Blues Hog: what do you think?

[hoovarmin]

I hate their sauces. Too much sugar for me. God bless all who enjoy them - I am glad for that. They make me want to puke.

[Donw]

I too detest sweet and sugary sauces. Have you tried the Tennessee Red? It is more on the thin and vinegary side.

[hoovarmin]

Donw it's been awhile but I did years ago. I'll give it another taste. They always have that outside of the local ACE on Saturdays with pork butt cooked hot and fast on a Green Egg.

[jfmorris]

Yeah... I like the Tennessee Red, but can't handle the others unless I cut them with the red. It's like pouring syrup on your BBQ!

You can easily make your own riff on a NC style vinegar sauce, which is what the Tennessee Red is.

[Hulagn1971]

Blues Hog is my favorite for ribs. I like the OG and the raspberry chipotle. Eastern NC vinegar mop/dip/sauce is all I use for pulled pork and chopped pork.

[DavidNorcross]

I think they are great for ribs. Good sauce.

[Finster]

I don’t use sauce very often but have discovered recently that I really like their Smokey Mountain.
I buy it in the sample size bottles at Walmart.

[wrgilb]

Back when all they made was the original and the red, I use to mix them 50/50. Then they came out with Championship Blend, which is basically a 50/50 mix, like I did. I like their sauces.

[JoeSousa]

The original is definitely on the sweet side of things. Love it for ribs and pork belly burnt ends.

[jjdbike]

Thank you everyone for your input!
I will mix the two for my upcoming pork butts cook.
Best regards,
JD

[realdocBBQ]

I'm with hoovarmin to a degree, I'm not so much on super duper sugary sweet sauces - but honestly, we don't use much sauce at all. More a dry-rub family on ribs. For pulled pork sandwiches, I like a Carolina gold style with some red onions and pickles.

I don't usually pay much attention to a lot of sauces - I keep them around to add in a bit to some beans, or for visitors and such. usually we just have a bottle of Head Country in the fridge, and some of the Carolina gold. Either a commercial one, or one I've made up. Just depends. But sauces last so long around here, I end up throwing them out a lot of times after they've been in the fridge over a year.

I know I've got a couple of bottles of Head Country in there from when we did our Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event last year, so I need to probably throw those away and get news ones, as it's coming up again in April. lol

[gcdmd]

Finster
Can you share the recipe?

[Finster]

gcdmd
I posted in the recipe section..

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/recipes-technique-food-cooking/bbq-sauce-recipes/1708423-simple-vinegar-sauce-for-pulled-pork

[gcdmd]

Finster
Thank you, Sir

[JCBBQ]

This thread makes me realize I haven’t made ribs or pulled pork in a looong time. Yeah I don’t particularly care for blues hog. But it’s not available off the shelf here in North Jersey. If don’t want to make my own I’ll generally just buy some Sweet Baby Ray’s and mix w a good amount of sriracha. 🤷♂️

[Carolyn]

I like Sweet Baby Ray's. Sometimes, I mix it with some Frank's Buffalo sauce.

[jfmorris]

I feel the original is ultra-mega sweet. TOO sweet for me. What I like to do is mix the original and Tennessee red - their riff on a NC vinegar style sauce - in a 50/50 mix, and use it that way. Their Champions blend is in fact supposedly a 50/50 blend of those two sauces.

Back when I made BBQ for much bigger crowds and still used my offset a lot, I was buying several gallons of the Blues Hog at a time from the Kansas City BBQ Store, when they had their free shipping specials a couple times a year. I was getting the original and Tennessee Red, and eventually switched to the Champion's Blend and Tennessee Red on my orders. However, my cooking has slowed down in quantity, and I stopped going through it fast enough. Plus all those gallon jugs used up so much fridge space... and these days you can find it locally at Walmart and other places in the little squeeze bottles. Not as economical as the gallon jugs, but more accessible.

[klflowers]

I like their sauces, especially the TN Red. I usually have that and the Championship Blend on hand.

[kenrobin]

Blues Hog Original is a long-time favorite. Championship is also outstanding.

[fuzzydaddy]

Their Tennessee Red is our favorite for pulled pork - on the side. A Big Bonus is that it tastes similar to the homemade sauce that both my grandfather and father made years ago.

[fzxdoc]

You can't beat Tennessee Red on pulled pork, unless maybe it's Dreamland sauce. But Dreamland is economically hard to get. I won't pay 3x what it sells for in Birmingham.

And, true to our yin/yang personality combo, husband loves the Original the best. Even puts it on brisket.

I'm happy to see the Blues Hog brand in the more convenient squeeze bottles now.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

Used to be I could walk into the local grocery stores (Kroger and Walmart at least, maybe Publix) and get the Dreamland sauce, but now its only at the restaurant across town. Not sure why they quit distributing it. My answer is to stop on a Saturday afternoon when out with Yvonne, eat there, and get two quarts of sauce to go....

[BBQ with Bibbs]

I like to use some blues hog smokey mountain on my pork steaks