Cooking
Right now I have three open bottles of barbecue sauce in my fridge. I received each one as a sample to try. Welcome to the life of a food writer and frequent specialty food reviewer. So here's my feeling about barbecue sauce, the best barbecued meat doesn't need any sauce at all. It's smoky, spicy, tender and succulent (I'll post soon about Franklin Barbecue in Austin and you'll see what I mean). But for those of us who do not live in Texas or have a smoker, barbecue sauce is a great way to add flavor to all kinds of meat. You can cook with it or add it at the table to chicken, ribs, beef, whatever you like really.
I have three bottles so I figured why not compare them in a blind taste test? I cooked some boneless beef short ribs (flanken) very plainly. I like cross cut short ribs because they are flavorful and tasty even without any sauce and don't require a marinade. Flanken is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef, if you can find it. It isn't as tender as steak, but cut thin it is equally delicious cooked rare or well done. Really.
Each of the sauces were good, and each had a different flavor profile but for me and my other taster, my husband, there was one clear favorite.
The first bottle was 1849 bbq sauce (14oz $5). I don't know much about this brand, even how I ended up with it. But I can tell you I like it. If you're wondering why it's called 1849, according to the website, it's because in 1849, the average man ate 6 pounds of meat a day. Unlike the others, it has a strong smoky flavor, though by comparison it does seem a bit sweet. It has both molasses and brown sugar in it. If you like smoke, this is a good choice.
The second bottle was Pendleton mesquite bbq sauce (18oz $6.50). This sauce is more vinegary, so perhaps it would be better for cooking than for using at the table? It's also much thinner and seemed spicier than the others, but I think that may just be the vinegar. Or it could have been the whiskey, one of the more unusual ingredients. While it is called mesquite, and it has "natural mesquite flavor" listed as one of the ingredients, I didn't get much wood or smoke flavor.
The third bottle was SFQ (the original San Francisco-style barbecue sauce) (8oz $5). What is San Francisco-style bbq? Well the idea is that it includes some signature flavors of San Francisco, namely coffee, chocolate and in a bit of a stretch, red wine in the form of red wine vinegar. This sauce is very complex but well balanced with just a hint of heat. It was the clear favorite when compared with the others and I highly recommend you try it. I have no doubt some serious work went into getting the formula just right because no one flavor dominates, the spice and seasonings all meld together beautifully. I couldn't stop dunking my short ribs into this sauce. I'm convinced it would make just about anything taste good.
So why buy bbq sauce instead of making it? Convenience, plain and simple. It's a great to have on hand for when you have limited time or energy for making sauce from scratch. I sometimes use it to dress up sandwiches too, though having 3 bottles is probably more than anyone needs...Do you have a favorite bbq sauce? Let me know which one you prefer in the comments.
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Summer is almost over, but it's not too late to plan one more backyard barbecue. This past weekend I had some friends over for a potluck at my folks place, and the main attraction was the beef. My father recently purchased a smoker in anticipation...
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- Another New Recipe, And Alex Cooks!
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- Do You B-b-q?
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Cooking
Barbecue Sauce Reviews
Right now I have three open bottles of barbecue sauce in my fridge. I received each one as a sample to try. Welcome to the life of a food writer and frequent specialty food reviewer. So here's my feeling about barbecue sauce, the best barbecued meat doesn't need any sauce at all. It's smoky, spicy, tender and succulent (I'll post soon about Franklin Barbecue in Austin and you'll see what I mean). But for those of us who do not live in Texas or have a smoker, barbecue sauce is a great way to add flavor to all kinds of meat. You can cook with it or add it at the table to chicken, ribs, beef, whatever you like really.
I have three bottles so I figured why not compare them in a blind taste test? I cooked some boneless beef short ribs (flanken) very plainly. I like cross cut short ribs because they are flavorful and tasty even without any sauce and don't require a marinade. Flanken is a relatively inexpensive cut of beef, if you can find it. It isn't as tender as steak, but cut thin it is equally delicious cooked rare or well done. Really.
Each of the sauces were good, and each had a different flavor profile but for me and my other taster, my husband, there was one clear favorite.
The first bottle was 1849 bbq sauce (14oz $5). I don't know much about this brand, even how I ended up with it. But I can tell you I like it. If you're wondering why it's called 1849, according to the website, it's because in 1849, the average man ate 6 pounds of meat a day. Unlike the others, it has a strong smoky flavor, though by comparison it does seem a bit sweet. It has both molasses and brown sugar in it. If you like smoke, this is a good choice.
The second bottle was Pendleton mesquite bbq sauce (18oz $6.50). This sauce is more vinegary, so perhaps it would be better for cooking than for using at the table? It's also much thinner and seemed spicier than the others, but I think that may just be the vinegar. Or it could have been the whiskey, one of the more unusual ingredients. While it is called mesquite, and it has "natural mesquite flavor" listed as one of the ingredients, I didn't get much wood or smoke flavor.
The third bottle was SFQ (the original San Francisco-style barbecue sauce) (8oz $5). What is San Francisco-style bbq? Well the idea is that it includes some signature flavors of San Francisco, namely coffee, chocolate and in a bit of a stretch, red wine in the form of red wine vinegar. This sauce is very complex but well balanced with just a hint of heat. It was the clear favorite when compared with the others and I highly recommend you try it. I have no doubt some serious work went into getting the formula just right because no one flavor dominates, the spice and seasonings all meld together beautifully. I couldn't stop dunking my short ribs into this sauce. I'm convinced it would make just about anything taste good.
So why buy bbq sauce instead of making it? Convenience, plain and simple. It's a great to have on hand for when you have limited time or energy for making sauce from scratch. I sometimes use it to dress up sandwiches too, though having 3 bottles is probably more than anyone needs...Do you have a favorite bbq sauce? Let me know which one you prefer in the comments.
- Peach Barbecue Sauce Recipe
As a Canbassador, I receive a couple shipments of fresh stone fruit from Washington State to preserve. Over the past few years I have made a lot of things with peaches including Peach Ketchup and Ginger Peach Preserves. While there are some good...
- Barbecue Style Brisket
Summer is almost over, but it's not too late to plan one more backyard barbecue. This past weekend I had some friends over for a potluck at my folks place, and the main attraction was the beef. My father recently purchased a smoker in anticipation...
- Pomegranate Glaze Recipe
I have just started listening to the podcasts from Bob Appetit. They are really well done and enjoyable. I listen to them at the gym and they are so engaging that they actually take my mind off the tedium of the rowing machine! One of the first podcasts...
- Another New Recipe, And Alex Cooks!
Once again, Alex helped with dinner, preparing this lovely potato dish (quickly becoming his 'specialty') with Taleggio. He did a fantastic job; yum. And a new recipe for us: Grilled Chicken with Sweet Barbecue Mustard Sauce. Molasses, and...
- Do You B-b-q?
Once I realized there was life outside my small town, I began to notice differences. Mainly, the differences in foods, and food preferences It could be anything from the 'Pop!' 'Soda!' debate (being from the Northeastern part of PA, I...