BBQ Sauce Reviews

For this week’s review I was sent the Ro-Man Pork Puller from Rob Mandeville, owner of the Ro-Man Pork Puller Co.

The Ro-Man Pork Puller is made of solid stainless steel. It’s around 14 inches long and the disc is 5 inches wide with 6 welded 2 inch long spikes.

The shaft of the Ro-Man Pork Puller fits into a standard power drill. Once attached to your power drill it can pull a pork butt in as little as 6 seconds. 

Below is a demo video of the Ro-Man Pork Puller in action:

Final Thoughts

I am simply amazed and just can’t believe how easy the Ro-Man Pork Puller was to use. I have always used a set of Bear Paws to pull my pork butts. I was never really impressed with how they worked and the amount of time and effort I had to spend using them. I noticed after using the Ro-Man Pork Puller that the pork was pulled much faster and there was so much less waste that I could make better use of the finished product.

The Ro-Man Pork Puller would be a very efficient tool for those that have a lot of pork butts to pull, like a Caterer/Vendor. I am not sure if this would be the best product for competition since it shreds the pork a little finer then some might like. This may also be a little overkill for use by your typical backyard griller like myself, but I can tell you I will never go back to using those Bear Paws again after using this simple, yet amazing product!

The cost of the Ro-Man Pork Puller including shipping is $67.95. This may be a sticking point for some people, but if you cook a lot of pork butts it’s well worth the price. It’s also American Made, which is always a plus in my book!

Last thing I want to point out is that I highly recommend using a corded power drill with the Ro-Man Pork Puller. The reason being you might have to work the trigger of your drill quite a bit if you are pulling any large amounts of pork, which could kill your battery faster. I also tried using a cordless 18v Black & Decker and let’s just say the Ro-Man Pork Puller wouldn’t even spin when I placed it in the pork butt to pull it.

For more information on the Ro-Man Pork Puller please visit their Website.

Make sure to check back next week for another great BBQ Tools & Tech review!

Thanks!
Jay Prince
@Prince_of_Q

I love it when I’m surprised by sauce.

It reminds of the days I used to spend in Boston when I was growing up – a group of friends and I would pack into the car and then spend hours rummaging for deals on CD’s.  The joy of finding a gem in the clearance rack or taking a risk on an unknown artist ended up the biggest being part of the fun. We’d each bring back a CD or two and then compare our guesses  at who would be the one to find the best “underground band” or the next band who was going to make it big…  Looking back I can’t how much money I used to spend on music when it was so much harder to acquire…

This is truly an “underground sauce” and I hope more folks get to try it based on this review.

Anyway, back to the review.

My first impression of the box shipped to me was “Hey this box is small, did they send me a bottle of hot sauce by accident?”  When I unraveled the bottle from the bubble-wrap, it was indeed a 5 oz container which is typically reserved for hot sauces – very sensible from a cost and shipping perspective, especially for samples.

The "Time to get some more sauce" indicator is a nice touch!

A minor issue is that the label is pretty weak.  Standing next to other sauces on the shelf it doesn’t really call out “try me, I’m a very high quality sauce.”  Nor does it show the ingredients.  I considered docking a star for this but as most of you know, the score is all about the taste unless there is something really bad about the ingredients or expectations based upon the label.  Also this is a special “sampler size” without the same needs as a bottle you’d find in a supermarket.  In order to get to the next level, however it could use the following: ingredients, nutritional information, and potential a label make-over.

Yellow Sauce, meet Plate of Meat

Aroma

The smell of the sauce was a pleasant sweet & sour mustard smell.  Nothing excessively unique or different or strange about the smell – just pleasant.

Color/Consistency

The color and consistency of the sauce were right on the money for what I expected.    As you can see it’s like a Golden Yellow/Brown with a lot of specks from the spices contained within.

a lonely drip out in right field

Taste Before Cooking

Nice stuff.   Like a sweet brown mustard with a nice spicy finish – just enough heat to mix it up and remind you it’s there.   I taste some vinegar, some mustard, some sweet (maybe brown sugar), something salty  (maybe Worcestershire or just salt), and then some spices (maybe pepper and paprika).  These are just guesses but it doesn’t matter much – it’s so good.   The best thing I did with the sauce is to use it for coating some pulled pork.  It seemed to be a match made in BBQ heaven.

