Denine is still recovering from her shoulder surgery earlier this week, so it made sense to hang out around home this weekend. Plus, Bethany is home from college for Easter.
Since we were going to be here, I figured it would be a good time to pull that big butt out of the freezer and roast it in my magic cooking box. It takes about a day of prep with brining, so timing was just right. So today I got my cooking mojo working and by early evening we were serving the butt roast, fire roasted corn, salad, and greens. I'd call that big time southern living.
Here's the thing...since we are new to the area we don't have a lifetime or family allegiance to a particular bar-b-que sauuce. We get the joy of trying many until we settle on our own family favorite. It's a daunting task, but I believe we are up to the endeavor.
As we started the meal we had two sauces open. I keep buying different ones and trying them one or two at a time. Yes, I am a sauce junkie. As we started eating the notion struck that we had the perfect meal to evaluate any sauce in the house and cut down on the learning curve...plus it would be fun!
After sampling and discussing the sauces we needed a good method to pick the finishing order. Since Denine could not even do a golf clap, applause was out. We settled on making that great stadium noise when the stadium is all cheering as I held my hand over each sauce.
Here are the results:
- Dr. Pepper (Established 1885) Sweet & Kickin' BBQ Sauce - Yuck!! It's a commercial product gone all wrong. It's sweet, but it's not kickin'. I should have know better than buy a mass produced product! It's dead last.
- Shealy's (Established I'm sure a while ago) Vinegar & Pepper Sauce - Shealy's Bar-B-Que in Leesville, SC is honest about their sauce. It is Vinegary and Peppery. They threw in a little ketchup and brown sugar so there would be more on the ingredients list. It's a little hard to figure out how to use since it is so thin. It's not bad flavoring for some outside chop, but I think we can do better. A game #3.
- Original Johnny Harris (Established 1924) Famous Bar-B-Que Sauce - This Savannah,GA institution uses famous and world famous on the same label! The web site says it's Savannah's oldest restaurant. It's not bad. It reminds me of the sauces of my youth in Virginia. It's tangy, vinegary, and peppery. A solid sauce. A solid #2.
- Melvin's (Since 1939) Southern Red BBQ Sauce - Melvin Bessinger from Holly Hill, SC tells us his sauce is legendary, it's #1 in the low country, and it's a secret recipe. And I kind of like it when there is a happy pig chowing down on the label. It was sweet and spicy. It has flavor with a nice like kick. It was our clear #1... for now.
My favorite two grocery spots, Corley's Market and Lakelands Piggly Wiggly both have tons of sauces on the shelf. It may take a while to get to a clear family favorite. I'm staying away from the big commercial products. Suggestions will be evaluated and appreciated. I'll let you know how things come along.