Favorite, and least favorite sauces?

It's funny that you bring this up. I remember a competitor named Mike Scrutchfield who used a mixture of 4 parts of KC Masterpiece to one part honey and he used to do an awful lot of winning competitively back in his day. In fact, over on Ray Basso's forum, there is a recipe for the Best Ribs in the Universe (BRITU) that has been around quite a long time. And that is Mike's recipe that he used for his competition ribs.

I've made some killer sauces(as in good) from Paul Kirk's book and a couple out of Jack Daniel's using their whiskey. If you're looking for easy to get and ready made where you can add a couple items, we've had success with Bulls Eye and Cattlemen's. Cattlemen's is a steakhouse located in northern California, but we can buy a gallon jug from Sam's Club. Since Sam's carries it, they might have it in your neck of the woods.

Nah, bulls Eye, Cattleman's, Kraft, they're all the same ---- bad.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
I've made some killer sauces(as in good) from Paul Kirk's book and a couple out of Jack Daniel's using their whiskey. If you're looking for easy to get and ready made where you can add a couple items, we've had success with Bulls Eye and Cattlemen's. Cattlemen's is a steakhouse located in northern California, but we can buy a gallon jug from Sam's Club. Since Sam's carries it, they might have it in your neck of the woods.

I like Bulleyes too. I had some in my hand but decided to try the KC since I'd never had it before. Don't recall trying Cattleman's, but they do carry it at Sam's here.

Just thinking we could do a list of commercially available sauces that would be good to try.

Most of the sauces I use I make myself except for tomato based sauces where I usually modify a commercial sauce.

Now Smokin',you know how many vendors mix Cattleman's with either cheap mustard from Sam's,or the cheap pancake syrup,depending on where they are working.

It must be good-or maybe the price is right?

Least Favorite so far:

Any brand that list "high fructose corn syrup" as the first ingredient

Kraft - yep unremarkable in every way.

KC Masterpiece - I like the underlying flavor, have mixed it with some spicier stuff, but yes way too sweet by itself - don't care for straight

Sweet Baby Rays (Reg) - even sweeter (I don't mind the spicy version)

SBR Vidalia - wife brought it home - might be good on something - dunno - not a favorite

Jack Daniels Brand - not my favorite - 'flavor' seemed a little synthetic - unnatural

About 8-10 that I've made from online recipes starting out(not this site lol) - I'm slowly starting to understand ingredients/proportions that I like together. The first 'carolina' sauce I made(to recipe) was so strong with vinegar, we had to leave the house for a while.

Favorites: (that I recall)

CS Spicy (ribs) - this is a well balanced sauce - love it (haven't tried mild)

Sweet Baby Rays Spicy(ribs): Not bad for walmart shelf brand

Local BBQ house(pig pickens): I am still tweaking a lexington style sauce for pulled pork. I have a local joint that sells me their sauce cheap (cause it is) and it is better than what I make. I am getting real close to what they are doing but am off a tsp or magic ingredient somewhere.

When I find a sauce(NC Style)that I like at the BBQ joints around I get a quart to go and try and work on 'figuring' it out Most are real simple I'm sure but it's fun for this rookie to try.

I thought the subject of this thread is "what store bought sauce would you buy and tweak?" Cookshack and some other BBQ sauce sites wouldn't be store bought. I know I would be very interested in what the smoking traditionalists would recommend. Traditionalist must like sauce. Or maybe what you're saying is there is not good store bought sauce.

I like redoakNC's response. Don't have to agree with him on everything, but good information and input. Maybe with input from others, we can achieve what Todd was looking for? A decent, easy way to get a fairly good sauce when there's no time, money, or inclination to make your own or buy online. You know, for that emergency barbecue that might spring up from time to time.

Just something to ponder,is that saucing your entry, in some Texas sanctioning bodies ,disqualifies your entry.

Maybe,as we keep stressing here,if you learn to cook the meat,folks won't need ketchup to hide the poor quality ,of the cooking?

Just a thought.

I like the idea of the sauce on the side, give you the option of sauce or not. Great thread BTW, so many things to try.

I've got tri tip foiled, toweled and coolered for dinner tonight. No sauce, just rub. Garlic and Cookshack Chicken Rub.

Scores of people like sauce cause that's how they were weaned. A sauce side for those that like it isn't bad, is it? I can see where the judges wouldn't like the sauce cause it would hide the product. Does that mean we shouldn't ever include it?

I like Sweet Baby Rays for ribs. Right amount of bite for me.

But.....

I always serve it on the side and heated up. Also, I usually eat my dinner with sliced bread. Instead of butter on the bread, I fold a slice in half, dip it in the sauce, take a bite and get the sauce flavor in my mouth, then a bite of meat. If I put it directly on the meat, it is just a whisper. Sauce is like salt; just a dash to excite the flavor of the meat, not to disguise the meat. The meat should hold it's own without sauce.

