British BBQ Society Forums

Hey folks,

Did a search but couldnt find much on this.

When creating sauces do you ever add liquid smoke?

Reason I ask is that ive got a nice BBQ sauce ive fiddled with for a while and got it where I like it. Its tomato ketchup based, usual stuff added. No major dominating flavors as I prefer to taste the meat .

To me I like its simplicity and we did well with it @ Grillstock but I think it benefits from having a bit of liquid smoke added to it (as do most people who have tasted it with and without) but im very reluctant to try this in a comp situation. (glazing your chicken or tossing your burnt ends in)

Do judges mark you down for using a sauce with liquid smoke in it?

Anybody use it? Your thoughts?

Cheers

B

All I know is DrBBQ uses liquid smoke in his tomato based sauce recipe (He says it 'adds a nice layer'), and isn't he a judge at Grillstock?

Pete

noxskuses wrote:All I know is DrBBQ uses liquid smoke in his tomato based sauce recipe (He says it 'adds a nice layer'), and isn't he a judge at Grillstock?

Pete

If you have been on the Harry Soo course, you'd know all the unconventional stuff which won him his accolades.

noxskuses wrote:All I know is DrBBQ uses liquid smoke in his tomato based sauce recipe (He says it 'adds a nice layer'), and isn't he a judge at Grillstock?

What Ray teaches in his books is very, very different to what judges (including Ray) are looking for in competition BBQ.

Personally i'm a fan of liquid smoke, although prefer powdered smoke as i find it less bitter

Speaking as an IBQN judge we mark on appearance, taste & texture if it tastes nice it will get the relevant marks. I can't speak for other judges either IBQN or KCBS but there was no slant on flavour profiles in the training, in fact other than a smoky flavour the only way we would know there was liquid smoke in there would be if you told us (as opposed to any other way of getting a smoky note to the flavour). I would think a lot of people use a commercial sauce as their base and quite a few of those have liquid smoke in them for starters. Bear in mind that we still need to taste the flavour of the meat through the sauce rather than just the sauce, give it a try and see how it goes. It's flavour that will win through in the end not the list of ingredients.

Swindon_Ed wrote:What Ray teaches in his books is very, very different to what judges (including Ray) are looking for in competition BBQ.

I'm beginning to appreciate that Ed as I just watched two videos on YT showing how to make competition ribs and the amount of sugar and honey they put on them made my teeth ache

Remember in the competition the judgement will be on one bite only so you need to cram as much flavour into that bite as you can. As opposed to working your way happily through a rack of ribs and a few beers where the flavour is able to slowly build up for the ultimate taste.