and grilled in a tandoor, originating in the Punjab region and serving as the base for the internationally popular Chicken Tikka Masala.

Adana Kebab is a Turkish hand-minced spiced lamb kebab named after the city of Adana in southern Turkey, distinguished by its use of tail fat and red pepper and traditionally shaped on wide flat skewers.

Babi Guling is a Balinese spit-roasted suckling pig stuffed with a spice paste of turmeric, lemongrass, and galangal, central to Balinese Hindu ceremonial feasts and increasingly popular as street food.

Pork ribs basted with a tomato-based barbecue sauce during and after smoking, representing the sauced counterpart to Memphis's signature dry-rub style.

Pork spare ribs trimmed to a uniform rectangular rack by removing the sternum, cartilage, and flap meat, a cut widely used in competition barbecue and St. Louis, Missouri restaurants.

Gai Yang is Thai grilled chicken marinated in lemongrass, garlic, fish sauce, and coriander root, originating in northeastern Isan cuisine and now a national street-food staple served with sticky rice.

Entraña is the Argentine skirt steak, one of the most flavorful and fastest-cooking cuts in the asado, popularized internationally largely through Argentine grilling culture.

Hawaiian kalua pork is whole pig slow-roasted in an underground imu pit with hot lava rocks and ti leaves, a centerpiece of traditional Hawaiian luau feasts.

The pulled pork sandwich is a Southern U.S. staple of slow-smoked, hand-shredded pork shoulder piled on a bun, with distinct regional styles in the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Memphis.