Question:
Take this poll and tell us about your use of homemade versus store-bought barbecue sauce.

Choose the answer that most closely describes your situation.

Regards,
Chris

Choices:
I make almost all of the sauce I use; I rarely use store-bought
I make most of the sauce I use, but use store-bought occasionally
I'm split 50/50 between making my own and store-bought
I use store-bought sauce most of the time, but make my own occasionally
Almost all of the sauce I use is store-bought; I rarely make my own

 

Eastern NC and Lexington sauces, both are simple vinegar sauces. Easy to make. Nothin better on pulled pork.

Tomato sauces are usually more invoved and time consuming. Last night I developed the simplest tomato sauce I could dream up and have many layers of flavor. There are only 5 ingredients-all are usually on hand. No.5 Sauce.

If you have hesitated to make your own cause they are difficult or time consuming, try these.
They are tasty and fresher than store bought and can marry with your rub by adding them to the sauce.

Opposed to rubs, I do like some commericial sauces. There are so many out there, that I like to try them just to see what they are like. Also, once people find out that you like to Q' sauces turn into a relatively cheap gift, or a way for people to encourage ones obessive behavior.

I like to keep some "safe" store bought sauces around as a back up for my home made concoctions (sp?). The stuff I make can range from "pretty darned good" to "what was I thinking?"

I make my own. I only have 3 or 4 that I use regularly, but none of them is anywhere near as thick and sweet as most commercial sauces.

I buy my red sauce Head Country Original & Hot. NC Style vinegar sauce i make my own.

Like Bryan said, I buy the red sauce and make my own vinegar sauce. Probably because I don't use much of the red stuff. I like the Eastern NC style sauces better.

I use only two sauces, one tomato Memphis style, the other a vineger. Both homemade and simple to make. Me and the Mrs. like them much better than store bought.
Jim

We need another category: Altered store bought sauce. Often, I'll buy something and "adjust" it to my liking. Rarely do I ever use them right from the bottle. Most of the time, I make my own.

quote:

Originally posted by Kevin S.:
We need another category: Altered store bought sauce. Often, I'll buy something and "adjust" it to my liking. Rarely do I ever use them right from the bottle. Most of the time, I make my own.

I'm with you Kevin. I do buy sauce, but often "doctor" it up. It may be with Wine, Pineapple juice, Honey, who knows. My Wife likes the sauce sweet.

I will tell you a real secret for GREAT Sauce.
Start w/ Open Pit Hickory, add Worchestershire, Lea and Perrins, and if you can find it some Pickapeppa Sauce and mix together and baste on your meat.

I'm 50/50 but my wife is from Memphis and we buy sauce from the legendary Leonard's who makes THE best pulled pork sandwich in the land...nothing else seems to work anywhere near as well with the mustard slaw and pulled pork combination...

With the pulled pork, my friends and family love the ketchup and white vinegar equal parts with dash of liquid smoke and salt/pepper to taste. Bring it to a simmer, don't boil, everyone here likes it best.

Famous Dave's Smokey Chipotle tastes exactly like what I wnated mine to taste like, so there's no sense reinventing the wheel.

Hmmmm, left off the option "Who needs sauce? Good BBQ doesn't need anything!". Kidding, kidding, all you sauce lovers!

I make my own tomato base sauce, therefore it is western Carolina style. I just don't care for the vinager base as it is just a little too strong my my taste buds.... sorry abt that. I know a lot of others do like it.

I usually make abt 16 qts at a time, and I make it more mild, as the rest of the family doesn't like it as spicy as me, so I usually will take a bottle of it and spice it up just for my use.

Bill aka mrgrumpy

Pulled pork is what gets done most of the time at my house, and that means North Carolina vinegar sauce.

Occasionally, I'll have need for a tomato based sauce and to be honest, I don't really have a recipe I can call my own. When I need a utility sauce, I usually start with Cattleman's Original as a base, a fix it up some until I like it.

Right now I mostly buy sauces. I made a sauce last year to go with "iced tea chicken" that I made. I might make it again, wonderful sauce and most of what I get at the store is too sweet to me (and I have a horrible sweet-tooth so that's saying something).

I make 95% of my own. I like to try different sauces all the time and i keep a log book every single time I try them so if they are good then I re create them or tweak them a bit.

I have tried making my own sauce but have never come up with one I like better than the three commercial sauces I use. They are K.C. Masterpiece original, Montgomery Inn, and Carolina Treet South Carolina style mustard sauce.