The Tri Tip was great without the sauce. Maybe 10 years ago, I started liking the dry rubs better than the sauces and have been doing much more of it than the latter. Especially with the new smoker.

I think Skipro's got the idea, just a little when used. My thinking is keep some on the side and let people try both ways to compare. A number of my sauce friends have made the switch to rubs, and I'd like to think I had something to do with that. But trying the sauce once in awhile is nice.

Guys, I've tried a bunch of them. The two favorite bottled sauces are: Wife--Ole Ray's Apple/Cinnamon-She loves it on pork butt sandwiches; Me--Head Country Hickory BBQ Sauce. Only time I use a bottle sauce is on cold brisket sandwiches, otherwise, I mixed it from a recipe.

OD

Redoak:
Ever tried Wells "Hog Heaven" BBQ sauce made over in Burgaw, NC? You can buy it through Carolina Sauce BBq store on line. It's Eastern all the way(no tomato). Love it on that pork shoulder chopped.

OD Drummer

BEST sauce? My family loves Smoky Mountain Smokers. Great right out of the bottle, or for a piggy back.
www.smokymountainsmokers.com

If you lived in south florida, you would rememeber "Blue Front" BBQ sauce. A mustard vinegar based sauce. Great balance and a must have for for a butt sandwich. The sauce came by way of a BBQ resturant in Riveria beach by the same name. The restaurant is long gone and I don't know if the sauce is still around.
It was a favorite.

quote:

Originally posted by OakHillSmoke:
If you lived in south florida, you would rememeber "Blue Front" BBQ sauce. A mustard vinegar based sauce. Great balance and a must have for for a butt sandwich. The sauce came by way of a BBQ resturant in Riveria beach by the same name. The restaurant is long gone and I don't know if the sauce is still around.
It was a favorite.

Blue Front is, hands down, my favorite commercial BBQ sauce. Really good with pork. One of those sauces that makes you wonder why you're wasting your time trying to make your own.

I'm pretty sure you can still buy the sauce. You're in FL, so check your local Publix. I found it at one of their stores in Sarasota about 6 months ago. I believe Winn Dixie also carries it.

Blue Front BBQ sauce can be purchased at the web address below. I hope it is like you remember it.

http://www.southernpridegourmetfoods.com/sauces.php

If I ain't making a sauce I have three bought sauces that I will actually use and one that I'll use as a baste.

Pee Dee River Swamp Sauce, Sa-Mokin Sauce and George's famouse sauce in the "hot" variety.

The baste is Scotts vinegar sauce.

I agree that Kraft and Cattlemans are both pretty bad. I usually try to make my own vinegar basting and tomato finishing sauces but have found that CS spicy is good and also Sticky Fingers Memphis is ok on ribs.

Boy. What a great thread. A lot of interesting sounding sauces on this post. Would be helpful if we included where we might be able to purchase some of them so we can begin the experimentation process.

Well now,I'm certainly not a hater of bbq sauce,as I eat it on well done french fries,and dip my Texas Toast in it.

Don't believe those rumors,that I eat bbq sauce on my morning oatmeal,as a health food.

A vicious rumor,started by my teammates.

We all know that the public loves it,because they have been eating boiled/braised/overcooked/burnt meat of any kind and it requires sauce to stomach it.

I'll throw out a comment to put in your notebooks,because I know you all follow Smokin's outstandin' advice to keep a good one.

In the comp world,high end catering,etc where your living depends on your quality,you learn to seek out a product that compliments your WELL PREPARED smoked meat.

In the last couple of decades,Cookshack Mild has arguably been used by more major comps winners,by GOOD cooks,than all the others combined.

Here is my promise,if you stay in the bbq field for five more years,attempt to always improve,and find one of these, that we all toss out on such forums,that helps you honestly produce a better product than Cookshack MILD,I'll buy you a case[plus a bunch of us will try it]

Dang Tom. I knew you had to have sauce once in awhile. Just not on your meat.

Well, the thread has advanced from "store bought", and I agree Cookshack MILD is very good. I was in WinCo today, saw Sweet Baby Ray's so I bought a small bottle just to try. Figure I need to taste some of this stuff to know what people are talking about.

Next week, when I'm online I'll order some Cookshack and probably one of the other internet recommendations.

This is fun.

I've been using CS Spicy as both a baste and sometimes as a BBQ sauce on the side. I'm not all that hep on real spicy stuff but I don't find the CS Spicy to really be spicy at all. Can't imagine what the mild would be like but I don't think I would like it better. Guess I'd better try a bottle sometime but with 3 gallons of the Spicy here, I think I've made my choice.

I guess ,over the years,I've bought-or been given,over 100 different sauces,and Smokin' probably has more.

