Chances are, if you're reading this blog post, you probably have one or two more bottles of BBQ sauce in your fridge or pantry. I'm a sucker for BBQ sauce -- I will spontaneously buy a bottle just to try it out, no matter what the cost.
I was recently at an upscale home and garden store, and I came across a small display of specialty and "gourmet" goods. After looking around, I was quickly fixated on the collection of BBQ sauces from Dean & Deluca. One bottle in particular called to me -- the Jalapeno Peach BBQ sauce.
I instantly picked up the bottle and thought nothing of the $8 price tag. I certainly wasn't about spend an exorbitant amount of money on a tree ornament -- something that will appear once a year for a few weeks at a time. Now if it's food, count me in. I picked up the bottle and headed straight for the register.
Now there were a couple of other sauces on the shelf as well, Carolina and Memphis style. Were they intriguing? Certainly. I was a tad curious to discover how a high-end gourmet goods retailer would interpret these classic BBQ sauces. But nah, been there done that. I wanted something new.
Recently, I cracked open the bottle and sampled it with some grilled chicken breast. I glazed the chicken for a few minutes on my Craycort cast iron grate, and also used it as a dipping sauce once the meat was sliced. My first impression was that it was... peachy. Right off the bat, I could definitely taste and overpowering sweetness from the peach. I had to wait a while for the jalapeno to kick in.
I know the jalapeno isn't the hottest pepper on the Scoville scale, but I could tell that they toned down the spice level. The jalapeno definitely plays second fiddle to the peach, that's for sure. If the spice level was upped a couple more notches, it would've been a nice balance.
Dirty Smoke rating (3.0 out of 5 stars)
Because of the predominant sweetness of this BBQ sauce, I would recommend it with either grilled chicken or pork chop -- even shrimp (as the label says). Unless you're a big fan of Dean & Deluca, I would pass on this sauce.
