Review: Viper Sauce BBQ Sauce Mix & Rub

One of the best parts about buying a brand new bottle of BBQ sauce is the entire experience -- the look of the shiny new label, the smell of fresh shrink wrap, and that moment when you break the seal of the bottle. The ultimate payoff is that first bite of food with the sauce.

So what are the drawbacks of bottled BBQ sauce? If you're buying online, it's the cost of shipping and small amount of sauce you get for the price. If you're feeding a large party, BBQ sauce can run out rather quickly. The alternative is buying pre-made BBQ sauce mixes.

I had a chance to try out some BBQ sauce mix and rub from Viper Sauce. Based out of Alabama, they've built quite a loyal following selling their southern style BBQ sauces. One sauce mix ($6) yields about 50 ounces of sauce, which more than doubles the typical bottle of BBQ sauce. Just add ketchup and/or brown sugar.

One of my favorite BBQ rubs to use is the Viper Sauce Original Spicy. It's a versatile rub, and I've used it on just about anything from chili to beef stew, to go along with your typical grilled meats like chicken and steak. But perhaps my favorite way to use the rub is on vegetables. If you're a typical home cook and griller like myself, veggies just don't excite me. Sprinkle some bold and flavorful spicy rub on veggies to wake up!

Spicy Summer Squash recipe:

- Slice zucchini or yellow squash 1/2 inch thickness
- Lightly coat with virgin olive oil
- Place on cookie sheet and sprinkle with Viper Dry Rub seasoning
- Place in 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes

Dirty Smoke rating - 4.5 of 5 stars
Pros - Lower cost for sauce mixes, double the amount of BBQ sauce vs. buying bottle
Cons - Need to buy ketchup and brown sugar, take the time to mix yourself

Burnt Ends with Gates Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce

I've never been to Kansas City, but I hope to make a visit soon. I can only dream and drool about it for now. But recently, my neighbor traveled to Kansas City for work and visited a few BBQ spots. He brought home a bottle of Gates Bar-B-Q sauce for me to try. I was thinking, sure I'll try some... but he wanted me to have the entire bottle. He's been a loyal fan of my blog, and he's tried a lot of my BBQ too. So it was nice of him to return the favor.

So what's Kansas City BBQ all about? I wrote about it a while back, but the main difference is that Kansas City sauce tends to be tomato-based, thick, sweet, and heavy on the molasses. Kansas City is also mostly known for their burnt ends. I had a huge hankering for some burnt ends, so I recently made some of my own just to try out with my bottle of Gates Bar-B-Q sauce.

I can probably eat burnt ends all day, every day. Once I cut them up into cubes, I either like to throw them back into the smoker for a few more hours to get more of the crusty bark on the edges and for the fat to render off some more so that it's nice and crispy. Then I like to toss them in a pan with some BBQ sauce--in this case, Gates Bar-B-Q sauce, and let the burnt ends caramelize with the tomato and sugar from the sauce. It sounds like a lot of work, but it sure is worth it.

Once the final product is on the plate, it doesn't stay there for long. The sweetness from the tomato and the "tang" from the vinegar perfectly compliments the salt and smoke from the beef. The absolute best part is the bark. The perfect burnt end has to have a contrast in texture--the crispy bark on the outside to go along with a moist, juicy, and fatty meat on the inside. It's the best thing you'll put in your mouth.

Review: Dean & Deluca Jalapeno Peach BBQ Sauce

By Dru Chai

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.

Review: Trader Joe's Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce

By Dru Chai

Trader Joe's has always been one of my favorite stores to grab snacks, drinks, and some frozen stuff. If you're not familiar with the Trader Joe's markets, or if you don't have one where you live, it's a popular specialty retail grocery store with a cult following. To me, it's not really a one-stop grocery shop, but it's a great place to grab a few goodies. But certain popular items will fly off the shelves and even experience a national shortage.

Case in point -- the Speculoos Cookie Butter, one of Trader Joe's top selling items. It's basically like peanut butter, only ten times better, unhealthier, and laced with crack. Okay, no crack -- but you get the idea. It's made of ground-up cookies and oil, with the flavor of graham crackers and gingerbread cookies. I recently bought a jar for the first time and I found myself licking cookie butter off my finger. Not a pretty sight.

