As a certifiably rabid foodie, I’ll eat just about anything as long as it tastes right and is made from quality ingredients. In the realm of prepared foods, I like what I like if it’s consistently good.
With this in mind, this is the saga of my quest for the perfect barbecue sauce.
My father is the kind of guy who is constantly grilling and back in the day, he would make his own sauce. We would experiment with various ingredients, catsup, mustard, hot sauce, Worcestershire, garlic, whatever was in the fridge. Homemade sauce is never the same, so it was an adventure every meal.
There’s something intrinsically earthy and sensual about the entire grilling experience. Perhaps it’s the missing link back to the cave and the first fire.
My father is also the one who taught me that if you can open the lid to your gas grill in winter, you should use it. He lives in Colorado where snow can fall in May. I learned that even if you live in a northern tier state like I do, barbecuing in winter can be achieved. The only time we decided not to cook outside was during a harsh winter when there was 18 inches of snow on the grill at all times. That was the year I bought a Ronco Rotisserie.
For most grilling, my husband and I have used one and only one sauce: Rudolph’s Barbecue Sauce. Sure, we’ve tried other sauces, but our loyalty lies with the king. The problem in purchasing comes about in that you can only buy the stuff in Minnesota.
Okay, he’s from the Twin Cities and I lived there for eleven years, hence the Rudolph’s connection. But that’s not the only reason why we like the sauce. It’s the best stuff on the planet.
When I think of one ingredient or one food I cannot live without, it would be Rudolph’s Barbecue Sauce. I can do without Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, soy sauce, lobster, strawberry jam and Kashi Go Lean bars, but I would wither and die without Rudolph’s. Sure, there are other sauces, but they pale in comparison. They may be too sweet, too tangy, or not flavorful enough. There might be too much molasses or too much tomato and not enough garlic. The common addition of liquid smoke to many bottled sauces is a pet peeve of mine. Why add artificial “smoke” when you’ll be throwing your meat on fire? I don’t know about you, but there’s smoke for blocks when we barbecue.
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