Jackaroo Australian Style BBQ Sauce (1 of 5)

Jackaroo Australian Style BBQ Sauce

This should be quick. There was only one positive aspect of this particular sauce… and if you are smart, you can probably figure it out by the time I tell you.

Give up?

It’s the tiny 4 ounce container. I bought it for under a dollar, after becoming curious walking past a display at my local Hanniford. So I didn’t have to waste much money at all on this terribly malodorous sauce.

When I first looked at the packaging, I thought to myself, “Hmm. What is Australian Style Sauce?” Maybe I’m far too American, but you know, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I thought of Crocodile Dundee, Alligators, Boomerangs, Sharks, and the beer that most Australian natives are actually ashamed of – Fosters.

So I Googled “Australian Style Sauce”

According to Wikipedia, “in Australia, barbecue sauce can be simply a blend of tomato sauce and Worcestershire sauce. There are various sauces in the market from fruity to brown sauce.”

But Wikipedia (in their all knowing anyone-can-write-whatever wisdom) seemed to leave out how some Australian Style Sauces have an artificial and rotten meat flavor. Seriously, remember those Ramen Noodles back from college days?

This tasted similar to the beef flavor packet, except even more artificial and mixed in with a metallic tinge that I would almost wager was caused by the tin foil cover… I searched around on the label for the word China to no avail. I was seriously thinking I would break a story on the latest food poisoning incident – if I made it to the phone in time.

Let’s get into it, one by one.

The Smell

Let’s see. Meaty and metallic. Like a steak that was used to clean sheet metal. Certainly qualifies for the unique category.

Before Cooking Flavor

Again – tastes like a Beef Ramen Noodle flavor packet – with a metallic tinge that I could have sworn might have been LEAD. But I am still alive. For now.

Consistency

Just like ketchup. Highly mass produced. No visible signs of actual food or spices in there. (In Homer Simpson voice: Mmmmm. Hydrolyzed corn and yeast protein. Mmm.)

After Cooking Flavor

Although much of the metallic flavor was tapered after a grilling session, I couldn’t handle the outright artificial flavors and “beefiness” of the sauce. My chicken wings felt dishonest, like it was pretending it wasn’t chicken, and was actually some form of beef. On actual beef, this tasted a little better, but nothing to dig it out from the grave.

In this case the grilling experience did little to add or subtract from the overall taste of the sauce. Probably because there was just so much junk in it… just like those pictures/videos of burning oilfields we’ve all seen… This could probably burn all day/night and still taste the same. Which is NOT a good quality of a sauce.

Ingredients

Water, Vinegar, Tomato Paste, Corn Syrup, Molasses, Sugar, Seasoning (brown sugar, modified food starch, spices including paprika, rice flour, salt, dextrose, autolyzed yeast extract, natural flavor, hydrolyzed corn and yeast protein, xanthan gum, garlic and onion, beef color, caramel color, citric acid, lemon juice powder, malic acid, dextrose, maltodextrin, spice extractives, tricalcium phosphate), salt, mustard seed, natural grill and smoke flavors, tamarind concentrate, soybean oil, paprika, spices, garlic, onion. Contains: wheat.

Nutrition Information

Not available on this sample pack.

Positives: Small package. Wide distribution. Under a buck to try it. Ate just enough to taste it, review it, and survive!

Negatives: Everything else.

No comments on marketing or packaging. Just please stop putting this stuff in my supermarket. People could get sick or somethin. Jeez.

Site Editor, BBQ Sauce Lover, Family Guy, Hi Tech Marketer by Day. He recently wrote the Ebook “How to Market Your BBQ Sauce” which can be purchased on this site.

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Comments

  1. I absolutely LOVE Jackaroo BBQ Sauce, I just hate it is impossible to find. I finally went to a warehouse I heard about, and bought a case of the bottles. I have’nt been able to find it since we ran out, except for in those little cups, which I did buy until the store quit selling them. Now I just do without, and look for in any store I might be in. I also tell people about it hopeing someone one day will say, “Hey I know where you can buy it.”

    • I’m like you!! I found it at Kroger at one time and fell in love with it. I can’t find it anywhere anymore. I look everywhere!!! I know Jakaroo used to sponsor a Nascar car, however, I have not been able to find the product ANYWHERE lately. Wish I knew who distrubuted it and we might could go from there. If anybody knows……please us know. Thank you!!!

    • Hey Linda, check out the latest postings re: Jackaroo. You will be able to find it!!

  2. We dont have too many choices in Australia. Is there any you can recommend as a five star?

  3. I believe the Jackaroo brand is made by Naturally Fresh Foods in Atlanta. 800-765-1950. I tracked it down by the UPC in the picture from the label on this site.

  4. We don’t have a “bbq” style in Australia. We just burn meat. So it’s not surprising that sauce is crap. It took me to try some really great foreign sauces to open my eyes to how terrible Aussie bbqing really can be

  5. Interesting commentary on the state of BBQ and the scarcity of sauces in Australia. What I’d love is for someone in Australia to walk down the aisle of a grocery store and send me a pic of the available BBQ sauces… although I was just there, it didn’t occur to me until now to see what kinds of sauces are available there. Hook me up!

  6. Jackaroo bbq sauce is AWESOME!! I tried it at school,on chicken nuggets the best thing they serve and LOVED it!! I think whoever dosen’t like it is nuts!

  7. I always enjoyed Jakaroo bbq sauce. First tried it @ Hooters on there ribs in 1995 {no longer available]. Hard to find these days.Naturally Fresh stopped making the bottles. Still can find 4oz. cups @ store in Mayville NY. Jackaroo bbq sauce may unfortunatly become extincted soon. Lets hope not.

  8. You realise aussies don’t have alligators right?

  9. where can I get clothing w/ this Jackaroo….logo on them…?
    god bless dd

  10. I used to put this on the wings they sell at hooters ( this was some years ago and they stopped carring it ) and I loved this sauce, i was excited to see it here, it was better than the hooter sauce.

  11. Mike "Kay" says

    I stumbled across this sauce near the “hot” deli-counter at Jewel, and tried it with their chicken tenders. Now it’s the only way I’ll have them! But, lately I haven’t seen it there… Has another food I enjoyed very-much been removed from the market…? Just like with Bar-None candy-bars & Torengos?

  12. Absolutely love and miss it, used to get the small containers at kroger but impossible to find.

  13. Waterguy says

    Has the critic of this ever tried Jackaroo bbq sauce when it was available in the 18 oz bottle? Any bbq sauce will not be its best in a 4oz pastic cup.

  14. I used to work at a bbq restaurant in St mountain park and they switched us from Bull’s eye to this “sauce”. It was terrible. We lost customers, had food returned and management didn’t do anything about it. So we changed the recipe, added some pepper, brown sugar, other spices and created a new sauce. We came up with a name and slogan for it: “Blackaroo, the sauce from the brother-man, not the other-man”.

    Jackaroo personnell came out to see how it was performing and did a surprise taste test and went nuts when they tasted it. They asked us to write down the recipe we used to enhance it… that’s when we came up with the slogan.

  15. I love and miss jackaroo, I used to get packets at Kroger. I check shelves at stores hoping to find it. Maybe it says a lot for my taste, but only other brand I like is sweet baby rays.

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