If you’d like to hear a discussion on regional sauces, our favorite sauces and other topics, along with some interesting down home humor then hit the link and give it a listen.

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If you’re interested in learning all about the ends and outs of the Hot Sauce World then regular visits to The Hot Sauce Weekly is where you should spend your time.  A giant thank you to Brian and Marilyn Meagher for allowing me the chance to be on their show.

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Shirley J is a Utah based food company that develops and sells quality “no fail, just add water” food products.  I’m not sure about any of the other food products but the BBQ sauce rocks.  I love this stuff and no one is more surprised than I am.  The first time around I followed the directions and mixed the powder 50/50 with water.  I can’t wait to do some experiments by mixing with other liquids.  Fruit juices, tomato based products and the possibilities with Asian flavors is endless.

“Shirley J BBQ Sauce is as simple as it is savory. Just add water, and use with meat or vegetables, as a rub or marinade and on burgers and fries. Sugar and spice and flavor to your liking, or serve the BBQ sauce as-is; Shirley J always promises a no-fuss process.

Shirley J BBQ Sauce can be mixed as an ingredient or dressed as a condiment. Try our flavor varieties below!”

The sauce comes in powdered form mixed 50/50 with water.  Not really sure what is in the powder but the combination of spices and flavorings is excellent and should match up with just about any seasoning, spices or rubs you might use on your BBQ.

When I first mixed the powder in thee water I was a little concerned with how thin it was, but as it heated on the stove it thickened right up into a perfect consistency.

It would be easy to thin this up add some honey or marmalade to give you a nice glaze for just about anything.  The sauce mix comes in 12 oz and 48 oz sizes and I think at least the small one is worth the investment for a try.

Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2011 Larry Gaian

What I came up with was Pork Belly with Peanut Butter & Banana BBQ Sauce.

There are plenty of ways to incorporate peanut butter into a BBQ sauce but coming up with a way to get bananas into the sauce was more of a challenge.  The banana challenge lead to some very interesting exchanges with owners of the Asian markets in the Sacramento area.

Vinegar is often times a key ingredient in BBQ sauces.  A quick googling of “banana” and “vinegar” let me to the discovery of a product found in Japan and the Phillippines–Banana Vinegar.  Banana Vinegar was just the ticket I needed.  Since the product was all over the internet I figured I would have little trouble locating it.  However, after getting laughed at in several of the largest Asian markets in the Sacramento area I asked my BBQ buddy “Landarc” to find me some Banana Vinegar.

Since Landarc is Japanese and knows every Asian market in the San Francisco Bay Area he’d have no trouble finding it.  Well, after also getting him laughed at in several markets I gave up the search and decided to make my own banana infused vinegar.

Banana Infused Rice Vinegar

• 1 12 oz bottle Rice Vinegar
• Peels from 2 bananas

Slice the banana peels into thin slices that will fit through the neck of the rice vinegar bottle.  Grill the banana peels on a medium hot grill until the peels start to turn brown and the oils from the peels start to come out.

Empty the rice vinegar into a small sauce pan and warm the vinegar slightly.  Fill the empty bottle with the grilled peel slices.

When all the peels are in the bottle fill the bottle with the warmed vinegar.  The grilled peels along with the warmed vinegar should allow the banana flavors to infuse into the vinegar.

Put the lid back on the bottle.  When the bottle has cooled to room temperature store in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.  Does it really need a couple of weeks?  Who knows, I’m winging it all at this point.

I used rice vinegar because I figured it would allow the banana flavors to stand out a little more than if I used the stronger apple cider vinegar or white vinegar.  I’m not sure if it worked because the flavor of the vinegar did change but it didn’t taste like banana.  But the thought was there.

But wait!  There’s more!

After going through the whole banana vinegar process it dawned on me that there was a much easier way to get the banana into the meal.  Banana Sauce!  What a simple solution that is.  And to make matters even worse I had a bottle of banana sauce in my pantry the whole time.

Banana ketchup or banana sauce is a popular Filipino condiment made from mashed banana, sugar, vinegar, and spices. Its natural color is brownish, so it is often dyed red to resemble tomato ketchup. Banana ketchup was made when there was a shortage of tomato ketchup during World War II, due to lack of tomatoes and a comparatively high production of bananas. –Courtesy of Wikipedia

And since the Peanut Butter BBQ Sauce contains ketchup I knew this would be a great way to get more banana into the meal.

Peanut Butter BBQ Sauce

• 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup Banana Sauce
• 1 tablespoon of your favorite BBQ rub (I used Plowboy’s Yardbird Rub)
• 2 tablespoons Banana Infused Rice Vinegar

In a medium bowl stir all the ingredients together and set aside until ready to use.

Now that I’ve got the banana and peanut butter covered I decided that instead of bacon I would use pork belly.  Since pork belly is what bacon is made from I figured it was the perfect meat to use.

