1 week Ago By [email protected] (Monika Sudakov)
Nothing says summer quite like barbecue. The scent of grilling meat wafting through the air can only be matched by the flavors and aromas of an accompanying sauce. While there are a number of underrated barbecue sauces out there that you might want to add to your culinary repertoire, sometimes you just want something that is tried-and-true.
Enter Open Pit Original BBQ Sauce , which features those tangy, yet sweet, flavors that Americans have come to know and love . Indeed, this sauce is so popular that it has garnered rave reviews all across the internet, including thousands of five-star nods on Amazon and a number of grand proclamations about its superiority, including this one stating, "The best base ever! It's delicious [..
.] it's the best BBQ sauce on the market." Some folks have even noticed that Open Pit Original BBQ Sauce has some distinct similarities to the beloved barbecue sauce served at McDonald's .
That's a lot to love in one modest bottle of sauce. All of this is great, but I'm not one to follow fads without testing something myself. As a professional chef, I'm pretty picky about the condiments I keep stocked in my pantry.
I search for items that can help me elevate my dishes with layers of flavor that help to develop complexity. As such, I decided to pick up a bottle of Open Pit Original BBQ Sauce and try it for myself. What does Open Pit Original BBQ Sauce taste like? To evaluate this sauce, I sampled it as-is, on a cracker, and slathered on baked chicken.
I wanted to give it a chance to shine on its own as well as to see how it performed when heated, knowing that this can completely alter the flavor profile of sauces. The nose of this sauce is quite an experience. At first, you are hit with strong notes of acidity from the vinegar and tomatoes, which are bright and awaken your taste buds.
These slowly yield to robust, molasses-like notes, which are simultaneously caramel-forward and savory. The texture of this sauce is relatively thick and paste-like, yet smooth, similar to ketchup, which makes it ideal for dipping or brushing over your favorite grilled ribs recipe . When it comes to flavor, this sauce is quite nuanced.
While its texture would suggest a strong resemblance to ketchup, this was not the case in the taste department. Though there were sweet elements, this was not the primary palate of the sauce. This is a brand that doesn't shy away from what is one of the most important ingredients in barbecue sauce , namely vinegar.
The tanginess is en pointe and accompanied by some modest heat, a dash of smokiness, and a well-balanced salinity that doesn't leave you thirsting for a gallon of water. As anticipated, heat did mellow the tang and accentuate the sweetness of this sauce somewhat, though not enough to completely transform it. Brighten up your taste buds and your meat with this complex sauce There's no doubt that the reviews for this sauce were not overstated.
This is a fantastic barbecue sauce. It is rife with those intense acidic notes that really help to permeate through fatty meat and spread the flavors across your tongue. That said, it is not limited to a singular flavor element.
This is a sauce with a lot of harmonious components that help to permeate every one of your taste buds, including sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami. That last one is perhaps the key to the magic of this sauce. Umami is one of those components that can make or break a recipe.
It provides that extra boost of flavor that is typically missing from more basic sauces. While MSG is a common ingredient used to upgrade the umami elements in barbecue sauce , it is not the star of this one. Tomato purée and a sauce blend containing soy protein are the likely sources of this hidden savory quality.
While slathering barbecue sauce on your grilled meat is the obvious way to use it, there are some more unorthodox methods this one could perform in your kitchen. Because of its acidic qualities, this particular sauce would make for a great base for a jazzed up vinaigrette for your next salad. It would also be a bold alternative to marinara for a kicked up spaghetti dish or as a substitute for pizza sauce.
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