Barbecue sauce - your favorite?

[DWSmith]

I'm looking for store bought or recipes for homemade. What's your favorite?

 

[cdanielb]

I grew up on Maull's genuine, a St. Louis style sauce that might only be available in stores in the St. Louis area but they do ship. It's great for braising and especially well suited for pork. I've often used it to braise bratwurst that I then crisp-up over coals or flames before serving. If you eevr have backyard BBQ in the St. Louis area, 9 times out of 10 it will be some sort of pork produt braised in Maull's. Maull's Genuine

 

[Blackhorse]

Order it from Amazon. Currently under $4 delivered. Add some to any other “normal” bbq sauce or use it 100%. This has become my hands down gotta have.

 

[Carlos]

For daily use, Sweet Baby Ray's. I used to use Maull's.

Grabbed a bottle of Stub's the other day. Sweet Heat I think. But it was mostly a disappointment. BBQ places have a way of doing that to me. While in Florida recently we had brisket and pulled pork from Back Beach BBQ in Panama City. Great sauces! Trying to find that same sorta sweet and hot. May have to try that Go-Chu-Jang sauce.

 

[Ranger107]

I like tasty but not hot so it's Sweet Baby Ray's for me.

 

[ftrplt]

Y'all can keep your sweet and thick BBQ sauces!! This ol' boy likes his BBQ sauce North Carolina style...thin, vinegary, and tangy hot!! I use "Scott's" and "Wilbur's" from Goldsboro, N.C. plus "Real Q" & "Little Richard's" from Winston-Salem, N.C. My wife enjoys the "South Carolina" style mustard-based BBQ sauce. I use "Maurice's" when I can get it. Otherwise, I've found Trader Joe's "Carolina Gold" to be pretty good! FTRPLT

 

[Carl]

Y'all can keep your sweet and thick BBQ sauces!! This ol' boy likes his BBQ sauce North Carolina style...thin, vinegary, and tangy hot!! I use "Scott's" and "Wilbur's" from Goldsboro, N.C. plus "Real Q" & "Little Richard's" from Winston-Salem, N.C. My wife enjoys the "South Carolina" style mustard-based BBQ sauce. I use "Maurice's" when I can get it. Otherwise, I've found Trader Joe's "Carolina Gold" to be pretty good! FTRPLT

We like SC mustard based sauce, too. Try Sticky Fingers Carolina Gold. That's our usual BBQ sauce.

 

[Zeno Marx]

+1 on Blackhorse's recommendation...because anything with gochujang is made better.

 

[ftrplt]

We like SC mustard based sauce, too. Try Sticky Fingers Carolina Gold. That's our usual BBQ sauce.

I was gifted one called "Bessingers" from Charleston, SC I believe. Haven't tried it yet!! I've heard of "Sticky Fingers!!" FTRPLT

 

[DWSmith]

I grew up on Maull's genuine, a St. Louis style sauce that might only be available in stores in the St. Louis area but they do ship. It's great for braising and especially well suited for pork. I've often used it to braise bratwurst that I then crisp-up over coals or flames before serving. If you eevr have backyard BBQ in the St. Louis area, 9 times out of 10 it will be some sort of pork produt braised in Maull's. Maull's Genuine

I was born and raised in St. Louis and Maull's was the BEST. It's tomato based but thinner and spicier than a lot of sauces. I consider it a mop sauce. Moved to Iowa almost 30 years ago and still haven't learned to live on bland food and wimpy sauces. For me the hardest part of moving to Iowa was losing out on the broad variety of cuisines in St. Louis.

I heard that Maull's changed hands recently and became a disappointment. Haven't had any for years.

 

[DWSmith]

I like tasty but not hot so it's Sweet Baby Ray's for me.

Too thick and sweet for me so I thin it down with apple cider vinegar. High fructose corn syrup is the main ingredient and that annoys me but I still buy it.

 

[Balisong]

Barbecue sauce is basically spiced ketchup so we make our own.
In a sauce pan
2 medium or 1 large can of diced tomatoes
1/8 cup of any vinegar, we use apple cider
1/8 cup of sweetener, sugar, brown sugar or honey
2 teaspoon of salt
Bring to a slow simmer and stir often
That's Ketchup, add your spices to bring it to Barbecue Sauce

We add in
5 cloves of fresh garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce
2 red Jalapino peppers sliced with some of the seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons each
Corriander
Cumin
Cardamon
Paprika (hot or sweet)
Dry Mustard
Taste and adjust spices, simmer to desired thickness, and, puree for smoothness

For a hotter sauce add cayenne pepper or chili pepper. You can also spice it up with Frank's Hot Sauce, habanero sauce etc.

Enjoy!

 

[DWSmith]

Excellent! Thanks.

"Barbecue sauce is basically spiced ketchup so we make our own." How true, how true. At least in most parts of the U.S.

I like the ideas behind the sauces from the Carolinas too.

 

[cdanielb]

I heard that Maull's changed hands recently and became a disappointment. Haven't had any for years.

I moved away for college; last ordered a batch in 2015, of which a few remain. I wonder if they are any good. Sorry to hear the recipe changed.

 

[D.L.Ruth]

This is it normal go to BBQ sauce

 

[DWSmith]

Began experimenting at making my own sauce. Been looking at the list of ingredients on barbecue sauce bottles. Have also reviewed many barbecue sauce recipes. It's amazing how many store-bought sauces list high fructose corn syrup as their first ingredient. After that some also have (regular) corn syrup, molasses, or honey listed. No wonder so many of them are too sweet for me.

Looks like some catsup, water, vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper make a great base for barbecue sauce. Now I just need to get the proportions worked out. I'm not adding any sugar, molasses, honey, or corn syrup to sweeten and it's coming out pretty tasty so far. The catsup already has enough salt for the sauce. The smoker will add enough smoke flavor so I'm not using any liquid smoke yet. (I think the reason I don't like Stubb's is there's too much liquid smoke in the sauce.) After I work out the proportions for the base I may or may not add some other ingredients; liquid smoke, tamarind, black pepper, Worcestshire sauce, anchovies, chipotle powder, chili powder, paprika, ???. Black pepper, chipotle powder, chili powder, and paprika are the only candidates I'm really considering at this point.

Some of the ingredients on the bottles are surprising. I tend to like basic sauces.

 

[Blackhorse]

I appreciate the trend here to post home blends.

 

[Rasher-Roll]

I used to do sweet baby rays or Stubbs, but lately my favorite is actually Kent Rollins’ red river mud. I think there’s ancho chilis in it that give it a smokiness I really enjoy.

 

[ftrplt]

I used to do sweet baby rays or Stubbs, but lately my favorite is actually Kent Rollins’ red river mud. I think there’s ancho chilis in it that give it a smokiness I really enjoy.

Good friend of mine went on one of Kent's "Trail Rides" some time back. He learned quite a bit about "cowboy" trail cooking!! I was gifted a goodly assortment of Kent's sauces and rubs last Christmas. Haven't used them yet; I better check'em out!! FTRPLT

 

[Timbo]

Dunno if these are available in the US but here is Australia, this is my goto BBQ sauce.

https://beerenberg.com.au/products/coopers-bbq-ale-sauce
It's sweet and sour with a good mix of spices.

Their other products are all really top notch too.