Clearly marketed towards big loud chopper owners, the references aren’t too strong enough to turn off those of us who aren’t bikers.
How many references to Harley’s can you find on this bottle? I found 5
The manufacturer describes this as “an aggressive, crimson-red, tomato-based sauce riddled with spices you can see, smell and taste,” and I’d agree.
This sauce was easily the best of a recent batch of three random varieties I just got in. The consistency was thin yet stable and clung to the meat well. There was just enough heat (provided by cayenne peppers) to really add life to really tasty set of wings. This one really is unique in that it provides the three major BBQ flavors: sweet, spicy, and sour (tangy). If you are looking for something that tastes slightly different, has no preservatives, and supports really loud forms of transportation - this one is for you!
Smell: Nice with a very natural scent.
Taste: Sweet, sour, and a dab of spicy. Unique, yet not overpowering.
Consistency: One tiny nit is that it pours a little thin, but you can really see the spices as they flow out of the bottle and into intermediate basting container… and it clings well to ________ (insert favorite meat here).
Packaging: Fun “Harley-marketing”, but cheap plastic bottle. Guess it’s good if you’re like me with a kid or kids running around grabbing everything they can!
One of my highest reviews and faves so far.
Ingredients: Tomato sauce, prepared mustard, brown sugar, cayenne peppers, vinegar, natural smoke flavor, salt, spices, xanthan gum.
Nutrition Info: 25 calories per 28g serving, 0g fat, 5g carbs, 240mg sodium
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Website
June 21st, 2007
Posted by
brian |
All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews, Unique BBQ Sauces, Sweet BBQ Sauce, General |
3 comments
Never buy barbecue sauce at Border’s book stores. For one, they are a friggin book store - they shouldn’t be selling barbecue sauce. And number two, it’s expensive. I picked up this large brown cylinder-jar of sauce in the hip neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA - setting me back $8.99 for 18 ounces. Worth it? Hell no.
Smell: Hints of lemon mixed with molasses, vinegar, and spices and high fructose corn syrup (OK I didn’t smell the HFCS).
Taste: Extremely sweet. Nothing unique or bold, however. Limited lemon zing… too-safe, mild lemon aftertaste. Was expecting stronger lemon flavor. But then again, I guess I don’t really want lemon in my sauce anyway.
Consistency: Thin and drippy.
Packaging: Nice jar for smooth flow and pour into larger basting container. However, it left me with a bad taste in my mouth, like I was buying from the CEO of BBQ as this guy has a finely crafted PR image and team of support. I kinda like buying from the little guys.
Good execution, yet too big in terms of presence and ingredients. No doubt Steven has a team of people working on his behalf to add to his BBQ University and BBQ book revenue stream, but he may have had this project on auto-pilot.
Ingredients: Tomato concentrate, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar, lemon juice, molasses, garlic, salt, spices, chili pepper extract, salt, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, liquid smoke, anchovies, water, onions, wheat, soybeans, mustard flour, onion powder, tamarind extract, cloves, natural flavor, black pepper.
Nutrition Info: 50 calories per 32g serving, no fat, 13g carbs, 290mg sodium
Website Link
June 20th, 2007
Posted by
brian |
All Reviews, 2 Star Reviews, Unique BBQ Sauces, Sweet BBQ Sauce |
5 comments
You can call me names, and slap me silly, but you won’t change my mind. I love Miracle Whip. On sandwiches, as a burger condiment, with cake and ice cream.
I discovered this magic combination last year after catching a big striper (striped bass) on Martha’s vineyard. On our boat we caught enough fish for an extended family gathering with about 12 people. We had the fish filleted and bagged for easy transport home. I cooked it half using a Bobby Flay Orange-Mango sauce recipe from one of his books (which my wife got autographed from the man) called Boy Meets Grill. The other half was cooked in a ginger terayaki sauce. While the bass cooked, I “whipped” up some of my Miracle Chipotle for a dipping sauce with the ginger terayaki bass, using about a teaspoon of Tabasco Chipotle flavor for every couple of heaping tablespoons of Miracle Whip (hint: start slow and stop when it tastes really good).
