Looking for a smooth Western North Carolina sauce? Look no further than Mama Hairston’s nicely executed selection of BBQ sauces available in Original Sweet & Tangy (this review), Sweet & Warm, and Sweet & Hot. Mama’s been working the sauce around the BBQ circuit with some pretty decent results. To me, it’s a good sauce, but not remarkable. The flavor is decent, but very sweet.
Smell/Aroma
Ketchup plus Worcestershire plus mustard were what I could smell.
Before Cooking Flavor
Whoa, it’s really, really sweet. Take ketchup and mix it with brown sugar and the resulting sweetness might place this into a candy-BBQ category. I’m not saying this is bad, it’s just something that you should know before going in.
Consistency
Excellent viscosity - to borrow a phrase from my friend Eric Devlin over at Home of BBQ so its not too thin and not too thick. In looking into the sauce itself, however, it appears a bit too blended - after all it’s a combination of what is possibly bottled ketchup, worchestershire, and mustard.
After Cooking Flavor
Placed upon standard BBQSauceReviews chicken wings samples, the sauce did lose a bit of it’s sweetness so that more of the tangy part of the sauce came to life. But there was nothing really interesting or unique about the flavor - tangy was a bit on the mild side.
Ingredients
Ketchup (w/HFCS), Brown Sugar, Mustard, Worcestershire Sauce, Vinegar, Spices.
Nutrition
High fructose corn syrup usage. The label and the website calls out “No Liquid Smoke” in bold face. I’m simply not sure what Mama has against Liquid Smoke - it’s created on the fire and you can make it yourself… so it’s not ALL that bad. Nothing else really jumps out as a nutritional highlight.
Marketing and Packaging
The picture on the front reminds me of visiting Wilmington North Carolina recently. Some very large beautiful houses (plantation houses) set in the South. Just based upon looking at the label, I’m not sure whether Mama is a plantation owner, or the worker… I would like to see Mama come to life - kinda like Aunt Jemima.
Related Websites
http://www.mamahairstonsbbqsauce.com
[Updated 5/24/2010 not sure their site is working??]
Buy it here
(also check out Sweet and Warm and Sweet and Hot)
Related posts:
Rebecca’s sauce is one of my family and friends favorites. I introduce it to barbecue lovers all the time. I buy it by the case!
I love the Sweet and Warm recipe. I could put it on everything!
We are huge barbeque fans and Kansas City is a tough market due to tons of competition. We love Mama Hairston’s Hot BBQ sauce! Try it - you will not be disappointed!!
This sauce has now been appropriately labeled GLUTEN FREE!!