What is your favorite off the shelf BBQ Sauce

[nicko]

Ok so I know most of us make our own but today a friend who does not want to make their own asked my recommendation for a good store bought BBQ sauce. I had three I use but I was curious to what are your favorites so I can have some others to try and possibly recommend.

My three are Bone Suckin Sauce, Sweet Baby Rays, KC Masterpiece.

 

[tylerm713]

Sweet Baby Rays hands down. It's really the only one I will buy.

 

[kyheirloomer]

Interesting. I'm not even familiar with the first two. And found KC Masterpiece to be overly heavy on both the sweetness and smoke.

Which is why, of course, tastes differ. /img/vbsmilies/smilies/thumb.gif

I can't remember the last time I used bottled barbecue sauce. But Friend Wife uses it as a condiment, in lieu of ketchup. So we just buy whatever is least expensive. Just checked the fridge, and what's in there is Kraft Hickory Smoke Barbecue Sauce. Which tells me it must have been on sale when we bought it. Back-up bottle, in the pantry, is merely the supermarket house brand.

Did your friend indicate why (s)he doesn't want to make it? It's not like making barbecue sauce is a major investment in time or hard-to-find ingredients.

 

[phatch]

I find sweet baby rays to be just smoky sugar. Bone Sucking is pretty good. I know a number who mix SBR and BS for their final sauce.  Gates is pretty good but a bit heavy on the celery seed.

In commercial sauces I'm partial to Stubbs Spicy and Stubbs Mesquite.

When I can get it I like Arthur Bryants too.

 

[gunnar]

I usually get whatever is cheap and doesn't contain HFCS. I used to use KC Masterpiece all the time but believe I stopped due to the presence of HFCS. Anymore I really just use a mix of dark soy, worstechire, and rice vinegar, sometimes add a bit of molasses and let it warm a bit to reduce and blend in better.

 

[maryb]

The only thing I use BBQ sauce for is chicken strips(I make my own). KC Masterpiece is okay, Cookies also. Most commercial sauces are way to sweet for me.

 

[petemccracken]

I usually get whatever is cheap and doesn't contain HFCS. I used to use KC Masterpiece all the time but believe I stopped due to the presence of HFCS. Anymore I really just use a mix of dark soy, worstechire, and rice vinegar, sometimes add a bit of molasses and let it warm a bit to reduce and blend in better.

Would you care to elucidate your objection to HFCS?
 

 

[durangojo]

 i mostly make mine with mango ginger habanero, and roasted raspberry chipotle sauce added to a base...when i buy it though its sweet baby rays 'chipotle honey' all the way!

joey

 

[bhtoad]

I usually use Sweet Baby Ray's original.  Most of my guests really like it.  My favorite store bought is Dinosaur Sauce, originally from a restaurant in Rochester, NY.  Years ago I used to get Texas Best, but I can't find it anymore.  Nice balance of heat and smoke.  

 

[boar_d_laze]

What's the point of buying bottled KC/Memphis style sauce?  It's usually the same ketchup,vinegar, sugar, mustard, spices, and liquid smoke you'd use. 

It's easy to mix pantry staples and liquid smoke (if you desire) to get to whatever flavor profile(s) you desire without even cooking. 

Give it most of the same staples, replace a few with fresh aromatics, add two minutes of knife work, a couple of tbs of BTB, a little instant coffee, a half hour of simmering, strain it, add a glug of rum or bourbon, a butter finish, and there you go.  Yours is MUCH better than anything off the shelf.  Plus, it's something to do while the coals get hot. 

Should I post a recipe?

BDL

PS. Durangojo makes a good point about some of the best sauces not being in that style at all.

 

[kcz]

Ole Ray's Blackberry Wine Barbecue Sauce.  It's a little on the sweet side like most purchased sauces but quite tasty. 

http://www.olerayssauces.com/

Wondering now if he's Sweet Baby Ray's grandfather??? 

 

[gunnar]

Would you care to elucidate your objection to HFCS?
 

A. I don't like the idea of something being x (I don't remember the exact factor)  times sweeter then sugar B. It is all empty calories C. It interferes with and causes issues with the absorption and digestion of regular sugars also causing a bit of an issue with insulin levels causing most of the sugar or HFCS to be stored as fat and not burned as fuel till the body burns it as fat. D. Been some research that says it interferes with cellular regeneration. Thus aiding in joint pain/damage and poor muscle repair  E. They have had too many commercials saying it's OK  in small doses, I don't want OK in small doses, cocaine used to be OK in small doses too, I don't do that either.

