Serrano Peppers for Salsas and Barbecue Sauce

Here's a picture of a serrano pepper growing in my backyard. 

A couple of years ago I started above ground gardening and after several trials and many errors, I've been successful in growing several pepper varieties in a simple, but very effective, hydropinc bubbler constructed from an inexpensive 18 gallon plastic tote.

At my house, we eat lots of green and orange bell peppers, cubanelles, poblanos and even some jalapenos now and then.  But the serrrano is a little out of my league. It's quite a bit higher up the Scoville heat scale than anything I could eat fresh from the garden.  When I purchased the seeds, I didn't pay much attention to the potential mouth scorching qualities of a "hot" pepper, but luckily I did a little research before plopping on in my mouth.

A jalapeno ranges 2,500 - 8,000 Scoville heat units, while a serrano ranges from 10,000 - 25,000 Scoville heat units.

Fortunately for me, one of my co-workers loves to make salsas. She took a batch of the serranos last week and made a batch of very tasty salsa that went well with a bag of Tostitos.

If you like hot bbq sauce, maybe you should consider growing your own hot peppers too. I can help if you're interested in building a cheap and easy hydropnic bubbler, but if you prefer the traditional gardening route, Gardenersnet.com has a nice article you might find helpful.

Funny story....I was making ABT's last year from jalapenos and decided to casually munch on one while I was cleaning up.  Apparently someone put a green serrano pepper in the bin where the jalapenos were being stored at Publix. Ohhhcheewowow!! I grabbed ice cubes, milk, water and any other liquid I could get my hands on quickly.

So You Want to Sell BBQ Sauce?

I get questions about selling bbq sauce and bbq spice rubs frequently via e-mail.  I've written a few posts about my research previously, but thought I'd do a more recent post for anyone with similar thoughts.

If you want to start by bottling and selling your own bbq sauce recipe, you're probably looking at about $10,000 in start-up costs because most bottlers will only do it in fairly large batches. That's an estimate based on research I did several years ago, so it's likely even higher now.

I found a bottler a few years ago who would do small batch bottling (less than 500 gallons), but based on my experience this is somewhat risky. The bottler I was using went out of business before filling my order and he kept my deposit. He changed his name and relocated the business to another state, so I was completely out of luck. Other than filing a complaint with the State Attorney General's office, there was little else I could do.

If you want to put your label on someone else's recipe, you can probably pull that off for $3,000-$4,000 to start depending on how much your liability insurance costs, the corporate structure you choose, how much you want to advertise, and several other variables.

The best thing to do is do a Google search for private label bbq sauce suppliers. You'll likely find 5 or 6 possibilities within 15 minutes or less.

I decided to pursue bbq spice rub instead of bbq sauce. Spice rub has a much lower cost of entry than bbq sauce, but it's also a Catch 22 because bbq sauce sells much, much better.

Whatever you decide, I think the "gimmick" you have for your name and the design of your label and overall branding approach is much more important than your actual recipe.  The best bbq sauce in the world might not sell very well if you can't, or don't know how to market it.

In my personal opinion, taking the "selling it on the side to friends and family and at bbq contests" is not a viable business strategy.  I tried that for 4 years with my spice rub. And, although I did not lose money doing it, I didn't really make much either.

Organic BBQ Sauce?

I wrote an article several days ago about high fructose corn syrup and why it's so prevalent in bbq sauce sold in the grocery stores. It's nearly impossible to find a commercially produced bbq sauce that does not contain corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup (there's a difference).

Linda brought home the organic bbq sauce from Annie's Naturals last month and asked me to try it.  It sat on the kitchen counter for several weeks and yesterday I decided to try it out. The ingredient list looked promising, so it was time to go for it.

I tried the finger tip test first before pouring it on any actual bbq.  I didn't want to chance messing up my bbq if I didn't like the taste for some reason.

To make a short story much shorter, this particular style of organic bbq sauce did not pass my taste test.  I'll keep looking for an alternative, but the search has proven difficult.

Suggestions?

Grilled Chicken and Vegetable Kabobs

We took a short drive down to St. Petersburg yesterday to visit the Saturday Market in the parking lot of Al Lang Stadium.

We purchased some fresh organic green peppers, oinions, and tomatoes and taste tested food from several of the vendors.  Fresh is always better, so we added some chicken to the mix and I fired up the grill.

