Know Your Barbecue Sauces

Know Your Barbecue Sauces

Or, Will Your Team Fans be Sauced This Year?

Its tailgate season again, and tailgaters will have their barbecue sauce with them! Which sauce will you choose for your tailgating? It might help to know a little sauce history so you can choose wisely.

Pioneers began making barbecue sauces back in the 1700’s as they moved westward across the states. They began developing sauces to bring out the taste of the meat they killed and cooked. Were they trying to calm down the taste of the wild meat or bring out the buffalo flavor? Who knows, but a few distinct flavors of barbecue sauce have survived and remained quite popular to this day. Now we can say that we can identify team fans by their barbecue sauce. (Don’t tell me I would be able to tell by their fanwear —maybe their team is pretty bad so they don’t  wear it!)

Here are some examples:

·         If you found fans using a sauce with a mustard base with a little tomato and vinegar added, you might have come across some Clemson Tiger fans or South Carolina Gamecocks.  The Carolina sauces are for pork, and we credit them for giving us pulled pork.

·         How about a little sweet-and -sour flavor with a tomato base instead of the mustard: Those would be Memphis Tiger fans and this is the famous Memphis sauce.

·         How about a tomato base with mesquite flavor and a hot kick to mop on their brisket and ribs, along with some extra rubs for their steak. Then you have probably come across Hornfrog fans, or Longhorns, Raiders, Bears or Aggies—they would be from Texas.

·         Then you might find some using a sauce that has a tomato base sweetened with molasses or brown sugar, and complemented with a little vinegar—you have come across some Wildcats or Jayhawks from Kansas, and that would be the Kansas City style sauce.

At any rate, if you happen to be walking past a bunch of tailgaters and you don’t know where they are from, just walk up and try some of their barbecue sauce. Then just pick yourself up, brush off your fan shirt and greet them.  Then you can say “Hi, there!” (or “Hi, y’all!” whichever the flavor.)
Find more answers at bestbackyardchef.com.