Anyway, enough with the cookie butter. I wanted to share my thoughts on the Trader Joe's Carolina Gold BBQ sauce. A relatively new addition to the family of Trader Joe's BBQ sauces -- the "All Natural" and the "Bold and Smoky" Kansas City style. I gave my thoughts on them a couple of years ago, and they served its purpose as a compliment when grilling and smoking meats.

While those BBQ sauces were just okay, the new kid in town is a hit. At $2.69 a bottle, the Carolina Gold is bit higher than the $1.99 for the other sauces. But it's worth it. I bought a bottle home and have been hooked ever since. Even the slogan is catchy and subliminally pays you a compliment -- "For BBQ that's as good as gold." Why, yes... I do think my BBQ is as good as gold. I'm buying it!

All kidding aside, what sets this BBQ sauce apart from the others is that it's a mustard-based sauce. It's a little tangy, smoky, with just a hint of sweetness. I think it's a perfect combination of flavors -- a nice compliment for pulled pork or grilled chicken. I even use it as a dipping sauce for veggies (believe it or not!). If you're a fan of mustard, I think it's a worthy addition to your pantry.

Dirty Smoke rating (out of 5 stars)

Trader Joe's Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce - 4.5 stars

Test Kitchen: Making Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce

By Dru Chai

It's always fun to experiment in the kitchen, even for backyard smokers and grillers. I'm sure a lot of BBQ enthusiasts use the same rub or sauce over and over, because let's face it -- most people are too comfortable (or lazy) to stray outside the norm of what they like. Take BBQ sauce for instance. It's just so easy to just go to the market and pick up one of a dozen or so brands and types of BBQ sauce and call it a day. No fuss and no extra work.

I'll admit, out of the 2 years since I delved into the world of low and slow BBQ, I probably only tried making BBQ sauce from scratch a total of 6 times. That's definitely not very many, compared to the dozens of smoked meat that I produced. Making BBQ sauce is fun, no doubt. But it just doesn't have the sexy appeal of smoking a brisket, pork shoulder, or ribs -- drawing the oohs and ahhs from those waiting to taste the result of your hours of work.

When tasting BBQ sauce, it's a more subtle and subdued reaction -- like "oh that's good," "love the tang," or "that's got a kick to it." That was the reaction I got when I recently made some bourbon whiskey BBQ sauce. I was lucky enough to have some Four Roses Bourbon (Single Barrel) at my fingertips, so I decided to whip up a batch of BBQ sauce laced with the bourbon whiskey.

I put my homemade BBQ sauce back inside the bottle

Using alcohol in recipes can be a tricky thing. If not done correctly, it can overpower or even ruin whatever it is that you're making. I've see alcohol used in all sorts of recipes, but I think it's best used in sauces. Alcohol has such a strong flavor, that it needs to be reduced down -- whether a lot or a little -- but just enough so that it's not the dominating flavor. Think of a red wine reduction, for example. Alcohol should be an accent, or compliment to your recipe.

The ingredients that I used for my whiskey bourbon BBQ sauce:

- Water, ketchup, tomato paste, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, paprika, worcestershire, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, and of course -- some Four Roses whiskey bourbon.

You can adjust the level of spice by adding red chili flakes, Sriracha, or whatever hot sauce you prefer. One of my favorites is the Tabasco chipotle pepper sauce. I added a few liberal dashes into the BBQ sauce.

So how did the BBQ sauce taste? After immediately mixing all of the ingredients together, it basically tasted like glorified ketchup, to be honest with you. The bourbon whiskey was too strong in flavor and overpowered everything. I felt like I needed some french fries to dip the sauce with. But after letting it simmer on low heat for a few hours, the alcohol burned off a little, and it tasted more like BBQ sauce. I refrigerated it overnight, and the sauce tasted even better the next day. All of the flavors and spices just melded together as one.