Taste After Cooking

Fantastic – tried coating some chicken with this and it didn’t really caramelize like a good sugary tomato-based sauce might do, but it allowed me to put much more on during the cook.   I didn’t notice any major change in flavor pre- or post-grill.

oh man, this meal was so good

Bottom Line

When I get a 5 star sauce, the main reason I know it’s a 5 star is that it becomes my go-to sauce in the house until the bottle is empty.   That Yellow Sauce is great stuff, the best mustard sauce I’ve tried and I’ve tried a lot!  I’ve only had this sauce around for about 2 weeks and it’s almost gone.  Try it on just about anything but especially pulled pork – I thought it went great with that.  I also tried it with pulled chicken and burnt ends…. Mmm burnt ends.

Website

http://thefatredneck.com/orders.html

For this week’s review I was sent the Splash-Proof Super-Fast Thermapen from Jesse Black from ThermoWorks.

The Thermapen is one of the fastest, most accurate thermometers on the market today. It’s a thermometer that’s extremely popular for use by backyard grillers all the way up to competition BBQ teams.

As a backyard griller myself, I have always heard great things about the Thermapen on various BBQ forums and BBQ blogs. This is also an item that I was very eager to do a review on.

Thermapens come in a variety of colors. Ranging from Red all the way to one of their newest colors British Racing Green.

The reason for ThermoWorks offering some of the above selections of colors is to correspond with the color coding used by many in the food service industry to assist in preventing cross-contamination. Below is a breakdown of that list from ThermoWorks website:

Standard Color Code:
Red = raw meat, raw beef and pork
Blue = raw seafood
Yellow = raw poultry
Brown = cooked meats
Green = produce
White = dairy or bakery items

Other colors have been added along the way since most people buy their color Thermapen according to personal preference and ThermoWorks wanted to provide this for its customers.

After opening my red Thermapen (fastest color they offer by the way, lol) I could tell right out of the packaging this thermometer was very well constructed. It fit in my hand nicely and had a very easy to read LCD screen.

I also noticed the Thermapen is easy to use, just flip open the probe to turn on the thermometer, and flip the probe closed to turn it off….that’s what I call simple to use!

There is also an auto-off feature that turns the Thermapen off after 10 minutes of use in case you are like me and forget to shut things off, lol.

I’ve been wanting to cook some ribs for the longest time now and my wife said why don’t I pick some up and we can have a cookout. Being the great husband that I am, I hopped in the car and went to the store and found 2 slabs of nice looking St. Louis style ribs to buy.

After returning home I dry rubbed the ribs and placed them in the cooker. After 1hr and 15mins they were ready to come off. You may say to yourself how the heck did Jay cook those ribs so fast….let’s just say I have another big review coming up that will show how this was done.

The very accurate and extremely fast Thermapen read the internal temperature of one of the slabs of ribs in 2-3 seconds. As you can see in the picture below the Thermapen showed that slab at 190.9 degrees.

Once I checked both slabs of ribs it was time to take them in the house to chow down.

Final Thoughts

The Splash-Proof Super-Fast Thermapen is one amazing thermometer! It’s fast as well as accurate and you can tell ThermoWorks knew what they were doing when they designed and built this thermometer.

You know I always tend to bring up the price of a product when I do my reviews. As I mentioned in past reviews, I am a stay-at-home dad and my family is on a budget like most American families today. I always looked at the Thermapen and wondered why someone would spend almost $100 for a thermometer. I can tell you from my point of view it’s worth every dime. In fact I even bought the Limited Edition American Flag Thermapen for my father who is a Veteran. After seeing that ThermoWorks was donating $9 from each of these sold to the Wounded Warrior Project, I called Jesse right up and told him I had to buy one! As many of you know my little brother, Cpl. Kevin W. Prince was KIA in Iraq back in 2005, so buying this for my father was very special for me. Plus my family and I are big supporters of the Wounded Warrior Project as well.

The only thing that comes to mind that I would like to see ThermoWorks change with the Thermapen is to make the LCD screen backlit for viewing temperatures in the dark. This is something that resonates with many owners of the Thermapen as well.

If you are like me and have always wanted a Thermapen, you can purchase one here.

For more information on the Splash-Proof Super-Fast Thermapen please visit their Facebook & Twitter pages as well as their Website.

