Is Henry Perry the undisputed founder of Kansas City-style barbeque? Forget Rich Davis and that KC Masterpiece sham sauce, Perry was an innovator who grew up near Memphis and took the Memphis tomato-based sauce to KC and spiced it up a bit in his 19th and Highland restaurant that used to be a trolley barn. But wasn't the subsequent sweetening of Perry's spicy sauce the groundbreaking moment when the KC-style was born? Upon Perry's death in 1940, one of Perry's employees, Charlie Bryant, took over the restaurant. Charlie's brother Arthur then inherited the business, changed the name to Arthur Bryant's and sweetened the sauce with molasses so it would be more tolerable on bread.
ARTHUR BRYANT
George Gates, another former cook of Perry's, opened up his own restaurant in the 18th and Vine neighborhood and added more molasses to the sauce to make it even sweeter than Bryant's. Thus a new movement in barbeque got rolling and nowadays we have a variety of Kansas City-style sauces, including Davis's infamous KC Masterpiece, which is now owned by the food division of Clorox. There certainly have been many innovators since Bryant and Gates sweetened Perry's original sauce, such as Jack Fiorella's unique take on hickory beans and the pungent aroma and taste of Oklahoma Joe's Night of the Living Dead BBQ sauce. But my question here is when was KC-style born? I would have to say it was when Arthur Bryant added molasses to Perry's spicy, tomato-based sauce.
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