I keep hearing "if the BBQ is good you don't need a sauce." So what's the deal?

[Lost in China]

I keep hearing, over and over, "if the BBQ is good, it doesn't need a sauce." So, why do we even have BBQ sauce in the first place?

All the recipes I've made from this site, leg of lamb, chicken thighs, chicken breast, they are all tender and juicy and I never use a sauce. The recipes warn you, "don't use a BBQ sauce, this is so good you won't need it!" As I trust what the experts say, and have gotten great results by following these recipes, I have to wonder what is the purpose of BBQ sauce at all. I just coat the outside of the meat with rub. The one time I made a sauce, it was to accompany pork loin and it wasn't even a BBQ sauce, it was a piccata sauce.

It seems like it only exists to salvage inferior BBQ. Or, to cover up the awful taste of meat when you screw it up. The idea is "let the true BBQ flavor of the meat shine through, when you use a sauce you just cover it up and waste all the time you spent!" So I have to ask, why do we even bother with BBQ sauce in the first place?

[Jerod Broussard]

Some people like a little more sweetness or a little more tangy. Also helps with some things that are inherently dry.

I like sweet sauce on my ribs but I can live without it. I also like sweet sauce on my sliced pork butt aka country style ribs but really don't on butt that I pull. For pulled pork I prefer that columbia gold mustard or a little mayo.

Nothing for me on brisket or pulled chuck. Sometimes I like a little on my chicken.

LOVE some hot stuff on my wings....

I grew up on grilled pork, chicken, deer and sheep that was marinated in a 1:1 mixture of Italian dressing and BBQ sauce. I still use it for deer and wild pig.

To each his own.....

[Shane Rakow]

Burnt ends......

[RonB]

Sometimes a good sauce can enhance the flavor.
Here's what I do when I go to a new to me BBQ joint. I always try the pulled pork first - unless they say they sauce it before serving. If they do sauce first, I don't order pulled pork, and I will probably leave if I'm by myself. If I do order pulled pork, I taste it naked. Even if it's great, I'll still try a sauce or two to see if one can make it even better.
I don't order ribs out because I like mine better than what I have found in restaurants, (Frankin BBQ excepted). I used to eat ribs naked, then I tried several rubs and went back to naked. Then, after all the good things I heard here about Meathead's Memphis Dust, I tried it and liked it a lot. My wife likes sauce on hers, (Sweet Baby Rays), so I tried hers, (with both MMD and SBR), and really liked it, so that's the way I roll now.
I don't sauce beef.

Bottom line is that the meat should stand on it's own, but sometimes a little sauce can be very good.

[Michael Brinton]

Sauce was being over used to cover up bad cooking. With the rise of good cooking, incredible cooking, using sites like this one, the next step is refocusing onto sauces in their place complementing the food. Have you tried Meathead's grown up mustard sauce? Steak is great, add a board sauce, and great just got better.

[Lost in China]

A board sauce isn't a BBQ sauce, though. It's just olive oil with herbs. I'm specifically asking about why we even bother with BBQ sauce. I also disagree that it was only for bad food, before I came to this site me and most other people in the world thought that BBQ sauce always went with barbecued meats.

[ribeyeguy]

About the only thing my wife and I use sauce on is pulled pork. Everything else winds up delicious with her dry rub and some smoke from the fire. Something about a pork butt though, while they always turn out good they always seem to be a bit on the bland side.

[Lost in China]

I asked for advice when making pulled pork a couple of weeks ago and Huskee said, "IMHO proper BBQ doesn't need any sauce".

DeusDingo said, "a lot of people, when they have good pulled pork, will eat it "dry." if you like your product enough the sauce distracts from the flavor you just worked 12 hours to produce."

Why do we even bother with BBQ sauce recipes if this is true?

[edible hen]

IMHO bbq sauce is something that should be seen and not heard. Not to disrespect bbq sauce, but temps, seasoning and timing are more crucial to the end result. If you swing and miss on 1 of those, then bbq sauce may be essential. I strive to nail the flavor profile I'm aiming for on meat and then work on tweaks to my sauce.

[RonB]

Think pie - a pie can be mighty good all by itself, but going "a la mode" can make it even more enjoyable.

[W.A.]

A lot of people take advantage of their right to do whatever they want. Whenever I get a meal, I immediately grab the black pepper. Chinese food, I grab the soy sauce and hot mustard. Hot dog - mustard. Hot wings, blue cheese. However, BBQ I take a taste. If it sucks, then some sauce - vinegary sauce if they have it. I dont normally eat others BBQ though because it usually does suck.

[Mosca]

Why do we even bother with BBQ sauce recipes if this is true?

I'm not afraid to swim against the tide here.

Because BBQ sauce tastes freakin' great, that's why. What else are you going to put it on? Broccoli? Salad?

Sauces have a culinary reputation that goes back at least a thousand years, if not more: Rome wouldn't have been Rome without garum. There is no cuisine without sauce. What differentiates the different bbq styles? The sauce.

I'm all for people eating it the way they want to. But I am 100% against any slavish adherence to any rules. If bbq is good, it's probably better with a great sauce. But eat it however you want to.

[Jerod Broussard]

If BBQ sauce merely covers up bad BBQ, then every competition cook-off just has cooks covering up bad BBQ.

[Lost in China]

Well, then how do you resolve the conflict? Good BBQ doesn't need a sauce, it just covers up mistakes .But competition winners use it ? Help me to wrap my mind around the concept.

[CaptainMike]

The right amount of the right sauce can enhance almost any meal. But, like wine, individual tastes vary. I love BBQ sauce and usually have 2 or 3 different styles made up (I quit buying store-bought years ago) and sitting in the fridge. I mostly like it on the side but will occasionally mop a little on ribs or chicken just before they come off. With that said, dry brining, using a good rub, and utilizing good technique are all I think anyone needs to be a very successful el Rey de la barbacoa.

[Abom]

I'm one of those people who like to think that good barbecue doesn't need sauce, but that doesn't mean that I don't use it anyway! Different sauces bring additional dimensions to the food, and I'll eat BBQ plain or with any of many different sauces depending on my whim at the time. It's all good, no need to worry about it.

[DWCowles]

I'm with you 1,000,000,000,000,000% Abom