Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbecue Sauce

This is my platonic ideal of BBQ sauce! Well, at least, I think it is. I never know if this is it, or the regular (non honey) flavor is. But it's definitely not the weird sugar free Ray's Original Version, I can tell you that much!! This has plenty of sweet sweet corn syrup (ew), but crucially, no sucralose or allulose or other -loses that might exist. 

The taste is BBQ. The texture is sauce. Actually, it's a little bit hickory for my preference, so maybe a fast food packet is my platonic BBQ ideal, but you can't buy that at the store, so this'll surely do.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Kinder's Mild BBQ sauce

This is good on burgers, which is why I bought it, but I don't love it -- I think Sweet Baby Ray's is superior as a BBQ sauce, for suuuure. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Kingsford BBQ Baby Back Pork Ribs

These guys make charcoal, so surely they make a good rib! That tracks, right!? I originally went to the store to buy uncooked baby backs, but these were smaller and cheaper (though still extremely expensive) so I pivoted. They are also Fully Cooked which seems like a gross and bad sign, but good for safety and convenience I suppose. In the end I thought the sauce was pretty good -- it smelled like a cafeteria when cooking, which is actually good in my mind. Sweet and smokey. I could have cooked them a little longer than 12 minutes, though, and the backs were weird and unsauced -- also the membrane was still on there. But mostly good, makes 3 hearty servings. 

Overall
Cost: 3/10 [19$]
Taste: 7/10

Payne's Bar-B-Q

Aw, this place was nice. We visited during a massive heat wave, so it was a lil sweaty in there, but first of all it was one of the only places where people (workers and customers) were still wearing masks, and second of all they actually answered me about if they use nuts (they don't). So I was predisposed to like them. I got a half slab of ribs, which was like, 8 big ribs, and it also came with 2 slices of bread and cole slaw. The ribs were solid, I got medium BBQ sauce which wasn't hot at all, but which was tasty. Very filling, chill place. 

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Jack Daniel's Fully Cooked Pulled Pork

I saw this in the refrigerated section and thought "why not treat myself?", because it was so expensive (like 10$?) for this tiiiny package of meat. It tasted fine, but not great. I would probably not recommend this to you, especially if you are more than 1 human. Cooks very fast though.

Overall
Cost: 3/10
Taste: 6/10

Salt Lick BBQ

I went to this place at the Austin airport (AUS) and it was very crowded, but the line moved pretty fast. I got the sliced brisket sandwich with potato salad, and it was good; really filling. The potato salad came on top of plain cabbage(?) and it didn't have a very strong flavor, just mayo/potato/egg. It was good, though, and a fun yellow color. The sandwich was good, and the BBQ sauce was good and not especially hot or tomatoey. It was like creamy vinegar sauce, almost. They offer extra containers of it, but you really don't need a lot of sauce. Someone spilled Mountain Dew on me in line so I think that soured me on the experience, but it was decent food and no nuts.

Overall
Cost: 3/10 (like 19$ for a basic takeout meal)
Taste: 6/10

Uncle Dougie's Sweet & Snappy Small Batch BBQ Sauce

BBQ sauce is a good sauce to have around, for cooking and dipping. This is more of a cooking-only sauce, though, I think. Compared to Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce (the holy grail of BBQ sauce) this is much thinner and less sweet. I cooked chicken in it and I still thought the sauce was a bit too watery. But, when I left the chicken in the fridge it kind of firmed up and was tastier and more BBQy. So it could work in a long term marinade situation. Probably good in the slow cooker, too. The taste was fine, but not as sweet or tomatoey as I think I like. It was more savory/smokey, but not super strong either. Overall fine, I'll probably finish this off eventually since it keeps for a long time. Nice jar/packaging too.


Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Pork U BBQ

Truly, I was porked. Food trucks are fun, BBQ meat is fun, so it seemed so nice. The owner even responded to my inquiry about nut allergens (there are no nuts, just mustard)! But alas, the food was not fun, the service was slow and really awkward (is this a haircut I'm getting?) and I got sooooo sick after eating. I got mac and cheese with BBQ pork on it, and it was very very very oily/greasy/wet, yet not very cheesy, and the meat was also really wet - but not with BBQ sauce, just with fat. It needed way more BBQ sauce, cheese, flavor in general, and way less oil/water. Woe.



Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 4/10

Fat Pigs BBQ

OK, this place is extremely confusing. It's a BBQ/misc restaurant but it's inside of a bar/venue called The Brickyard which doesn't have any food of its own, so in effect these are the same two places, but with two different names? It's also called Fetty Wootz or something I truly just don't understand. Their specialty seems to be meats and BBQ, but they also have general bar foods, burgers, mac and cheeses, etc. We went here for trivia and it was really empty and the trivia was bad and the waitress seemed like she hated us for existing, so it wasn't a great time. We won a free app of chicken thighs(?) which were fine, fresh, but nothing earth-shattering. I ordered the veggie mac and cheese, which is OK, but nothing better than my homemade cheese noodle with frozen veg. I should have just got a pulled porker or something. Maybe it was just bad timing and bad ordering by me, but I was really unimpressed. That said, they apparently don't have any nuts except for in desserts, so this is pretty good news. I would go back if I could convince someone to go with me (but I'm not sure if I could, because it was not very impressive).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Kettle Brand Chips - Backyard BBQ

These were really nice! Very crunchy fun texture, a solid chip. The taste isn't super saturated, but they are a little smoky in a nice, BBQ-type way. Reminds me a little of a school carnival or some type of outdoor event; a bit sweet and overall a complex flavor for a BBQ chip. Not your sad indoor solo lunch chip, more of a party chip. Good vibes on this one. Plus, no nuts!






Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand Ready Sauce for Korean BBQ Stir-Fry

Dude. Dude. Dude. OK, so if you've read this blog or know me in person, you probably know that since the age of 12 or so, when I got seriously diagnosed with NUT ALLERGY BAD NUT ALLERGY, I've been on the quest for nut-free Chinese food. And not crap Chinese food, but stuff that actually tastes like the (takeout) Chinese food of my youth. However, I have been mostly unsuccessful (mild success came with Yoshinoya Beef Bowl's fried rice (RIP West coast life) and this frozen Innovasian chicken and broccoli meal, but after many attempts, I've generally come up short. Since I am usually in search of (Chinese) lo mein or fried rice or chicken and broc, I never would have thought to try this packet of Korean BBQ stir fry sauce on my own. However, blessedly, it was sent in my monthly Degustabox (fun food sub box). First downer: I have to buy meat, onions, and veg if I want veg. So this is a commitment. Then I need to marinate the meat for two hours. Whew. And they say to buy "flank steak", and I'm not very familiar with cuts of beef, being a mostly poultry-only girl left to my own devices. The only flank steak is over 10 bucks a pound at my store! Good lord! But, since the only potential alternative (London Broil Top Cut) looked really different, I bit the bullet and spent the 10 bucks for this meat, then came home and made rice and cut veg and marinated it up and stir fried the heck outta this thing! (The cooking itself took less than 10 min, which was crazy, and I don't have a meat thermometer so I was a little scared and did it on the longer side, like 8min total). And...and....it tastes EXACTLY like the beef teriyaki I used to get as a kiddo! Chewy beef pieces skewered with a wooden stick. Now as a kid this wasn't my favorite Chinese dish, my parents always ordered it, but damn if it didn't bring tears to my eyes to taste a so similar thing!!! I think it must be partially the cut of meat (damn you, beautiful chewy 10 dollar meat), but the sauce is also a really similar flavor, and it's just really great to have this. Ahhh. I think it came out well; even though I used a little less meat than called for and so I had a fairly saucy dish, when it's over rice it isn't too overwhelming or too sweet or anything like that at all. Just great. What a fun surprise! I might have to buy this again, even given the expense, maybe to make for my loved ones (i.e. parents and bf (separately)) to get their reaction. Woo! Cooking success high! :)

Overall
Cost: 3/10 (about 3$ for the sauce, which is OK, but see my meat stress above -- though I'm sure you can use other meats or veg or something instead)
Taste: 9/10 (as a meal, the sauce on its own didn't wow me, although it is good)
Nostalgia: 10/10

Wheat Thins - Smoky BBQ Flavor

BBQ Wheat Thins!? I know, right? I had to check it out. I really like regular wheat thins, and BBQ is probably my favorite chip flavor. That said, these taste exactly like wheat thins with a BBQ chip powder dusting would taste. Pretty good, in other words. The wheat thins are so hard (they're crackers, not chips!) and I find myself thinking "gee I wish this were a chip though". But the flavor is on point, and they're pretty addictive. I like to grab a handful as a snack, and they're probably healthier than chips are anyway (but don't quote me on that). So yes, I will get these again! Yum.

Overall
Taste: 8/10
Cost: 5/10