Make sure to check back next week for another great BBQ Tools & Tech review!

Thanks!
Jay Prince
@Prince_of_Q

Today I’d like to introduce another author to you who you may or may not be familiar with and publish a topic in a different category – let me know what you think!  Wayne and I cross paths on Twitter a lot and have been involved in reviewing some of the same BBQ sauces.  We don’t always agree on the end results, but the guy has a great sense of humor and seems to love BBQ sauce like me – so he’s good in my book.  We were also involved on a great BBQ sauce special podcast on Brian & Marilyn Meagers HotSauceWeekly Podcast here.  And he’s good buddies with my buddy Prince of Q (aka Jay Prince). A good friend of Jay’s is a good friend of mine.   Here’s his review and check him out directly if you like his style, I’m sure you will.   Thanks, Brian

Gettin’ Fed at The Shed with Big Wayner

Guest Post by Wayne Brown, Big Wayner’s BBQ Blog
http://www.bigwaynerbbq.com
bigwaynerbbq@gmail.com

My journey into the world of BBQ has been full of awe.  Ever since I’ve delved deep into the world of BBQ, I have read of BBQ joints where my response has been, “I’ve gotta check this place out!”  One of these places is in my home state of Mississippi and is a little hole in the wall that many of you may be familiar with.

Let’s go check out the original location of The Shed Barbeque & Blues Joint in Ocean Springs, MS…

Most people are familiar with the faces of The Shed – Brad Orrison and his sister Brooke, so I will not write much about that.  I have to admit that we were not really prepared for what we saw when we drove up.  This place truly is a joint, and they are proud of that fact!

The joint started out as a 300 square foot area made specifically for take-out, and the components were made from dumpster diving findings.  As The Shed grew in popularity with its customers, they all contributed to expanding the place by (and I quote directly from the page on The Shed’s website about their story) “bringing in more junk to spruce up the place”.  It grew and morphed and evolved, and what started as a 300 square foot take-out area turned into a 9,570 square foot eatery and entertainment venue.  Seating capacity is 120 inside and an additional 450 outside.

Looking at the décor, you can definitely say that this place is crowd-sourced!  I think the feel of the place took my dad for surprise.  This is tailor-made for a party atmosphere!

Once you enter The Shed, you order your meal at the counter then go grab a seat where one of the Shed Sweethearts or Shed Guys brings your order out to you.  I couldn’t decide on just one thing, so I order the Shed Sampler Platter with beans, slaw, and potato salad.  (Pardon the bad picture, I couldn’t get a good shot of everything).

I know you are all wondering what I thought about the meal.  I’ll start with the sides first…

• Slaw – a classic slaw.  Very nice flavor and texture.  Not overly creamy, but just right.
• Beans (not picture above) – honestly, not very noteworthy.  Not a lot of bold flavor.   Kinda plain.
• Potato salad – like manna from Heaven!  Creamy, mayonnaise-based, and full of yummy goodness!

And now for the meats…

• Ribs (both baby backs and spares) – meat and sauce had good flavor.  But overcooked.  A bit of a mushy texture.
• Sausage – good and solid.  Nothing exotic or out of the ordinary.  A good choice.
• Chicken (served in the form of wings) – like the sausage, good and solid.  Enjoyed the sauce used here.
• Brisket – served pulled.  Really disappointing.  Completely bone-dry.
• Pork – AMAZING!!  Perfect smoke and flavor.  Very moist.  Award-winning!

I can now cross off The Shed (at its original location) off of my BBQ bucket list.  Some items were great, and some were left wanting.  I definitely want to go again, but my next visit will be on a weekend to take in all of the atmosphere and ambiance!

The Ocean Springs location of The Shed is located at 7501 Highway 57, Ocean Springs, MS 39565.  Their website is located at http://www.theshedbbq.com, and you can also find them on Facebook and Twitter.

Wayne knows a lot of folks in the BBQ Competition Community so he’s yet another good person to send your sauces to if you are looking to get something on the web about your product!

