Ingredients: Go grab a beer or a soda and sit down. You’re gonna be here awhile. Chocolate habanero puree (water, chocolate habanero peppers), tomato sauce (water, tomato paste, salt, high fructose corn syrup, citric acid, garlic powder, spices), brown sugar (sugar, molasses), honey, vinegar, molasses, spices and coloring, Worcestershire sauce (you’re a damned fool if you think I’m going to list all those ingredients) , soy sauce (water, wheat, soybeans, salt, sodium benzoate-less then 1/10 of 1% as a preservative), liquid smoke, salt, granulated garlic, lime juice, and lemon juice. Carpal tunnel just set in.

About ten years ago I was working in an upscale (meaning over priced) BBQ restaurant as a sous chef, and one of my duties was making the ‘Q sauce. The executive chef had his secret recipe, of which I altered greatly, and it was a pretty well respected sauce. I only wish I had this sauce back then, or was able to recreate it.

My love is chocolate habaneros. As you could see, that’s the first ingredient. Score 1 for Rick. Smell it, oh yeah, go ahead and smell it: Worcestershire sauce with a tone of smoke and molasses. And thick, oh man, nice and thick that just poured onto my trusty tasting spoon. This is a true Texas-style ‘Q sauce based with tomatoes, and it just has this dark, sexy reddish brown color that a picture can’t do justice.

And then there was the taste.
OH…MY…GOD. This stuff is incredible. The heat just comes at you like a Texas long horn, and takes you for the drag of your life (the burn for me lasted 38 minutes. Yes, I timed it). The flavors of chocolate habbies, tomatoes, and molasses just blended together like a fine tuned orchestra, hitting all the right notes while covering the tongue with heat and salt. I’m in Heat Heaven.

The first thing I tried it on was grilled mini-burgers. All ground-chuck, with a touch of salt, these burgers were meant to be simple so the flavor of the sauce could speak. Absolutely fantastic. The sauce thinned out considerably with the heat of the burgers, but I never minded a little mess. That was too easy, grilled burgers I thought, so I took the ‘Q sauce with me to work. I work at a bar with a grill, and have access to anything. First up-potato pan cakes. The starch of the potato tamed the heat somewhat, but didn’t hinder the flavor. Buffalo burger-same as the grilled mini-burgers: great. Last, steak salad. Fantastic.
This is a fantastic sauce. Of course, I don’t have any pictures of the food from work (no camera), but let’s just say you were missing out.

So let’s go to my Five Point Scales:
Appearance: 4.5. Dark red and smooth, with bits of habanero.
Smell: 4. Worcestershire sauce first, then smoke, then molasses, then habanero. This is fine if you like the smell of Worcestershire sauce. And if I have to type out that word one more time…
Taste: 5. Incredible choco habbie flavor followed by tomato and molasses, finished with salt, pepper, and heat.
Heat: 5. Choco habbies, my all-time favorites. Chocolate habanero will still be King in my book after the Bhut and Nagas go away. Think Shelby Cobra, ’67.
Overall: 4.95. This is the kind of ‘Q sauce that if I was having a party I would put it in a different bottle and tell everyone I made it. You could heat this up and eat it like soup.

Until next time, treat every meal like it was your last!

Rick’s Test Kitchen TM
1415 S. 11^th St.
Lincoln, NE 68502-2203
Rick@rickstestkitchen.com