The taste combines the tangy-sweet zing of miracle whip with a fine smokiness that will enhance just about any type of BBQ, especially grilled fish. Probably could use mayonnaise too… if you are turned off by the Whip.
June 3rd, 2007
Posted by
brian |
BBQ Sauce Recipes, General |
2 comments
Plus side: Great cooked flavor, use of simple healthy ingredients, and no weird preservatives and thickening agents. Anchovies.
Downside: Thin, no heat when expected, a little boring. Anchovies.
Western North Carolina style BBQ sauce is thin by design, but sometimes a little too thin for my tastes. Lip Lickin’ Sauces market Western North Carolina style sauce (thin) available in two flavors. Smoky and Sweet, and Bold and Spicy. I tried the Bold and Spicy and was pleased with my dinner, however a little thrown off guard by a product I was expecting to have some ZING.
On to the tasting.
I sampled the flavor before cooking it up. Straight outta the bottle, when it got home from the grocery store, it was room temperature, and almost covered my entire countertop as I tried to land a drop of the sauce onto an innocent unsalted saltine (oxymoron?). Did I mention this stuff is thin? Eventually I tasted it. There’s not a lot of complexity, but for first time tasters and newbies, this could make is a much preferred alternative to the mass market stuff. The first few ingredients of the bottle usually give away an idea of the expected flavor, and in this case it’s tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, and water… They keep it simple, so you can actually taste most of what’s in there if you have for tastebuds for it. Sniffing it reveals a strong vinegar / tomato / black pepper / anchovies aroma - which is different and nice.
Consistency
Well, yeah, it was thin. Things tend to thicken a bit when they are cold, so I waited a fortnight before firing up the grill to sample this BBQ sauce. And behold - after time in the fridge, the sauce was a new man! Thickened up enough just enough to be applied easily to the chicken at about the 3/4 mark in grill cooking doneness. Beginners note - always apply BBQ sauce late in the cooking process, otherwise the sugars burn up and thus their flavors burns away into a dark black soot skin - which isn’t tasty for most humans except my dad.
Cooking
On to the cooking. I applied liberal amounts of Lip Lickin’ Sauce - Bold & Spicy BBQ - to 6 drumsticks. The drumsticks had already been cooking for awhile (I tend to cook thicker chicken parts using indirect heat to make sure they cook all the way through). I used a baster to scoop/brush on the sauce and well, because this style just isn’t that thick, it takes a little more sauce to ensure coverage. A little while later after three rounds of flipping and applying, they were done.
Taste
Nothing really special, nothing new, nothing that makes me think “this is going to be my house sauce from now on”, but all in all, I’d say this is worth a try. Again, the carefully selected ingredients (only ten) are a great testament to this small, authentic BBQ sauce maker. The sauce becomes nice and sticky, and you can taste less flavors than when it’s uncooked, but I think the “highlighted” flavors left over are just great. The edge of the vinegar burns off, and the sweetness drops down a notch to make quite a bold flavor indeed.
What’s missing was the Spicy. I guess the word “spicy” has several different meanings and if you wanted to get literally it must be something close to “has a lot of different spices” when used in a food sense. But, most people I know, including myself, use spicy to describe things that are hot. The only peppers they use in this sauce are the household staple black and the colorful red - and these combined have about … zero heat.
Good value - $3.69 for 19 ounces.
Ingredients: Tomato sauce, vinegar, sugar, water, black and red peppers, salt, corn syrup, garlic spices, anchovies & tamarinds.
Nutrition Info: 50 calories per 34g serving, no fat, 12g carbs, 310mg sodium
Website Link
June 3rd, 2007
Posted by
brian |
All Reviews, 3 Star Reviews, North Carolina BBQ Sauce, General |
no comments
- Positives: Awesome flavor, recommended replacement for the good ole big cookout standby that you use today.
