I have to admit. I’ve always had a prejudice against mustard based BBQ sauces. I also have to admit this prejudice comes without ever having tried one. I love mustard, all kinds. But the thought of a mustard based sauce just never sounded all that appealing. But when Jay announced he had a new sauce I knew I had to ovecome my hesitancy and give it a shot.
Whether it’s “Hen-N-Hog Dust,” “Heffer Dust,” or “Gourmet Blend All Seasoning” I find myself using one or another at least once a week. So, when I took the lid off the bottle of “Black & Gold” and smelled the aroma of mustard, no matter how mild it was, I just didn’t think I would be able to eat this sauce. And when the meal was over I couldn’t believe just how wrong I was.
This sauce is amazingly good. There is little to no “mustard” taste after the cook. The tang is there, but not that normal mustard flavor. It comes from the vinegar and other spices, not the mustard. I know it sounds strange to have a mustard based sauce that doesn’t taste like mustard, but that’s the way it is. The sweet aftertaste compliments the meet and the rub I used. I am so impressed. I can’t wait to try this stuff on some chicken and pork.
I started with rubbin down some beef back ribs with “Hen-N-Hog Dust.” I could have used “Heffer Dust” but I grabbed the wrong bottle of rub off the shelf and didn’t know I had done it until I had already rubbed the ribs.
They started to take on a nice color after about 3 hours in the Traeger with Cherry pellets.
I’ve decided my ribs, pork and beef, come out much better if I am patient and don’t use foil. When I foil ribs I find myself over-cooking them each and everytime. After 6 1/2 hours the ribs were about ready to be pulled. I sauced one rack of ribs with “Chipotle Bacon Sauce” just in case my Celeste and/or I didn’t like the mustard sauce. The other rack got the “Black & Gold.”
As you can see the sauce looks like a mustard based sauce, which it is, but it’s also got brown sugar, honey and some seasonings. It looks good here:
It looks just as good on on the ribs:
Here they are all cut and ready for some serious munching:
If you want a great sauce then I can’t recommend a better sauce than Spicewine “Black & Gold Sauce.” I’m not sure where it’s available yet, but I’m sure an email or phone call to Spicewine Ironworks will get you some sauce. As soon as I get some details on availability I’ll post them here in the comments.
Those look delicious! Two questions: How do you select beef ribs (i.e. what specifications)? How do you know which rub to pair with which sauce? Or is that just a trial and error thing?
Hey Carrie! I’ve found the beef back ribs offer the most meat on the bone. Since they come cryo’d it can be a little hit or miss sometimes. I try to look for lots of marbling and meaty looking.
Looks GREAT! I usually sample any sauces I buy directly down the hatch but you’ve made a good point as I’m not a fan of mustard based sauces. Maybe I’ll give Salt Lick’s sauce another chance used as yo udescribed above. THANKS!