BBQ Sauce Reviews - Page 002
Reviews of BBQ sauce products by an former industry-insider
Traffic Light Score Rating System 0-3/10 = crap, 4-6/10 = average, 7-10/10 = great!
Name: El Yucateco Chipotle Sauce Manufacturer: El Yucateco Salsa Y Condimentos (Mexico) Style Classification: Mexican - Western BBQ Crossover Appearance: 5/10 I’m starting here with some high expectations as chipotles are my favourite product in the chilli universe – to me they are the ultimate flavour. With no artificial colouring this is a dark red- brown with a very uniform colour and texture that gives it a very mass-produced look. There is the occasional black fleck to be seen that may come from the spices or the skins of the chipotle. Most likely the former. This is a relatively thin sauce - it doesn’t have a nice “I’m going to stick to whatever you pour me on” look.
Ingredients: 5/10 Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup (see ingredient notes), Chipotles, Chillies, Tomato, Honey, Spices, Acidity Regulators E260 & E330 (see ingredient notes), Onion Powder, 0.1% Sodium Benzoate (see ingredient notes). Straight away I’m going to say that I’m not overly impressed with the ingredient list. Australian food laws require that the ingredients are listed in order of their abundance in the product. That’s one of the reasons for the over-sticker label by the importer. So, the two most abundant ingredients in the sauce are just water and sugar syrup. In fact, with the exception of the chillies, tomatoes, spices and onion powder, the ingredient list reads like a soft drink (or soda drink, depending on where you live). I’m thinking, lolly-water. Uninspiring so far, but we’ll wait and see what it tastes like. Even if it is trying to be a BBQ sauce, it’s not a great list. The sauce scores some points for not using any artificial flavours or colourings. Minor concern here. There is the very small percentage of Sodium Benzoate that, given a choice, I would like to see them replace with a more acceptable alternative. This chemical acts as an anti-microbial and there is some evidence suggesting that, in larger volumes it does have undesirable side-effects inside the body– look it up in Wikipedia Sodium benzoate for details. Aroma: 7/10 Actually, not bad – better than I had expected. I get a nice aroma of smoke and chillies. Not much else, but that is not too bad at all. I’d prefer to be also picking up some spices and tomato as well, just to round it out. Also, I think a little citrus juice would give that smokey aroma a good lift as well ; it’s a little heavy on it’s own. Flavour: 5/10 Hmmmmm. Ordinary, disappointingly ordinary, are the first words that come to mind when tasting the sauce on it’s own. The first flavour you can pick is the syrup – empty sweetness. Then the chipotle hits giving smoke & chilli flavour and heat, all around the front of the palate. There’s a little bitterness which I’m attributing to the acidity regulators (citric acid & acetic acid). A nd that’s it – there’s no other breadth of flavour in this sauce. Now, the fact that the sauce just doesn’t stand up on it’s own is not the end of the world. As a stand alone sauce I would give Tabasco (original) a very similar review – Tabasco’s massive success lies in it’s ability to act as a flavour enhancer when added to other foods - another example, salt, performs exactly the same function. So, I tried the sauce on some plain grilled sausages and lamb cutlets and was happier with the sauce. It doesn’t do the job as well as Tabasco and it’s still not a great sauce, but the smokey flavour of the chipotles is a good match with the grilled meat. I also thought I’d give it a chance to perform as a cooking sauce using the Chipotle & Cola Grilled Chicken recipe. The result – again, ordinary. Not bad, not great. It’s a nice dish, it’s just that the sauce could be giving so much more flavour than it does. Overall: 6/10 This is a mass produced sauce made to sell into the American marketplace where they’ve all heard of chipotles but the average person doesn’t know a lot about them. I’m not a big fan of it and there are certainly other chipotle sauces that I would choose in preference (it’s still a secret but next months sauce is my personal favourite chipotle sauce). However, I believe we occasionally need to try these sauces to help us all get a broader perspective on what constitutes a good or bad sauce. If we only tried the good ones all the time, you’re only getting half the story – a limited perspective. Improvements: Lose, or significantly cut back the presence of the fructose syrup. Lift the tomato and spice content to give it a greater depth of flavour. Also, put in some tomatillos or citrus to just lift that heavy, smokey flavour a bit. The presence of the citrus may then also negate the need for the sodium benzoate as a preservative. Matching it with food;
Heat: 5/10 (doesn't affect Overall Score. It’s very much a front of palate heat for me. Warm but not hot, as reflected in the heat score. It lasts 2-5 minutes depending on your tolerance and what you ate it with.
Ingredient Alert: Minor – Sodium benzoate or E211 (see ingredient review above)
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Overall I’m starting to get the impression that this is not a sauce that’s got it’s roots in a strong cultural heritage. It may taste fine, but we need to remember that we are looking at this sauce from a number of different view points.