After removing the skin from the belly I lightly seasoned the belly with Yardbird Rub.  I put the pork belly into my Traeger with cherry pellets for 2 hours at 190 degrees.  I wanted the pork belly to take on some smoke but didn’t want it to cook much.

After taking on some smoke I put half the BBQ sauce on the pork belly and put it in a covered foil pan with some apple juice and braised it on my Char-Broil infrared grill for another two hours.  After two hours I turned the grill up to high and seared the belly to crisp it up and caramelize the sugars in the bbq sauce.  I brushed on the rest of the sauce and got a nice sear on it.

I served the Elvis Belly with grilled sweet potatoes and Cilantro Sauce.

Get yourself some sweet potatoes and wedge them into nice big hunks.  Brush the potato wedges with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Grill them on all sides until they are done.  Sounds pretty easy…because it is.

Cilantro Sauce

• 1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 fresh jalapeno, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons raw onion, grated
• 3 tablespoons salsa

Stir all the ingredients together until smooth.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

Serve over the grilled sweet potatoes or as a dipping sauce.

I got a tweet from @nephewsbbq (Dylan Moody) asking if I’d like to have some samples of his BBQ sauces to try.  I told him I’d be happy to give them a taste.  A few days later a box arrived with jars of all six flavors.   I don’t normally review six BBQ sauces all at once, but I figured in this case it would be the best thing to do.  So I had a few friends over, cooked up some chicken drumettes and we taste tested all the sauces.

Nephews BBQ sauce is a gourmet line of bbq sauces where we pair the sweetness of fruit with the spiciness of chili peppers. The result is an award winning line of unique bbq sauces that will make you the king of your next backyard bbq or tailgate. Nephews started out as a wedding favor for friends and family at his wedding in 2009. The response was overwhelming and after winning an award in December Nephews BBQ Sauce was born. Once you try our sauce we are confident you will invite Nephews to all your bar-b-ques!

So here’s a compilation of the comments from five wing users over the course of an evening.  It’s interesting to note the degree of “heat” each of the taste testers could handle.  My comments about each sauce is marked in italics.

“SWEET THUNDER”:

It’s not a surprise that all of four of the taste testers thought this sauce was sweet.  Everyone considered the sauce to be mild.  Other comments included: “very smooth,” “good flavor,” “to sweet,” “no heat and good for everyone.”  A couple of the taster testers noticed a lot of vinegar.   For my tastes this sauce would be more of the traditional type of sauce I would use for pulled pork or chicken.  There is a taste of vinegar, and that’s not a bad thing, but it does have a tendency to stand out on lightly seasoned meats like chicken.  For someone not used to a vinegar type sauce they might have a problem with this.   This is a great everyday sauce.

“PEACHY ‘POTLE”:

For everyone the peach flavor popped right out on this sauce.  Comments: “Moderate heat,” very good flavor,” “nice peach,” “everyone would like this sauce.”  I tasted the peach right off.  This sauce would go with just about anything.  If you like fruit based sauces this is one you’ve got to try.  There’s not a lot of chipotle flavor and for most people that will be good.  For my tastes this is a moderate sauce.  But don’t think it’s “hot” because it’s not.  I’m just not sure what level is between mild and moderate.

“HABAN’ORANGE”:

Everyone got the orange in this sauce.  It’s not hidden at all.  Comments: “good tangy flavor,”  “very good flavor,” nice citrus,” “mild to sever heat,” “mild heat.”  WOW!  This sauce has some pucker power.  The citrus/orange just whacks you right up front and doesn’t go away.  I love this sauce.  Don’t let the habanero in the title, this sauce isn’t nearly as hot as other sauces on the market that use habanero.  I’d use this sauce on just about anything, but it’s going to be a staple for pulled pork and fish.

“ANGRY NEPHEW’S”:

Okay, this sauce just about killed one of my taste testers.  It’s the hottest of the bunch.  Comments: “burn baby burn…lips, tongue and throat,” “good flavor, nice afterburn,” “for people who want a hot flavor,” “a very nice kick to it.  Not outrageously strong but still a strong burn,” “not for wimps.”  This sauce is more of the traditional type “hot” BBQ sauce.  It’s nice but for me, when compared, to the others there’s not anything I would call special about it.

“CHERRY ‘POTLE”:

Just like the other fruit sauces the flavor of the fruit just jumped right out front and took charge for all the tasters.  Comments: “very strong cherry flavor,” “not much heat, small kick at the end,” “love the sweetness,” “mild.”  I found this sauce to be much like the peach sauce.  And that’s a good thing.  My two favorite woods to smoke with are peach and cherry and this sauce will compliment many of the dishes I like to cook.  Again, not a lot of the traditional chipotle flavor.