The fine folks at McCormick and Lawry's sent me some Lawry's Szechwan Sweet & Sour bbq marinade and Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato marinade last week. I decided to try the Szechwan on the kabobs. 

I marinated the chicken in the Lawry's bbq sauce for about 4 hours and grilled everything using lump charcoal.  The marinade added a slight Szechwan heat to go along with the sweet and sour flavor.  I don't know the chemistry behind it, but the chicken breasts were very moist and tender. 

If I do this again I will sear the kabobs over direct heat and then move them into an aluminum foil pan or wrap. I think this will prevent the charring that occurs when the marinade begins to burn over the direct flame.

I can't wait to try out Lawry's Tuscan Sun Dried Tomato marinade on some pork chops next.

BBQ Sauce and Rub

I usually don't like Mesquite flavored bbq sauce (middle), but this Pendleton sauce is pretty good. Papa Jake's (right) is good on steaks and I had some yesterday on some buffalo burgers. The mesquite flavor complimented the steaks well.

I haven't tried the other Pendleton sauce in this picture (left), but I cooked 12 lbs of pork butts and have at least 9 lbs of pulled pork vacuum sealed in the freezer for sandwiches later this week.

Blues Hog Barbecue Company

St. Louis Today.com has an article about Bill Arnold creator of Blues Hog Barbecue Sauce that's worth reading. If you've never tried Blue Hog Barbecue Sauce, you're missing out because it makes good bbq a little bit better.

I've been using Blues Hog's Original for several years. Usually I buy the sauce directly from the Blues Hog website and sometimes my parents buy it for me at Snoddy's General Store across the Missouri River from Boonville, MO.

Mr. Arnold and his family could use your support now more than ever. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers and better yet, buy some of his barbecue sauce. Barbecue folks have to
stick together.

Update: Bill was featured on Good Morning America this morning. Here's a link to the video.

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Demon Pig BBQ Sauce

I completed a pulled pork barbecue test last weekend and tried a new bbq sauce from Demon Pig BBQ.

The Demon Pig bbq sauce is very good. It contains a mixture of catsup, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, tomato sauce, Worchestershire sauce, a little yellow mustard, and a few other choice ingredients.

It's good on bbq pork sandwiches, on plain pulled pork, and I can attest that it's pretty good straight out of the bottle. I think I'd like to try it on chicken also the next time we cook some thighs. I suspect it might just be my new favorite sauce for bbq chicken -- a little tangy, not too sweet, and a hint of Worchestershire sauce.

If you live near any of these locations in Minnesota, Iowa, Maryland, or Wisconsin, you can purchase it direct from the following retailers, or purchase it direct from the Demon Pig website:

Northern Food King, Pequot Lakes, MN
Schaeffer's Foods, Nisswa, MN
Shamp's Meat Market, Pine River, MN
Reed's Market, Crosslake, MN
Pelican Square, Breezy Point, MN
Chef & Company, Baxter, MN
Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe, Rochester, MN
Holmen Meat Maket, Holmen, WI
Northwoods Country Market, Sparta, WI
Gordy's Farm Market, Hermantown, MN
Flamingo Flats, St. Michaels, MD
Theilen Meats, Little Falls, MN
Hawgeyes BBQ, Ankeny, IA
Corner Meats-n-More, Stewartville, MN

I've also tried Demon Pig's Blaze Orange bbq sauce. It's a little hotter than the original and would work well on chicken wings.

Citrus BBQ Sauce

Since we live in Florida and for a little something different, I made a citrus bbq sauce recipe based on the recipe located on the back of the Dixie Crystals dark brown sugar box.

Tangy Orange Barbecue Sauce

1 regular can orange juice concentrate

1 small can tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1 cup dark brown sugar

6 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp brown mustard

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 cup chicken stock

2 tsp hot sauce

2 tsp salt

4 tsp Worcestershire sauce

2 cloves crushed garlic

Simmer in covered sauce pan for 20 minutes. Be careful not to scorch.

(The basic recipe comes from R. and D. Herring in Richmond, TX, but I did not follow it exactly as written.)

Gates BBQ Sauce

A friend of mine shared a bottle of Kansas City's Own Gates Original Classic bbq sauce with me recently. I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

You can buy your own bottle of Gates online or at any of the six Kansas City area locations and several grocery stores.

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