By Melissa Cookston
BBQ has been really good to me. It has allowed me to have a great restaurant — Memphis BBQ Company — and a big BBQ and grilling retail store, The BBQ Allstars. It’s also taken me around the world.
Whenever I travel, I dive into the local food scene through food tours. They’re one of my favorite ways to experience a country’s culture through its flavors, traditions and ingredients, and the food is usually delicious. I love learning about how local flavors evolve through the culture. I’ve brought many of those unique global ingredients to my own kitchen — and you’ll find plenty of them featured in my upcoming cookbook, set to release in April 2026.
Every culture has a history of cooking with fire. That’s why BBQ can be so multifaceted and reflect so many world flavors.
Across the globe, different cultures have developed certain tendencies to flavor their food, often born out of necessity and preserved for a sense of familiarity with cuisine.
Gochujang, a Korean fermented chili paste, is an umami-filled, smoky and spicy condiment used in many dishes. It also blends seamlessly with your favorite BBQ sauce to fill that “what’s missing” component in the flavor profile and add some spice. From Japan, I love using soy sauce as a major umami component in sauces and glazes.
From Italy, I use Calabrian chilis in many dishes and Italian salsa verde as an accompaniment. Sometimes, I’ll add pecorino or Parmigiano-Reggiano to my white beans or collard greens. At Memphis BBQ Company, we serve BBQ spaghetti — a version of spaghetti with a mashup of zesty tomato and BBQ sauce that creates a unique flavor.
From Mexico, I’m drawn to the earthy, smoky notes of dried ancho and guajillo peppers. Of course, chipotle peppers bring a sultry signal fire to your palate when added to BBQ sauces.
Here’s the bottom line: If you love an ingredient’s flavors, it’s likely to elevate the flavors in your BBQ. Don’t be afraid to experiment. You never know what you’ll fall in love with next.
Go back to Pit Stop.
Melissa Cookston is a 7-time world barbecue champion, owner of Memphis BBQ Company in Horn Lake, Mississippi; an author of two cookbooks, Smokin in the Boy’s Room and Smokin’ Hot in the South, and a celebrated southern Delta chef who is sponsored by Prairie Fresh.