- Negatives: Mass market ingredients, might be considered too sweet, squeeze bottle.
Sometimes the stories behind the sauces are as tasty as their sauces. Here’s the Sweet Baby Ray’s story (from SBR website):
“It all began back in 1985 when a local Chicago boy named Chef Larry perfected his family’s recipe for a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce and entered it into the country’s largest rib cook-off, the Mike Royko Rib-off. Chef Larry called his sauce Sweet Baby Ray’s after his little brother David, who got the nickname shootin’ hoops on the west side of Chicago. On the day of the rib-off, Sweet Baby Ray’s beat nearly 700 entrants to come in second - an amazing feat for an unknown. The rest, as they say, is history.”
Sweet Baby’s Ray’s is now huge, with national distribution and availability at virtual any supermarket. And while I try to stay away from mass market BBQ sauces, I must say this one’s a winner. Although mass produced drawbacks such as high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and random ingredients such as “natural flavor” are apparent, it’s also undeniable that this is one damn tasty, and thick sweet sauce.
As a matter of fact, the only real negatives to the product were:
1. the package I chose - the squeeze bottle - and
2. the ingredients that mass produced stuff ends up putting in there to prolong shelf life and simplify and cheapen the production process. Lots of concentrates, preservatives, and goopy sweeteners.
So anyway, I opened the bottle and took my first sniff. Delightful. Smoky and sweet, with hints of garlic and onions, and maybe a little a little vinegar. Instantly I think to myself, I should put this stuff on ribs. But I had already purchased a package of chicken wings, so that would have to suffice this time around.
Before cooking it, I sampled the uncooked flavors using my trusty unsalted Saltine crackers. Smoky, sweet, and … bold I guess. Just a strong flavor that instantly makes your mouth water and think, let’s put away these friggin crackers and get on with it!
So I fired up the grill and got the chicken started; then gathered my tools, and started to prep the sauce. But when I opened the top, I realized I had opted for the wrong bottle! Don’t get me wrong - squeezable bottles are on my list of greatest all time food product enhancements - but only when you’re talking about condiments like ketchup and mustard. But a griller uses a bottle in a completely different way. I want an open mouth on my BBQ sauce, so I can pour it, unfiltered and unrestrained, watching it flow like lava into a wide open bowl in which I dip my basting brush. Sweet Baby! Next time I’ll get the big bottle.
Regardless, the sauce was nice and thick and made application to the meat a breeze. It clung onto the meat like glue… in a good way.
Post grill, I sampled my wings and they were as good as before if not better. The overwhelming sweetness got burnt off a touch, so the flavors smoothed out into a sweet yet hearty flavor. I haven’t tried their original yet, but this one is sure a winner in my book… er, site.Got a deal on this at a special 2 for $3 price. 18 oz squeezable bottle.
Smell: Very nice, round, complex sniffage. Just smells like a BBQ sauce should.
Taste: Sweet, hearty, bold, nice… could satisfy anyone’s palate I’d say.
Consistency: OK, I have a thing for thicker sauces. They made it thick - with modified food starch. Yum.
Packaging: Did I mention I didn’t like the squeeze bottle?
Overall Score: 4 out of 5
Ingredients: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Vinegar, Tomato Paste, Honey, Chipotle Pepper Sauce, Modified Food Starch, and less than 2% of: Salt, Worcestershire Concentrate, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Spice, Natural Smoke Flavor, Caramel, Sodium Benzoate for shelf life, Red Bell Pepper (dried), Natural Flavor (?), Garlic (dried).
Nutrition Info: 18G carbs, 0g Fat, 310mg Sodium, 70 Calories per serving (37g)
Website Link
June 3rd, 2007
Posted by
brian |
All Reviews, 4 Star Reviews, Sweet BBQ Sauce |
no comments