I know it's still in some  things I eat, but this stuff is in the craziest things. Seen it in canned chili,  pasta sauces, chip dips, chips (usually exotic flavored like sweet onion) all kinds of stuff it really has no buisness being in.

 

[gonefishin]

Ok so I know most of us make our own but today a friend who does not want to make their own asked my recommendation for a good store bought BBQ sauce. I had three I use but I was curious to what are your favorites so I can have some others to try and possibly recommend.

My three are Bone Suckin Sauce, Sweet Baby Rays, KC Masterpiece.

  Hi Nicko,

   For a prepared bbq sauce I really like Super Smokers Tennessee sauce.  I don't know If I've had Bone Suckin' Sauce or not, sounds good /img/vbsmilies/smilies/rolleyes.gif   Kc's doesn't seem quite as sweet as Sweet Baby's...so I suppose that's a little bit better than Ray's.  Even comparing super sweet bbq sauces Sweet Baby's has been beatin' out by many of a generic sauces in single blind tests by myself and others.

    I do prefer sauces with a little more balanced flavors though.  

  dan

 

[teamfat]

I think the last bottle of store bought sauce I had in the house was Sweet Baby Ray's.  I can't remember if I bought it or if someone brought it over for a party.

I much prefer making 'dressed up ketchup' where I can tune the acidity and heat to the levels I prefer.  It is really easy to make a decent sauce at home and tune it to your own palate.

And I too try to avoid high fructose corn syrup when possible.  It is not natural, it is a chemically altered sugar that is a lot cheaper than real cane or beet sugars, so money can be saved by using it instead of the real thing.  Too bad human bodies don't metabolize it well and not knowing exactly what to do with the strange sugar turn it into fat.

mjb.

 

[petemccracken]

With regards to HFCS, you just might want to look at what the Mayo Clinic says: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588 as well as what a diabetic web site thinks: http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2008/08/20/4274/the-dangers-of-high-fructose-corn-syrup/ and contemplate their conclusions.

I agree that we ALL need to reduce our sugar consumption and THAT is a very valid reason for reading the labels closely, the real KEY is grams of SUGAR and of lesser concern is the specific type of sugar.

And remember, fructose is the form of sugar found in most fruits as well.

Now, back to the topic of B-B-Q sauce(s)...Personally, I prefer to mix my own, why? Because I don't appreciate eating all those ingredients that I cannot pronounce /img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif

 

[tylerm713]

Of course, I prefer to make my own BBQ sauce. But the OP asked what our favorite store bought sauce is, not if we prefered to make it or buy it.

 

[petemccracken]

Of course, I prefer to make my own BBQ sauce. But the OP asked what our favorite store bought sauce is, not if we prefered to make it or buy it.

WHOOPS!
 

 

[nicko]

Post no recipes this thread is for store bought bbq sauces. Thanks for all the great feedback everyone!

 

[durangojo]

With regards to HFCS, you just might want to look at what the Mayo Clinic says: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/high-fructose-corn-syrup/AN01588 as well as what a diabetic web site thinks: http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2008/08/20/4274/the-dangers-of-high-fructose-corn-syrup/ and contemplate their conclusions.

I agree that we ALL need to reduce our sugar consumption and THAT is a very valid reason for reading the labels closely, the real KEY is grams of SUGAR and of lesser concern is the specific type of sugar.

And remember, fructose is the form of sugar found in most fruits as well.

Now, back to the topic of B-B-Q sauce(s)...Personally, I prefer to mix my own, why? Because I don't appreciate eating all those ingredients that I cannot pronounce /img/vbsmilies/smilies/crazy.gif

not to mention the link between cancers and sugar, high blood pressure and heart disease as well...hfcs... its in baby food for pete sake, which for me asks, 'can we really be surprised that we have an epidemic obesity problem in this country'?...god, who would want to hurt a baby?... or any of us for that matter, by making us fat, have bad hearts, raise our blood pressure, feed our cancers, and shorten our lives....real comforting to know that the people you trust with your food are really your enemies...makes the saying, 'keep your enemies closer', hit home...take home lesson here is, you really just got to be proactive about what you put in your mouth, how and where it came from and how it was cooked...apologies to the op..i know i really got off the track from your topic, but i just couldn't help myself...just makes me crazy knowing that someone else is controlling our lives, and unless we call them on it constantly, it will continue...

joey
 

 

[kyheirloomer]

Nothing against a HFCS discussion, guys. But instead of hijacking Nicko's thread, why don't we just start a new one on that topic.

Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast.