Yuengling Brewery has three BBQ sauces that are easy to find in suburban DC. Whenever I am in a hurry and don’t want to make my own or make a stop at a specialty store, I get the Yuengling Lager BBQ, there are two others which I haven’t tried Porter and Black & Tan. It’s not so great that I would order it on line, but if you see it in a store go for it.
Fair enough! ![[cheers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/0ff9bfcdb0964982cd3240b6159868fbdf215b1a.gif "cheers"){kind=small}
Justin, I’ll keep my eyes open.
I don’t love Stubbs BBQ sauce all that well. Their beef marinade is useful in a pinch though. Rufus Teague is my current store-bough BBQ sauce.
In terms of hot sauces, I find tapatio and Cholula very similar and serviceable, if not exciting. I have some Dave’s Ghost Pepper when I want some serious heat and don’t care about flavor. Prefer Sambal to Sriracha, but use both. Tabasco has it’s place.
There is a local place that has a some good flavor call “bonache”. I’ve only had the habanero and the Socorro- but both are very good- the Socorro is particularly good on pizza and wings- I need to try the Piri as I have been looking for a good Piri based sauce since a trip to Portugal.
Maybe it depends on your taste for smoke? I don’t care for a lot of smoke flavor in my BBQ sauce, so that’s one reason I have gravitated to Stubbs. Original to be clear, there are lots of them.
Having said that, we ate at a place in Reno that makes it’s own sauce, which is as good as any I’ve had. Looking forward to going back there, maybe try to pry some sort of recipe out of them, since they don’t sell it.
Hot sauce: Boulder Hot Sauce, habanero & serrano
Store-bought BBQ sauces: I look for what’s on sale then look at the ingredients list. I shouldn’t admit this in public but currently in the fridge is Guy Fieri Kansas City BBQ sauce.
I keep liquid smoke in the house to make my own as everything else is pretty std: onion, garlic, ketchup, vinegar…
I highly recommend this sauce as it has that rare combo of great heat and flavor.
http://captainthoms.com/detail.php?cart=u2uyC4r53xeZy289K51W493Hj5UHrAUe&ID=304&cat=hots
Curtis - thanks for the recommendation on this. I grabbed a bottle this weekend and agree that it punches well above expectations.
Best sauce by far I’ve ever had was a green chili sauce that my friend brought back from Mauritius. But be careful…
Something like this but a different brand.
OK, I have tried about 6 so far and tonight’s trial has prompted me to pledge to give at least rudimentary thoughts on each. That will come later. The one warning I am prompted to give is with respect to the one BBQ type sauce I bought in that order, the Fighting Cock Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Sauce, as, in my opinion, it ruined the most beautiful, thick baby back ribs I have ever had the responsibility of slow cooking (225 dgrees for 3 1/2 hours before high heat to finish). The cooking was optimal. The sauce was nasty. I don’t think I’ve ever had that much of a negative reaction to a suace - sort of salty, sort of…just nasty. Ugh.
On a brighter note, love the Walkerswood Scotch Bonnet Hot Sauce. Really livens things (not ribs) up but not overdone.
Walkerswood is tops. It is the real deal. I’ve been there with the cinderblock DJ/carwash across the road. My former business partner’s mom is the Super Chicken queen from Kingston. Totally legit and way better than the Busha Browns which is too sugary-sweet.
I’ve read this three times now and I have no idea what this means! ![[basic-smile.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/83717c74df9b0ce202453063bc4f11baf0ee6b8a.gif "smile"){kind=small}
Tried the Melinda’s Fire Roasted Habanero & Garlic Hot Sauce this morning on my eggs. Not a fan. YMMV, but the roasted character does nothing for me. Much prefer the flavor of the Trader Joe’s Habanero, though the TJ’s is much hotter.
Drew,
I should be more informative with my blather.
Walkerswood is a place in the woods of Northern Jamaica. The jerk is made there and there are 2 restaurants. The reference is that the sauce and jerk is as legit and authentic as it gets. There is/was a jeep/truck combo carwash/DJ booth that blasted music across the street from one of the restaurants. The restaurant was mostly cinderblocks/open air with a jerk pit and 20 different men running around telling how it should be made over the pimento wood. It is by far the best jerk sauce and hot sauce leaving get island.
Super Chicken is like the KFC of Jamaica. My former business partner grew up in Kingston and took me to all the authentic spots onto island including one of my favorite spots, Strawberry Hill. Owned by Island Records mogul with mean entertaining stories about bands like U2 and their high jinks.
Really you should try the Mauritian piment with chiles native to the Indian Ocean region ground up with local fruits (mostly mango and lime). Amazing but so parking hot as to only use tiny bits.
Pickapeppa!
Evan, that makes more sense. Before that, I was looking around for Barbara Billingsly… Jive Speak Aeroplane! - YouTube
Just finished off a bottle of a new BBQ sauce I bought recently. Made by a SF Bay Area purveyor called welovejam (welovejam.com). Stuff was good! Not smoky, some good spice, hints of sweetness, maybe a touch of citrus tang. I finished up the bottle as I was saucing some ribs, and had to open a standby Stubbs Original, which tasted sweet and simple next to the welovejam BBQ sauce. For locals in the area, a lot of Whole Foods carry it. I just found it in my local WF, and bought them out. Not cheap at $7/16oz, but really good. This is my new house BBQ sauce.
Here is a pretty good site for all things BBQ. Good to get off the super market staples.
Agree with the post above about ‘Night of the Living Sauce.’ Anything Cowtown or Kansas City Joe’s is amazing
Alright, after many many many hot sauces, I have finally settled on my four favorites, so I figured I would report in. Each is highly recommended in my book:
Baron West Indian Hot sauce
Lao Gan Ma Black Bean Chilli Sauce
Yellowbird’s Habanero and Serrano Hot Sauces - (avoid the jalapino, imo…not good)
Malinda’s are all great but I especially like the Ghost Pepper sauce and ketchup.
Tapatio is a great one when Cholula is not in sight.
Cholula is always good, I but in abundance.
For anyone who has spent time in Rochester, NY here is an old favorite. A spicy/sweet/fruity sauce to be served over fried chicken with white bread and macaroni salad. You can vary the amount of red peppers depending on how hot you like it.
Sal’s Birdland is a fried chicken place known for their sauce. A long time rival of Smitty’s.
Sal’s Original Hot Sauce
3 cups cider vinegar
1 cup water
2 cups (French’s) yellow mustard (about two small jars)
1 1/2 cups honey
1/2 cup Frank’s Louisiana Hot Sauce
2 navel oranges, cut up
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 Tbs Coleman’s dry mustard
1 oz black pepper (optional)
1 Tbs salt
1 oz crushed red pepper
3 Tbs cornstarch
- Add everything but cornstarch in large pot and simmer without boiling for two hours (another recipe I’ve found says 3-4 hours).
- Mix some sauce from the pot with the cornstarch until smooth, then stir back into pot.
- Remove oranges.
This makes about 4-5 pints of sauce.
Dinosaur Barbecue makes a good regular sauce and a Habanero sauce. Both excellent.