Pretty neat idea. Grilled Lemonade recipe from Kingsford. Worth a try I'd say!
HOW TO: Make Grilled Lemonade A Great Recipe by Kingsford |
A blog dedicated to my passion for travel and great BBQ. Spreading the word on that sweet smoked swine.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Thursday, September 11, 2014
BBQ Sauce Battle Part 1
As promised my first BBQ Sauce battle is in the books. Just a reminder, I will randomly pick two different sauces each week and compare them against each other based on the following criteria..
Sauce A was a hit according to my scoring system as you can see. Moe's Original is truly a solid and TASTY BBQ sauce. The taste had just the right amount of sweet and kick to really set the ribs off without totally taking away from the ribs themselves. The color on the ribs complimented the rub (Smokin' Trigger) perfectly and really gave it a wonderful dark mahogany coloring that was appealing to the eye.
The sauce was so good that I found myself dipping the ribs in more sauce as I went along. I rarely do that so it really means something. I enjoyed the sauce so much that I had to let the family taste it as well. My son was hooked immediately and has requested it with every dinner since. He even uses it to dip his potato chips in now. I use my 7 year old as an example only because he is very picky and if he likes something that much, you know it's got to be good!
The only place where I dinged it, if you can really call it that, was in the originality department. While I did feel the sauce was delicious and capable of not only backyard, but competition BBQ, I just felt there really wasn't anything much there to really make it stand out compared to other sauces. While I would put the appearance and taste up against any sauce on the market, there was really not anything there to make me say that was "different or "original".
Overall score: 9 out of a possible 12
Sauce B was not quite the hit that we had with Sauce A. As you can see, according to my scoring system, Pit Barrel Carolina Vinegar didn't quite hit the mark in the taste and appearance categories. Before you go on to say, that this is a Carolina vinegar sauce and Moe's Original is more of a tomato based sauce and you really can't compare the two, let me remind you that this is a completely random taste test based on popularity of commercial sauces. And while I agree that one sauce may be a hit in one part of the country and one in another, I tried to leave any regional biases out of it and strictly focus on the taste, appearance and originality. Might I add that I am a big fan of Carolina vinegar based sauces.
That being said, let's jump into the breakdown on Pit Barrel Carolina Vinegar. While the taste was good, I just didn't get the WOW factor that I got with Moe's Original. It had a good flavor and the right amount of vinegar base in my mind. Like I said, it was a good sauce as far as flavor goes, there just wasn't anything that blew me away with it.
The color was a little on the lighter side and did not give you the overall dark mahogany color that one might be looking for with a competition sauce. For a backyard cookout that might be fine, but I wanted to find the sauce that was perfect for not only my backyard but also competition. I suppose with a vinegar based sauce you would not expect the same dark color of a traditional sauce, but I still had to ding it none-the-less.
Where Moe's Sauce was lacking was where I thought this sauce shined. While the taste and appearance didn't receive as high of marks as Moe's did, this sauce truly was unique and original in my mind. This was a vinegar based sauce and it definitely hit the marks you would look for with a vinegar sauce, but there was something a bit more to it. It had a nice kick that I couldn't really compare to other vinegar sauces I had tried. It really was unique in that sense.
Overall a good sauce and definitely hit the original marks for me.
Overall score: 7.5 out of a possible 12
So as you can see Moe's Original Sauce wins the first round of BBQ Sauce Battle. I truly would recommend this sauce to the backyard novice as well as the competition smoker. Moe knows BBQ and it really shows in this quality sauce.
More reviews and BBQ sauce battles to come. Stay tuned!
As always please leave comments and let me know if you have a favorite sauce that you would like me to review!
Enjoy!
Taste (scale of 1-5)
Appearance (scale of 1-4)
Originality (scale of 1-3)
As in competitions, taste will be weighed more heavily followed by appearance and then originality. I will start with well-known sauces. I want to find the very best commercial sauce on the market so if you have suggestions or there is a sauce you would like me to try please let me know.
My first battle was Big Moe Cason's Original Barbecue Sauce vs Pork Barrel Carolina Vinegar BBQ Sauce.
