Patterson’s Old Fashioned Mopping Sauce (4/5)

I love when I get a sauce that combines a great, unique flavor with a powerful and sincere story.  To the right of the centered logo and picture you can find this story:

David Patterson left his Georgia family farm in 1943 when he was drafted into the Army. Before Christmas the following year, he was captured by the Germans in the Battle of the Bulge and was a POW until May of 1945.  When he returned home and began living again, he loved good things to eat and developed his own sauce that is a favorite at his church’s barbecues for over 25 years.  After popular demand his “one of a kind” sauce is now available for all of us to enjoy.

Excuse my French, but holy shit.  Take your life… now subtract about 6 months from it as a prisoner in what is now Belgium.  Did you also know that the Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest battle in all of World War 2 for Americans with about 89,000 casualties.  Imagine making it through something like that and then being captured… Wow.

Sometimes it amazes me when I think about how lucky I’ve been in my life to be able to get so far as to not have gotten thrown into war.  No matter how you personally feel about war, we’re all indebted to our troops for fighting for our rights with their lives.  Here’s another case where I’m a bit in awe of the person behind this bottle.   Thanks for your service David.

From Dan Patterson (son of David):

My father David Patterson is the man on the bottle and the former POW.  I did serve in the Air Force 1970-1976, but the story is about him.  He is a retired dairy farmer aged 87 and we produced this in his honor using his recipe.  I changed it on the text below in blue.     My partners Don and Gray Brannan and I spent no less than 20 “all nighters” around the pit with my Dad barbecuing a 1,000 pounds of hams and shoulders and that is where the sauce was developed.  We are pictured on the web photo with the catfish.  The address of our company is the same as the old house in the company logo. That is my Dad with his ’46 Ford that he bought when he came home from the war. I live in that house now.

Wow.   Cool stuff, but let’s get to the review, shall we?

Aroma

The first sniff caught me offguard.  Hmmm.   Something different in there… Wait wait, no is it?   Yes… it’s a lemony peppery blast in the nostrils!

Consistency

It’s thinner than a classic KC-style BBQ sauce and appears more homemade and natural.  Movement around the bottle is reminiscent of a heavy cream.  The sauce has a shiny gleam to it and it’s loaded with thick black pepper specks.  It holds well to the chicken I tested this on.

Ingredients

It’s got some compound ingredients including Ketchup, Vinegar, Margarine, Mustard, Sugar, Hot Sauce, Salt, Black Pepper, and Lemon Juice.  Contains HFCS.  First sauce I’ve seen with margarine in it.

Taste Before Cooking

It’s got a strong lemon pepper flavor and has a nice texture.  I taste some mustard, but it’s not hot which is fine by me, but after seeing the hot sauce in the ingredients I wanted just a little more bite.

Taste After Cooking

Taste after cooking is great.  The surprising part was POOF – the lemon pepper flavor almost vanished which is a bit of shame, as I wanted to have that on the final product.  Sure that part goes away slightly but does finish with a nice simple sweet flavor.  Oh – by the way, the cure for that flavor loss is to put the bottle on the table and use it as a dipping sauce…

Bottom Line

The lemon/pepper BBQ sauce angle is somewhat new to me, although I’ve tried several other lemon infused BBQ sauces and didn’t like them much.  Therein is the genius of the lemon pepper combo – you’ve got to offset that sweet fruity taste with a kick of black pepper!   I always liked my mom’s lemon pepper chicken dish growing up so I think there was a little sentimentalism going on in my head, too.   The sauce has good flavor and I’d give this a 4 only because that special lemon pepper taste wears off a bit after a full session on the grill (for this review I used chicken drumsticks heated by lump charcoal on a Weber Kettle, cooked indirectly for about an hour or so) and because I would have liked the heat to be kicked up a notch.

Check out their Website and Facebook Pages

http://www.pattersonsmoppingsauce.com

Facebook:   Patterson’s Old Fashioned Mopping Sauce

 

 

 

 

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 didn’t know the Ardennes Offensive was also named like that ! You should watch the episodes from Band Of Brothers about this battle, they really worth it.

    The sauce looks fine, I like the fact that they explain the roles of food additives on the label.

    • Hi Nick, how are you! I’m not a history expert but I do like finding out new things about WWII especially. Such a crazy war and I’m going to look for these episodes of Band of Brothers. Thanks. This was a nice sauce indeed, not too many lemon pepper BBQ sauces out there.

      • I love reading about WWII ! That probably comes from my grandad who joined the US troops when they arrived in Belgium.

        I forgot to mention that it’s nice to see pictures of your grill in action 🙂

  2. I also thought that was cool that the sauce had a history connected to WWII that involved Belgium and here you are in Belgium commenting on a BBQ Sauce blog… 🙂

    Glad to hear you liked the grill action pics. I was lucky enough to be home alone when the weather recently got really warm for this time of year (above 60 F) nice, so I had to start grilling.

  3. Brian, thanks for the kind words on our sauce! if anyone wants to order on our website, we do take all cards. our site says paypal which is also an option, but just complete the transaction page for contact, shipping, quantiy and continue to the next page and options other than paypal are listed.

    Thanks again and really enjoying your site. Dusted off my orion for the weekly by your reminder! Dan Patterson

  4. Great sauce review Brian! I just noticed on their site that a place called the Tomato Vine that is down the road from us is listed as someone who carries their sauce. I am definitely going to have to pick up a bottle after reading your review on it!

    Jay

    • Sounds great Jay, I like the name of that store – the Tomato Vine! Let me know what you think of the sauce!

      • Yeah it’s pretty cool…it’s a fresh produce store too.

        I stopped in there on our way to the Zoo yesterday and they didn’t have any and a worker acted like they had never carried it. I am guessing she didn’t know what she was talking about lol.

        Maybe if Dan sees this comment he can check with them about getting more soon to them. I would love to be able to pick some up there since it’s so close. I can’t wait to try this sauce!

        Jay

  5. Called the supplier to the Tomato Vine this morning. Thanks for letting us know!

  6. Ingredients

    It’s got some compound ingredients including Ketchup, Vinegar, Margarine, Mustard, Sugar, Hot Sauce, Salt, Black Pepper, and Lemon Juice. Contains HFCS. First sauce I’ve seen with margarine in it.

    Margarine is just one molecule away from plastic.

  7. Mike, That’s an urban/internet legend:

    Margarine is a generic term for butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. Specifically the principal difference between butter and margarine is that butter is derived from animal fats (typically milk fats) while margarine is derived from plant fats (oils) and skim milk.

    Google that statement you just put and you will see it’s untrue.

    Maybe you’re part of the Butter Mafia 🙂

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