SAUCES

As some of you know, I am a sauce addict. Especially hot sauces and barbecue sauces. I've always liked putting stuff on my food. This probably began when I was a kid and started, like alot of people, by putting ketchup (I hate the word "catsup") on scrambled eggs. As time went on, I developed a love for cocktail sauce for shrimp cocktails. This is nothing strange.

However, when I was in my late teens and early twenties, my friends and I would sit around and smoke dope. We would invariably develop the munchies. This was the early 80's and the convenience stores in our area started carrying frozen burritos in their freezers. Well we couldn't just sit and eat a plain burrito, could we? So, we started experimenting with, don't gag, Russian dressing! I know, it sounds terrible. But it was really good, especially in the state we were in. Of course, I'm a fan of peanut butter and mayo sandwiches, so take that for what it's worth.

I guess my first foray into barbecue and hot sauces was grilled barbecue chicken. When my parents cooked chicken on the grill, there would always end up being burned, blackened areas on the drumsticks. Obviously, this detracted from the enjoyment of the meal. But I could always taste a hint of the barbecue sauce. So, I started asking for sauce on the side to dip the burned chicken in. This was a home run and it continues to this day.

Now, as many of you know, you're not supposed to put the sauce on at the beginning of the grilling process. You're supposed to season the meat and let it cook part way, then begin to brush the sauce on as a baste, turning the chicken or ribs often, so as not to let the sauce become charred. As the meat cooks, the sauce gets baked on and the interior of the meat cooks without getting burned. In my opinion, except for steak, meats should be turned often on the grill for evenness of cooking. As we all know, steaks are only supposed to be flipped once. As a last resort, to cover up any burning, or to go over the top as a lover of certain sauces, I'll occasionally throw the chicken or cut up ribs in a large Tupperware container and toss them up with more sauce, like you'd do if you were making Buffalo chicken wings.

Barbecue sauces I'd recommend are Sweet Baby Ray's Original (my present personal favorite), Bullseye and KC Masterpiece (mass produced for your grocery store shelves, but still good), Roadhouse, and Billardo Brothers. There are obviously a ton of other barbecue sauces, many of which you can get in any grocery or specialty store. However, I suggest trying to find a sauce catalog, either by mail or online and try some sauces that you never hear about. Many are locally produced and can only be found at farmers' markets in the summertime. I suggest that you try and be adventurous. One thing you may find is that some sauces experience a change in taste when cooked. The sweet tanginess of Sweet Baby Ray's changes dramatically (and not for the better in my opinion) when baked in an oven. Therefore, I use it to brush on in the latter stages of the grilling process and to toss or dip with.

HOT SAUCES
My introduction to hot sauces came in two forms, but in the same medium. Bloody Marys. Horseradish and Tabasco were used to make the first Bloody Marys I ever had. Now I know horseradish is more of a condiment than an actual hot sauce, so I'll leave that for another post. I'll just suggest one horseradish sauce, available in your grocery store. Woebber's Horseradish sauce. It comes in a squeeze bottle and will REALLY tickle your nose. Be careful. It's hot, but EXTREMELY addicting. If you buy it and w/in a week you find yourself using it at every meal, you'll know you're hooked. 'Nuff said.

I would think Tabasco or Frank's Red Hot sauce are usually the first hot sauces most people encounter. Tabasco is everywhere, and Frank's Red Hot is used by most places that make their own Buffalo chicken wing sauce. Buffalo wings have been big in most taverns and restaurants in the Northeast for 20-25 years. Red Hot has the most important aspect of a good hot sauce. Heat AND Flavor. To me, this is of utmost importance.

Obviously, if you like hot sauce, you enjoy heat in varying degrees. Some people can only take a little heat, like from Red Hot, whereas some people like the full-blown searing heat and pain of Dave's Insanity sauce or Endorphin Rush. There are many levels in between the two. Since I prefer taste and flavor to complement the heat, I eschew sauces like Dave's because there is only flavor for, like, 1 1/2 seconds before the surface of your tongue starts to blister. To me that's not fun. However, I do like to sweat a bit.

My personal favorite is Melinda's XXX Habanero sauce. The heat is relatively high (If Red Hot is a 3 and Dave's is a 10, I'd put Melinda's at 7.5), but the flavor is where this sauce really shines. The mixture of habaneros, carrots, and other vegetables makes for a uniquely enjoyable taste that lasts almost as long as the burn. I have been known to take this sauce by the teaspoonful for medicinal purposes (It makes you sweat out any impurities or inner demons you may have in your system. And hot sauce will unplug a stuffed nose). If you get a chance to try Melinda's (see the link on the right), and you like it, I suggest buying it by the 1/2 gallon or gallon.

Soon, I will have a website up and running called www.thesaucesite.com At this site I will discuss different kinds of sauces and there will be links to sauce recipes and sauce sellers from around the country. The site should be up and running by 5/10 and I will keep everyone posted when it is a go.

I will have more takes on hot sauces in future posts. Feel free to become a member and post what kinds of barbecue and hot sauces you enjoy. I'd like to hear from you.

Until next time, please remember, Len Is Right.