I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's Kansas City BBQ sauce. It's currently my fave. But it has liquid smoke. Why go through all the trouble to control the Smokey flavors of BBQ if it's going to be over-ridden by the sauce? A quick perusal through the grocery store shows most commercial sauces have it. I understand why, but am wondering if there is a good one without it. I've been getting good at making my own thanks to the recipes here, but sometimes you want someone else to do the work.
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I like Stubbs origanal -
You just may have unearthed a quandary that no one has recognized. Hmmmmm..... we shall see what the AR wizards come up with. I even checked a bottle of Asian BBQ sauce & its ditto on the flavor thing.Comment
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Yeah, I was on my phone yesterday, so I didn't go into as much depth as I intended to. (even with as good as the predictive spelling has gotten, I can't stand not having a keyboard) The reason for everything having Smoke Flavor makes sense. For the non-BBQ Nerd, their grilling or BBQ will taste OK. Sometimes they'll stumble upon a good taste, but won't be able to replicate it. They want their food to taste like the best BBQ restaurants. So of course a Capitalistic Arms Race dictates that whichever sauce maker makes your food taste better than it tastes due to your cooking abilities will be the market leader. So they will all end up having it so as not to be the worst.
In reality I expect my quest will either turn up nil or it will be a niche company (or niche corner of one of the big food companies) that recognizes the tiny market of BBQ Nerds. (this is no different from other things I nerd out about. Most people are fine with the computing power or their tablets or phones. I've got the beefiest 10 computers I can afford on my salary. I've got the best photography equipment I can afford on my salary. Cell phones are OK for me, but just can't match the response time or the experimentation potential of an SLR. You might have the best car parts or whatever you nerd about on) So I'll probably just have to end up making my own sauce. The good thing is t hat Meathead's KC sauce is supposed to be good for months thanks to the vinegar. And the second plus is that my wife is generally very good at tasting something and knowing what ingredient to add or subtract. Since we know what the KC sauce we like tastes like, we could migrate towards that (if that is our desire) and end up with our own recipe.
That said.... if someone knows a good commercially produced sauce without smoke flavors (natural or otherwise), I wouldn't mind having a backup I could pull off the shelf.Comment
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