I took 2 sets of ribs and used Sauce A (Moe Cason) on one rack and Sauce B (Pit Barrel) on the other. The ribs were prepared exactly the same; same rub and same cooking length and temperature. The only difference was the sauce that was added in the last hour of smoking using the 3-2-1 method for ribs.
I didn't want to narrow my results to ribs only as sometimes I find certain sauces are better on certain proteins. The sauces were also applied to chicken thighs. Again, with everything else being equal and only changing the sauce used.
The ribs before going on the pit.
Ribs on the left to be slathered in Moe's Original and left Pit Barrel.
Chicken thighs after sauce was added. Top 3 using
Moe's Original and bottom 3 using Pit Barrel Carolina Vinegar.
Here is my scorecard below...
Sauce A (Moe's Original)
- Taste 4.5 (on a scale of 1-5)
- Appearance 3 (scale of 1-4)
- Originality 1.5 (scale of 1-3)
Sauce A was a hit according to my scoring system as you can see. Moe's Original is truly a solid and TASTY BBQ sauce. The taste had just the right amount of sweet and kick to really set the ribs off without totally taking away from the ribs themselves. The color on the ribs complimented the rub (Smokin' Trigger) perfectly and really gave it a wonderful dark mahogany coloring that was appealing to the eye.
The sauce was so good that I found myself dipping the ribs in more sauce as I went along. I rarely do that so it really means something. I enjoyed the sauce so much that I had to let the family taste it as well. My son was hooked immediately and has requested it with every dinner since. He even uses it to dip his potato chips in now. I use my 7 year old as an example only because he is very picky and if he likes something that much, you know it's got to be good!
The only place where I dinged it, if you can really call it that, was in the originality department. While I did feel the sauce was delicious and capable of not only backyard, but competition BBQ, I just felt there really wasn't anything much there to really make it stand out compared to other sauces. While I would put the appearance and taste up against any sauce on the market, there was really not anything there to make me say that was "different or "original".
Overall score: 9 out of a possible 12
Sauce B (Pit Barrel Carolina Vinegar)
- Taste 3 (on a scale of 1-5)
- Appearance 2 (scale of 1-4)
- Originality 2.5 (scale of 1-3)
Sauce B was not quite the hit that we had with Sauce A. As you can see, according to my scoring system, Pit Barrel Carolina Vinegar didn't quite hit the mark in the taste and appearance categories. Before you go on to say, that this is a Carolina vinegar sauce and Moe's Original is more of a tomato based sauce and you really can't compare the two, let me remind you that this is a completely random taste test based on popularity of commercial sauces. And while I agree that one sauce may be a hit in one part of the country and one in another, I tried to leave any regional biases out of it and strictly focus on the taste, appearance and originality. Might I add that I am a big fan of Carolina vinegar based sauces.
That being said, let's jump into the breakdown on Pit Barrel Carolina Vinegar. While the taste was good, I just didn't get the WOW factor that I got with Moe's Original. It had a good flavor and the right amount of vinegar base in my mind. Like I said, it was a good sauce as far as flavor goes, there just wasn't anything that blew me away with it.
The color was a little on the lighter side and did not give you the overall dark mahogany color that one might be looking for with a competition sauce. For a backyard cookout that might be fine, but I wanted to find the sauce that was perfect for not only my backyard but also competition. I suppose with a vinegar based sauce you would not expect the same dark color of a traditional sauce, but I still had to ding it none-the-less.
Where Moe's Sauce was lacking was where I thought this sauce shined. While the taste and appearance didn't receive as high of marks as Moe's did, this sauce truly was unique and original in my mind. This was a vinegar based sauce and it definitely hit the marks you would look for with a vinegar sauce, but there was something a bit more to it. It had a nice kick that I couldn't really compare to other vinegar sauces I had tried. It really was unique in that sense.
Overall a good sauce and definitely hit the original marks for me.
Overall score: 7.5 out of a possible 12
So as you can see Moe's Original Sauce wins the first round of BBQ Sauce Battle. I truly would recommend this sauce to the backyard novice as well as the competition smoker. Moe knows BBQ and it really shows in this quality sauce.
More reviews and BBQ sauce battles to come. Stay tuned!
As always please leave comments and let me know if you have a favorite sauce that you would like me to review!
Enjoy!
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