Ok, I'm being asked to enter a local bbq sauce comp with "my sauce". Here's my hang up. When does a sauce become yours? I started with Meathead KC sauce and have modified it over the years. I have no aspirations of profit. In the event I win it will be donated to a local non-profit so at what point does it become my sauce?
-
-
Interesting question.
-
How about a comparison. List the original and altered over time. That could help in judgement to your question.Comment
-
I use a Modified Memphis Dust. Two ingredients were substituted with something else.Comment
-
Agreed, I do what I call "Memphis Dust +". I think of it as mine. Truth be told the mix of ingredients between some commercial products is minimally altered, I'd bet some are nearly identical. One or two ingredients with a different amount or concentration can significantly alter the flavor profile of a sauce or rub. If you've modified multiple things, regardless of your 'base', I'd think it's 'yours enough' for a local competition.
-
-
For me, when you alter it enough that it is easily distinguishable from the inspiration. I'd perhaps add "In a blind taste test". It might inadvertently taste like some other sauce that you've never tried but that's because sauce styles are all in a relatively narrow band.Comment
-
This.Originally posted by Willy View Post
I’d be willing to bet that if five of us made Meathead’s sauce, they would all taste different from each other. They’d be close, but different. And anyhow, if you look at 20 different KC style sauce recipes, they’ll all have ketchup, brown sugar, and vinegar. So everything else is nuance, right?
Don’t sweat it. If there’s no receipt, it’s yours.Comment
-
I read the question and was going to point this out, just not as well! A former member made furniture. He talked once about patents. He said that if two (however minor) alterations were made to furniture it no longer violated the patent on the original. Taking that - two alterations to ingredients and it is yours. -
Yep. Without factory precision, it is unlikely you make the same sauce twice. 😁
-
Good question. There's probably a rule of thumb about the percentage of change. I'll bet Meathead was working off of other KC sauces when he developed his.Comment
-
My go-to rubs and sauces are the basic recipes from the original "Barbecue Bible" by Steve Raichlen. I have modified them slightly, mainly by playing with the hotter ingredients. I use a particular fine ground red pepper blend instead of Cayenne and some Yucatan Sunshine to spice things up, for example. I give full credit to Raichlen if anyone asks where the base came from.Comment
-
I use honey from my beehives. Anything I make with it is mine. Own it man, it is yoursComment
-
If I read that just as you wrote it, my assumption would be any sauce that I made rather than a commercially bottled sauce.Comment
-
...picks up his glass of absinthe and takes an uncomfortably long sip....
As one cannot copyright a recipe, is a sauce ever anyone's to begin with? It's deep yall....so deep....Comment
-
As long as you don’t publish a cookbook w recipes and anecdotes from Meathead’s childhood and pass them off as your own, you’re probably good.
Comment
-
I mean a lot of recipes use Heinz ketchup for more than 50% of the sauce, or people with a killer baked beans recipe and you find out it's just 2 cans of Bushes and some extra stuff thrown in, tons of examples. In my opinion, even if it's made up of another recipe with your tweaks, it's yours... when you share it you give credit to the starting source or ingredient and move on.Comment
-
I think it is yours if it doesn't come from a commercial bottle. Even though it is based on mine, you have altered it, so I think it is yours. When I write recipes, in a case like this I will say it was "inspired by" and list the source. Good luck!Comment
Comment