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Topic: The Case of the Missing Taste . . . . From: Erika ,
Subject: Re: Missing Taste

My friend and I recently made a barbecue sauce from scratch, without a recipe. It tasted great in the pot on the stove - very close to what we were looking for. A nice underlying dark, sweet taste with an initial brightness that finished with a comfortable heat. We used it that night on some chicken, eagerly anticipating the results.

Strangely, however, when we tasted the chicken, we found that all flavors had disappeared while it was on the grill. It tasted like chicken with a hint of some sort of sauce. Have you ever heard of this problem before? What do you think the problem might be? We're consternated!

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Erika

Hi Erika,

You don't tell me the major ingredients of the sauce that you made. Sounds like it was a finishing sauce rather than a basting sauce.

Barbecue (finishing sauce/table sauce) normally having sugar, in some form, and often tomatoes, should only go on the meat the last 10-15% of cooking time. They do not normally penetrate well or become incorporated into the meat. Basting sauce, used as a marinade and/or applied during the cooking process, is designed to impart a flavor to the cooking meat. The barbecue sauce should add to the flavor at the end. Another thought occurred. If you were indeed using tomatoes, vinegar or other acids, and cooking in an aluminum pot, the reaction with the metal may have substantially changed the flavor.

Have you looked at the basting and finishing sauces on the website and perused "According to Smoky?"

Sorry about your problem. I have, several times, been worse than consternated at some of my cooking efforts. Keep on trying.

Have fun,
Smoky

Note: For Basting & Finishing and sauces of all types, see See Barbecue'n Recipes