“GHOSTLY PUMPKIN”:

Pumpkin and Ghost Peppers!  This was the sauce we were all a little hesitant to try.  One of the hottest peppers on Earth combined with pumpkin, not your traditional BBQ sauce combination.  Comments: “slight pumpkin flavor,” “mild to warm,” “did not taste pumpkin,” “moderate heat,” “good pumpkin flavor,” “good spice flavors,” “nice mix of the pumpkin and pepper flavors.”  I expect the heat of this sauce to just kill every opportunity for the pumpkin flavor to be found.  Not true at all.  This is a mild to moderate hot BBQ sauce.  The pumpkin, for me, just popped.  When I tasted this sauce I immediately thought of Thanksgiving.  Weird, I know.  I really love this sauce.  It’s different, yet not so odd that it won’t go with your meats or side dishes.  I’ve had lots of non-traditional sauces (gimmick) and most of them aren’t meant to be taken seriously.  This sauce is seriously good.

Let me be honest here.  When Dylan first contacted me and I went to their website and read about these sauces I was not sure what I was getting myself into.  I had the misfortune of trying strawberry BBQ Sauce once and I wasn’t ready for another “spit out my meat” episode.  But I’d committed to trying them so I did.

These sauces are different.  Different in a good way.  What I especially appreciated was that the fruit seemed to take the front of the stage.  I love the flavors of these sauces.  The “peppers” take second fiddle.  They are there but they are in the sauce in a manner that doesn’t mask the fantastic flavors of the fruit.  For the most part the heat doesn’t overpower anything.  I review a lot of sauces and there are few that I dislike.  But there are even fewer that I’ve come right out and said, “Buy this sauce.”

You can find out more about Nephew’s sauces here.

One of those artisan sauces is Funny Farm BBQ’s “Original Competition BBQ Sauce.”  Based out of Paola, Kansas Marc Matthews, the leader of the Funny Farm Competition BBQ Team, has come up with a great sauce that will compliment any meat.

I gave the Funny Farm sauce two different tries.  Once on pork spare ribs rubbed with Simply Marvelous Pecan Rub and a second time with baby back ribs with Simply Marvelous Sweet & Spicy Rub.  This allowed me to tell how the sauce would react to different flavor profiles.

In both cases the Funny Farm sauce complimented the rubs and meat.  There’s a great deal of seasoning in the sauce and often times sauce makers try to make a good tasting sauce for the sake of the sauce.  This is a great way to make a sauce if you want a sauce that overpowers everything.   But true BBQ fanatics want a sauce that can be used as a compliment to the meat, rub and smoke.  You get this with the Funny Farm sauce.

The sauce is sweet when it first hits the tongue which is a nice touch for those that enjoy enjoy sweet sauces.  But because many of the popular BBQ rubs have a more spicy flavor profile it often clashes with the sweet sauces.  In the case of Funny Farm sauce they’ve also given you a little spicy kick on the back end.  It’s not really “hot” spicy, just spicy.  This little surprise is what really enhances the seasoning on the meat.

I like to use mild fruit woods when I smoke pork.  Since fruit woods are often times more mild you don’t want a sauce that will overpower the wood smoke flavor.  What’s the point of spending six hours smoking ribs if you aren’t going to taste the wood smoke flavor.  The Funny Farm sauce allows the wood smoke flavor to come through.

It’s no wonder the Funny Farm Competition BBQ Team has had the great results they have had on the BBQ competition circuit.  I’m hoping they have great success with this sauce because they have a couple other sauces up their sleeves.

You can find Funny Farm on Facebook and order their sauce on their official website.

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.

I jumped at the chance to review this product. I enjoy smoking with fruit woods and love many fruit flavor-based rubs, so a fruit-based BBQ sauce seemed like a good idea.

When the sauce arrived and I had a chance to read the ingredients, I was curious to say the least. “Pickled Strawberries” were listed as the main ingredient and upon learning this, I started to have a little trepidation.

The sauce was so thick I couldn’t get it out of the bottle. It was similar to trying to get the first bit of catsup or mustard out of those little bottles. I had to use a butter knife to scrape it out.

The smell was not like any other sauce I’ve ever tried. The initial taste test was shocking to say the least. It was terrible. Knowing that some sauces just don’t taste good out of the bottle, I grilled up a couple of pork chops and chicken thighs to try it with food.

Folks, don’t buy this stuff. It was, without a doubt, the worst bbq product I have ever used. I’ve eaten many things in my life and it is a rare occasion that I can’t swallow what I cook. I had to spit the piece of pork chop out. Thinking it was just my taste buds, I asked my wife to try it. She had the same end result.

If it wasn’t listed on their website at www.tassleberryfarms.com, I would have thought someone was playing a practical joke on me. It was that bad. If you’ve read my reviews in the past, you know I always try to find something positive to say. I can’t find anything positive about this product.

(Photo Courtesy of Tassleberry Farms)