Why Restaurants Often Serve BBQ With Pickles

Some people may ask for no pickles, but you'll find those briny bits of cucumber in all sorts of different culinary contexts. They're put on hamburgers at McDonald's; they're laid atop a Chicago dog (along with a whole bunch of other stuff in a certain order); and perhaps no trip to an old-fashioned deli is complete without a good, crunchy half-sour. With that in mind, why not pair them with barbecue? And, indeed, there's a long and proud tradition, primarily in Texas, of pitmasters doing just that.

Why pickles? Well, for much the same reason why pickles go on hamburgers. Pickles are bright and acidic, while most meat-based dishes are dense and somewhat heavy. By putting a few pickle chips on a burger, or next to some slices of brisket, you're providing a side that cuts through the richness of the meat and offers a more balanced, intriguing bite. Adding to that, pickles are generally pretty crunchy, as opposed to your average melt-in-your-mouth brisket sandwich. Maybe you think a brisket sandwich has no need for improvement, but adding some crunch certainly couldn't hurt, right? 

When you get barbecue (usually brisket) from a joint in Texas, you're going to find that it comes with three extra things: some onions, a slice of white bread, and pickles. If you're not going to eat them anyway, it's no skin off your back — they're usually free, or included in the price — but you might find yourself wondering why they're there, and when such a tradition started. Well, something important to keep in mind is that, while barbecue as a cooking method has been around for centuries, dedicated BBQ joints are a relatively recent development. In the early 20th century, barbecue was initially utilized to make use of meat that was about to expire — which is to say, it was usually sold by butchers on the side rather than by restaurateurs in their own right.

These places did not have the time or resources to make cornbread (not even with this Jiffy hack), coleslaw, baked beans, or any of the other popular barbecue sides. But they did have white bread, raw onions, and, of course, plenty of pickles. So a match made in heaven was born, and the tradition of barbecue and pickles made its way to other cuisines around the country. You'll notice Nashville hot chicken gets its own slice of white bread and pickles, too.