It was sweet, tangy, tart, with a little kick at the end. The bourbon whiskey was nice and subtle in the background, and the little heat at the back of the tongue was perfect. I bottled up some of the BBQ sauce back into the Four Roses sample bottle to save for a later use. I've got a versatile BBQ sauce that I can use on just about anything. I'm thinking of trying out some bourbon whiskey BBQ meatballs!

Product Review: Lizard Lick Towing BBQ Sauce

By Dru Chai

I love trying out new BBQ sauces. Every time I'm at a grocery store, I always have to check out the aisle with all of the spices, herbs, and sauces. You can really tell what store and region you're at just by looking at the selection. In California, you'll find all of the usual commercial brands like Kraft, KC Masterpiece, and Sweet Baby Ray's. In some of the higher end stores like Whole Foods, you'll see Bone Suckin' Sauce (highly rated by many) and even sauce from the Salt Lick in Texas.

BBQ sauce sales an insane multi-billion dollar business, with celebrities and chefs fighting for shelf space in stores. Even the stars from the show Lizard Lick Towing has their own line of BBQ sauces. An astute reader of the blog pointed out that it had been well over 7 months since my post on Lizard Lick Towing. I mentioned that I had a bottle of their branded BBQ sauce and that I would review it. Well, better late than never.

Nothing like having your face on a bottle of BBQ sauce!

"Sauce so good... it'll run a bulldog off a meat wagon at lunch time!"

With a catchy slogan like that, you can't help but want to try this sauce, right? As you can see by the picture, this is Eastern Carolina Barbecue Sauce, with the words peppery vinegar right above. There's no doubt that "peppery vinegar" perfectly sums up the flavor profile for this sauce. Now I've never been to North or South Carolina, but I do know that Carolina-style BBQ is all about the thin and vinegar-based sauce to go along with whole hog.

Looking at the listed ingredients, number one is apple cider vinegar, which is no surprise. That is the most prominent flavor, followed by... what else? Pepper. Also included are regular vinegar, ketchup, onion powder, and a little bit of crushed red pepper and cayenne to give the sauce a slight kick in the end. I actually love a good, spicy kick on my BBQ sauce and I wished it was even more spicy.

You can see plenty of black and red pepper flakes in this thin sauce

The consistency is classic Carolina style -- it's thin, but not watery, with bold and pronounced vinegar and peppery flavors. This sauce is perfect for both basting and marinating on one thing only -- PIG. If you're smoking some pork shoulder or whole hog and you're looking for that vinegar-based flavor profile, this sauce would be a nice compliment. You can also use this sauce as a marinade for chicken. It should give the chicken a subtle tart and tangy finish throughout the meat. I wouldn't use this sauce on beef or seafood.

If you're a fan of the show and you like vinegar based BBQ sauce, sure why not give it a try. The bottle says to visit www.lizardlick.co for recipes and cooking ideas, but if you visit the site it's a suspended domain written in Spanish! After a web search, it looks like this is the real site.

Dirty Smoke rating (out of 5 stars)
Lizard Lick Towing, Peppery vinegar Eastern Carolina - 3 stars

Lizard Lick Towing and BBQ Sauce

By Dru Chai

As a foodie and BBQ enthusiast, it's only natural that I love watching food-related shows like Top Chef and BBQ Pitmasters. But I have to admit -- I'm also a bit of a reality show junkie. I like shows that bring some insight and knowledge into a profession. Of course, now there's a network dedicated to reality shows called truTV.

What caught my attention recently is their show Lizard Lick Towing. I've always wondered what the repo business is like. If you ever stop making payments on your car, or if you're in debt, some of your belongings will be snatched away to help pay back what you owe. So who does the snatching, and what is that really like? 

That's where Lizard Lick Towing comes in, as they go around repossessing vehicles and machinery on behalf of lien holders. It's a crazy job because they not only have to track down and repossess the property, but they also have to encounter the irate owners who will stop at nothing to prevent their stuff from being taken away.

The owners of Lizard Lick Towing, the Shirleys, have their own line of BBQ sauces. Since their business is based in North Carolina, you can bet that the sauce will have that North Carolina influence. I'll review their sauce to see how it tastes in a future post.

UPDATED: Click here to see my review on Lizard Lick Towing BBQ sauce "Peppery Vinegar."