Memphis cuisine is the barbecue-centered regional cooking of Memphis, Tennessee, and the surrounding Mid-South, shaped by the city's history as a 19th-century hub for cotton and livestock trade and by African American and European immigrant foodways.
Its hallmark is slow-smoked pork, served as ribs, pulled pork, or sausage, seasoned with a dry rub of paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, and brown sugar, and smoked over hickory or oak. Memphis draws a line between "dry" ribs, rubbed and served sauceless with a crisp, caramelized exterior, and "wet" ribs, basted in a tangy tomato-based barbecue sauce during cooking; both styles are common on local menus.
Other Memphis specialties include fried chicken, catfish, and sweet potato pie. The city's dry rub and slow-smoking technique, along with its tangy barbecue sauce, have influenced barbecue cooking well beyond the Mid-South.