Having been a BBQ judge for both the FBA & KCBS, I have tasted all types of BBQ sauce. I even make my own sauce for my team. Some folks consider certain categories in a BBQ competition to be more about the sauce, and less about the meat, well that is another topic to write about, later. One thing is for sure, you must find that balanced sauce, that will complement your product,but not over power it. I found that the sauce I was making for my team did just that, over took the flavor profile, and masked the meat, so I needed to find some sauce that would still allow our flavors to shine. Rooftop Barbeque Sauce has helped me find that balance. I started using Rooftop to cut with my sauce, but I have found that the Rooftop sauce, can stand on it’s own, and I mean it can stand on it’s own at a BBQ competition as well as at home.
First a little information about Rooftop Barbeque:
Many folks wonder where Rooftop Barbeque’s name came from? I took this straight from their web-site:
Rooftop Barbeque comes from the book of Acts, in chapter 10. Peter, the apostle, was sitting on a rooftop while people were cooking dinner below him. He fell asleep and saw a vision in his dreams with a large sheet coming down from heaven filled with all kinds of unclean animals.
And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”
So now we can eat pork… mmmm, pork.
Rooftop Barbeque is also a competition BBQ Team, here are a few of their upcoming competitions:
ACM BBQ Throwdown-Las Vegas Nv, March 31st
The Ultimate BBQ Showdown East vs West-Wilomar Ca, April 7th
Sam’s Club Series-San Diego Ca, April 14
Stagecoach Music Festival- Indio Ca, April 28th
West Coast BBQ Classic-Long Beach Ca, May 12th
Every competition team needs a competition level sauce, something the judges will like, something sweet, with some heat, and that is exactly what Rooftop Barbeque has come up with here.
I first spoke with Andy Allen, one of the Rooftop founders, on Facebook, Click here for Facebook page I found it interesting that a team has their sauce on the market, and many folks were buzzing about this great sauce coming out of California, so I decided to give it a try. Coming from California, I figured this sauce had to have a bunch of pineapples and mangoes in it, I mean, what do they know about BBQ in California??? Apparently they know a lot about BBQ in California!!! I liked this sauce from the first taste. I always start off with the naked taste, just straight sauce.
First I pored a small amount of sauce into a ramekin, to get the true color off the sauce:
Very nice deep crimson color, this will accent the color of any type of Barbequed meat nicely.
Then I try the run test, just to help see the consistency of the sauce:
I just turned the ramekin to 90* and some of the sauce pooled, but a good portion held, which is exactly what will happen when applied to your food. Your not looking for a sauce to be so thick, that your applying paste to your product, but at the same time you do not want all the sauce (flavor) to run off the meat, and season the bottom of your grill. I was very pleased with the consistency of this sauce.
As you can see from this photo, their is a lot of flavor going on here:
Ingredients:
Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Brown Sugar, Molasses, Sugar, Mustard (Vinegar, Water, Mustard Seed, Salt, Turmeric, Xanthan Gum), Butter (Sweet Cream, Natural Flavoring), Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Dehydrated Garlic, Honey, Chipotle Powder, Cider Vinegar, Dehydrated Onion, Vanilla, Spices, Natural Flavoring
The the texture is smooth, some sauces have a gritty texture, Rooftop is not like that, the texture is appealing, and you do notice small pieces of onions in the sauce. There are not many onions, not anything that I would consider chunky, that would need straining. Just a few here and there when the sauce is tasted on it’s own, but unnoticeable when applied to your food.
Now for the big one, THE TASTE:
As I stated before, I think, for a competition style sauce, judges are looking for a sweet, with a little heat, style sauce, and Rooftop Barbeque Sauce is exactly that. This sauce will offer you a great amount of flavor for your product, without blowing your head off with just heat.I will give this sauce a 3 out of 5 on the heat scale, but I am not a heat eater, so yours could be lower. I will give this sauce a 5 out of 5 for taste. I really enjoy the deep rich flavors offered by this sauce, with just a hint of heat on the back-side of your tasting the sauce.
Andy told me that they developed Rooftop Barbeque Sauce, mainly for their ribs, but I can tell you, I have tested it on the four category meats, for FBA & KCBS, and this sauce does well on all four.
If your a pepper head, who really likes the heat, this may not be the sauce for you, but if your a BBQ fan, and like to taste the flavors of, not only the sauce you have applied, but also taste the meat, then you need to do yourself a favor, and get some Rooftop Barbeque Sauce today.
Please visit our friends at Rooftop Barbeque and pick up some sauce, and check out their other products available while your there.
