Sauce

That's alright, I did search for answers and found a lot of stuff just not as specific as I wanted. I am fairly new to this forum (use some others a lot) I do always search for answers prior to asking the questions, at times I'd like to be sure so I ask to clear the waters. I hope that one day I will have to experience and knowledge base to be helpful to others. I have gotten some great advice and am loving reading and learning all that I can here. I appreciate all the responses and look forward to more. I'm ordering a few different sauces to practice with this evening and when I get them in I will let you all know how I feel. At least the topic has made some revenue for a few companies! I have what I call a competition blend sauce that I've canned that I'm interested in getting feedback on, so I may do a blind taste test with some family / friends against some of the sauces mentioned here to see what the verdict is. I may take it to the competition in a couple of weeks and see if any competitors there are willing to give an opinion on it as well. I like to make as much stuff as I can and not just BBQ (furnishings and the such) so I hope to eventually nail down a homemade sauce that will suffice.
 
I have another question for all of ya. Where do the one's of you who have to order sauces get them from? Are you going straight to the manufactures or is there a particular store that carries a lot of different brands, or even Amazon, etc...? I've found a lot of places online and prices are similar everywhere, just looking for good reputations, quality control, lower / better shipping.
 
When we started, we tried different things that we thought sounded good. It didn't work that well. Once we changed that mindset, things started to come into place. Their is a lot to be said for starting with a commercial product(consistency and time savings) and then fine tuning it to be your own. Rub, injection & sauce play into the scoring some, but moist and tender are by far bigger factors. A judge once told me as the year goes on, it's not really about the taste(most entries taste similar), it's really about what offends the least. Don't give judges a reason to score down your product. Having friends and family give you their opinions, really does help much, unless they are judges and have a solid understanding of what winning bbq tastes like. Fellow competitors are usually very gracious and most are too nice to say if something sucked. You may have the next great sauce, but starting out its going to be harder to know why you scored the way you did, was it the meat or the flavors that needs work? Once you can nail the meat everytime, go to your sauce, you'll know real quick how to proceed from there. I hope this helps.
 
calmdowneight said:
I have another question for all of ya. Where do the one's of you who have to order sauces get them from? Are you going straight to the manufactures or is there a particular store that carries a lot of different brands, or even Amazon, etc...? I've found a lot of places online and prices are similar everywhere, just looking for good reputations, quality control, lower / better shipping.
Click to expand...
I buy almost all my comp supplies from either atbbq.com or thebbqsuperstore.com
 
If I can't get what I want locally I go to bigpoppasmokers.com hint.. spend $75 and it ships free.
 
erichasaces said:
Funny you say that. My first KCBS comp ever I had the bottle of Swamp Boys that came in my west coast offense bundle from BPS, and I used the Swamp Boys Original with no blending and placed 4th in chicken. Of course, being the dumbass that I am, I've never used it again. Now that you've reminded me of that, if I had a way to get some in my hands before Saturday without paying overnight shipping I would do it again. For now, I think I am stuck using Blues Hog, Head Country, Sucklebusters, or Texas Pepper Jelly. Those are the only brands that I either have on hand, or have access to locally.
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We ship a lot of it to TX, it must work well out there.
 
DMDon said:
When we started, we tried different things that we thought sounded good. It didn't work that well. Once we changed that mindset, things started to come into place. Their is a lot to be said for starting with a commercial product(consistency and time savings) and then fine tuning it to be your own. Rub, injection & sauce play into the scoring some, but moist and tender are by far bigger factors. A judge once told me as the year goes on, it's not really about the taste(most entries taste similar), it's really about what offends the least. Don't give judges a reason to score down your product. Having friends and family give you their opinions, really does help much, unless they are judges and have a solid understanding of what winning bbq tastes like. Fellow competitors are usually very gracious and most are too nice to say if something sucked. You may have the next great sauce, but starting out its going to be harder to know why you scored the way you did, was it the meat or the flavors that needs work? Once you can nail the meat everytime, go to your sauce, you'll know real quick how to proceed from there. I hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Yes indeed and this is why I'm wanting to start with a commercial sauce. Just so I can narrow down what needs the most improvements and the. Later if the sauce continues to develop I will sneak it in a time or two, but right now I'll be all commercial.
 
One of the things that I noticed on sauces as both a CBJ and competitor is that if something stands out - like say pineapple juice (as I had one time that was really annoying), you will get marked down. So starting with a great sauce like Swamp Boys/Blues Hog/Fine Swine/Granny's/Countryside... Will help you greatly in that nothing stands out and they just have great flavor. They blend well with most rubs (WCO my favorite) and complement the meats. As many have mentioned, tenderness is still the key with nothing else annoying will lead you to higher scores IMHO. After all it is not a sauce contest. Do not be afraid to thin the sauce with water/apple juice to not get a "heavy" sauce flavor.
 
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Calmdowneight here's what I do try out different sauces. You have to have someone other than yourself to do the comparison. So what are your options? Contests cost too much Family and friends won't normally tell the truth. My solution is to have a group of kids try your different sauces cooked on meat. The main reason why I go this route is kids will give you a honest opinion. Go to your local cub/boy/girl scouts, a big brothers/sisters or maybe your church tell them what you want to do and see if they would accommodate you. Not only will you get honest feedback but you also might get to help a little one.
 
for those of you recommending trying out swamp boys sauce......I assume you mean the "original" and not the "vinegar" correct?
 
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