We trade around some,try to figure what product we might use it on,see how it works with two or three different rubs,discuss with cooks.

It often turns out,kinda like chili cooks.

You start out with a decent product,and then keeping adding and changing,sometimes multiple changes at once.

Then,figure out,you can no longer remember how to make the decent batch of chili.

Lots of times you try to give it away,to save yourself.

The other approach is next time you have a large gathering,set them all out and hope folks eat them on something.

Some good cooks will suggest that rather than going for the "homerun" taste,you seek what offends the least.

Thus,you have your old "go to" sauce.

Then you quit worrying about it and get back to cooking the meat.

I sure don't know the solution,but it is something to ponder.

Like QNorth says,serve what the family likes.

Well. With my Q you won't WANT any sauce...

It's an interesting thread to read. Probably is a lot of the sauces above are regional or local.

Me, I just try a lot. Tom, you're not even close. At time I've had 100's of sauces, many not even opened. Seemed when I ran a sauce contest the organizers wanted to send me some to try.

And it's REALLY tough, in this economy to shell out good money for bad sauce.

You'll almost have to go by category, sweet, spicy, sweet/spicy, mustard, E. Carolina, Texas, whatever....

Then of course, we could start a thread, what's your favorite Sauce Recipe and people could make their own...

Thumper recommends Stubbs spicy, Subbs regular for the grand children.

Thumper

I serve "Bone Suckin' Sauce Thicker Style on the side.

El

quote:

Originally posted by El:
I serve "Bone Suckin' Sauce Thicker Style on the side.

El

They do have some good sauces and they're made practically in my backyard. I buy produce from their main company, Ford's Produce. But at $28 a gallon wholesale, I can't afford to indulge too often. I also think CS mild is pretty similar to BS regular thick.

I prefer the Cookshack Spicey.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd G.:
...But at $28 a gallon wholesale, I can't afford to indulge too often.

That's wholesale, their website, for most of the users here it's 21.99 a half gallon OR $43.98 a GALLON. Are they serious? I'd never recommend that sauce to anyone if they charge like that. Sorry, but that's a rip off and for purposes of this list, put it on my list of sauces not to recommend. But most sauce prices are just sprialing up and up.

Right on Smokin'. That seems way out of line. If my guests demand sauce, then I prefer Cookshack Mild or Head Country Original, served to them on the side!!

I used Thomas Sauce in my last restaurant for several years, but it was just too expensive even though the maker was a friend of mine. That's when I started making my own sauce. I got to the point where I couldn't tell them apart, and mine was about $5 per gallon.

Thomas Sauce

So far (as a CS novice), I tolerate "bottled sauce" only on ribs. Always looking for something new to try - thx for the tips.

Has anyone tried "CS Spicy BBQ Sauce Dry Mix" along with the supplied recipe for recreating CS spicy BBQ sauce?

Yep,it is ideal,to be shipped overseas to Cookshack restaurants,vendors,etc.

That way they aren't paying to ship water around the world.

Same principle as Coke,Pepsi,etc.

Donna's family developed it,and it tastes like the regular bottled.

They also make a dry chili mix,that is superior, for a Southwest regional product, to many of the local chilis made/ sold around the country.

After checking the recipe for converting CS Spicy BBQ Sauce Dry Mix to barbecue sauce, a 5 lb container will last forever. For residential at least. You can make two quarts of sauce with just 2 tablespoons of dry mix.

Seems like the way to go. You can make the spicey barbecue sauce per the recipe or be creative and make some variation. Lots of flexibility.

quote:

Originally posted by Pags:
After checking the recipe for converting CS Spicy BBQ Sauce Dry Mix to barbecue sauce, a 5 lb container will last forever...

Yep - I'd like to try also but that is the catch. Same with the brisket rub.

Oddly enough (not including shipping charges) the case of 10.5oz jars is cheaper per oz/lb than the 5# jug. Maybe.. get a case and put the extra 10 jars you'll never use on ebay. lol

If you intend o cook many briskets,the 5 lb jug will vac pack,or freeze well.

If you are using 10 oz of rub,on a large packer,that is about eight briskets.

Depending on your shipping deal,that is less than $3/bottle.

Works out to around $7-$8 a piece in the retail stores.

Gives ya an excuse to practice your cooking.

quote:

Originally posted by redoakNC:
So far (as a CS novice), I tolerate "bottled sauce" only on ribs. Always looking for something new to try - thx for the tips.

Has anyone tried "CS Spicy BBQ Sauce Dry Mix" along with the supplied recipe for recreating CS spicy BBQ sauce?

Actually, it's my most used sauce, including anything in a bottle. It's good on anything, as a sauce, baste or finishing glaze. Put some pepper jelly in it, if you want a bite. Easy to mix and will keep in fridge for months and months. Cookshack sold me one trial shaker and it's lasted me over 8 months.

Art