Wayne Brown, Big Wayner’s BBQ Blog
http://www.bigwaynerbbq.com
bigwaynerbbq@gmail.com

Here’s a list of the BBQ Sauce Competitions or BBQ competitions that have a sauce sub competition that you could enter this year:

National BBQ Association Awards of Excellence

• When: 20 Jan 12  (Entries due)
• Where: Ina, Illinois
• In-Person(do you have to be there to enter): Not necessary
• Entry Fee: Yes

ZestFest 2012

• When: January 27-29th
  
• Where: Irving, Texas
  
• In-Person? No
  
• Entry Fee? Yes ($$$$$)

Memphis in May

• When: May 17, 2012
  
• Where: Memphis, TN
  
• In-Person (do you have to be there to enter)? Yes
  
• Entry Fee? Yes

Naperville Rib Fest

• When: June 29th – July 3rd
  
• Where: Naperville, IL
  
• In-Person? n/a
  
• Entry Fee? n/a

American Royal BBQ Event

• When:  Oct 6, 2012
  
• Where: Kansas City, Missouri
  
• In-Person ? No
• Entry Fee?  Yes
• 2011 Results

Gettin Sauced

• When: October 27, 2012
• Where: Austin, Texas
• In-Person? No
  
• Entry Fee? Yes

Scovie Awards

• When: Annually, October timeframe
  
• Where: Albuquerque, New Mexico
• In-person? No
  
• Entry Fee? Yes

National BBQ Festival

• When: November (possibly 3rd and 4th)
• Where: Waycross , Georgia
  
• In-Person? No
  
• Entry Fee? Yes
  

Any others, let me know in the comments.

Thanks,

Brian ( @bbqsaucerviews )

For this week’s review I was sent the ThermoWorks TW8060 from Jesse Black from ThermoWorks.

The TW8060 is a Two-Channel Thermocouple with alarm.  It has a backlit display and can be used to monitor your food and smoker/grill temperatures simultaneously.

As you can see below the TW8060 has 2 connection points on top that are not your typical connection points used by most thermometer manufacturers. Most manufacturers typically use a 3.5mm headphone jack style connector like the Maverick ET-732 and the iGrill I reviewed for our site.

This unit uses a miniature Type K Thermocouple. ThermoWorks states that using a thermocouple gives you the ability to measure a wider range of temperatures; so higher temperatures are not a problem with this unit.

After getting the TW8060 all setup for my pork butt smoke I went outside and fired up my new Grilla Smoker-Grill.

While the Grilla was heating up I got the 8lb pork butt ready for the cook.

Once the Grilla was up to temperature I placed the pork butt on and inserted the TW8060 food probe and attached the pit probe. I really liked the alligator clip probe since I was able to clip it to my Frogmat as you can see in the picture below.

I was also really impressed with how long the cords of both probes are. The Grilla has side tables so I was able to sit the unit on one. I use a WSM a lot so it’s great to have a food probe that is 6ft long and a pit temp probe that is 8ft. I usually have a table to set things on and these longer cords will make it so I don’t have to place the table next to a hot smoker.

I was really impressed with how accurate the TW8060 pit temp probe was. The Grilla’s pit temp probe sits right above the grill grate as shown in the red circle on the pic below. The TW8060 was pretty much spot on with the 250 degree temp reading on the external display of my Grilla.

After the pork butt was up to proper temperature I removed the probes and pulled the pork to eat.

Final Thoughts

Something I wanted to point out that may be a sticking point with some people when looking to buy this unit is the overall cost of the TW8060 and probes. The TW8060 comes with no probes and runs for around $69 plus shipping. The 2 probes that were sent with this unit are the Smokehouse Penetration Probe (Model: 113-177) and the High-Temp Alligator Clip Oven Probe (Model: 8468-22). You can  also get the TW8060 in 2 available kits which include 2 probes. The first kit is the TW8060 Kit ($129), which comes with the Smokehouse Probe and the Crocodile Clip Probe. The other kit is the TW8060 High Temp Kit ($163), which includes the Armored Smokehouse Probe and the High Temp Alligator Clip Probe.

I would also like to see some way to remotely monitor temperatures with this unit like I am able to do with my Maverick ET-732 and iGrill. A secondary receiver unit would be a great addition for sure.

Overall, I am really happy with how well the TW8060 worked. ThermoWorks makes really good quality products and you can tell that with the TW8060 and how accurate and well built it is.

For more information on the ThermoWorks TW8060 please visit their Facebook & Twitter pages as well as their Website.

Make sure to check back next week for another great BBQ Tools & Tech review!

Thanks!
Jay Prince
@Prince_of_Q