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Click on the gallery of images below to review our favorite Valley-made barbecue sauces.
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Chumley’s Root Beer BBQ Sauce ($8.99)
Before opening Chumley’s BBQ and Catering Company, owner Dan Lemire thought of barbecue as “anything that came off the grill.” But extensive research enlightened the CIA grad about regional barbecue traditions, which sparked the idea for a root beer sauce. “Soft drink-based sauces are common in the southern part of the U.S.,” he says. “This one I decided to change up a bit, and instead of Coca-Cola I used root beer.” The sweet and smoky concoction — which snagged taste awards at the Rosendale International Pickle Festival and Warwick’s Taste of the Town — is one of six barbecue sauces Lemire makes at his North Main Street location in Florida, NY; the building also houses a 22-seat eatery, where pulled pork sandwiches are king.
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Wild Thymes’ Mad Moroccan BBQ Sauce ($7.50)
Moroccan food is on the rise, according to Ann Stettner — the daughter half of the mother-daughter duo behind Wild Thymes, a specialty food company based in Greene County’s Greenville. Hence, a Moroccan-inspired sauce is part of their Mama’s line of barbecue sauces. “It’s great for people who get tired of the same-old, same-old,” says Stettner. With undertones of North African cooking (warm flavors from spices like cinnamon), the tomato-based sauce pairs well with grilled meat, particularly lamb. The globally inspired line also includes other unique combinations, like Smokin’ Hot Mamacita’s Mexican and Thai One On; find our favorite recipes featuring these sauces at hvmag.com/Grilling.
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Krazy for Kazu’s Stir-Fry and BBQ Sauce ($6.99)
A Japanese professional chef, Kazuhiro Hidaka had the idea to start a line of sauces 30 years ago while working at a Japanese restaurant in New York City. “I created it so everyone could taste Japanese cooking,” he says. Still going strong decades later, this sauce combines mirin — a common condiment in Japanese cuisine — with white miso, black beans, and ginger, among other ingredients, to deliver the “essence of Asia.” Easily served with any meat, seafood, or tofu, you can find this sauce at Adams (where you can also often find Hidaka distributing samples) and local farmers markets.
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Gigi Hudson Valley’s Currant BBQ Sauce ($9)
“Black currants are not only delicious, they are also one of nature’s most potent antioxidant foods,” says Gigi Hudson Valley’s Laura Pensiero. Using both red and black currants from CurrantC in Clinton, Gigi’s creation brings out both the sweetness of traditional barbecue sauce and the tangy tartness of the currants. Taste it on a dish at Gigi’s Trattoria or buy it bottled at Gigi’s Market. The market doubles as a breakfast and lunch cafe year-round; from June through October it offers agriturismo dinners which feature products from farms within five miles of the store.
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O.K. Food Products Inc.’s OK Sauce ($3.79)
Nothing says love like homemade food, and that’s exactly how the OK Sauce was born. “My husband Ken started it with a group of his hunting friends for their wives,” says Valatie-based O.K. Food Products co-owner Pat Van Allen. “They concocted a recipe that they marinated venison in so their wives would want to eat it.” The sauce complements beef, pork, and chicken, and is a big hit at OKenny’s Express, the cafe that grew from the business. Other menu best-sellers are the pulled chicken, OK Baby Back Ribs, and numerous wraps.
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Hudson Valley Pantry’s Kansas City-Style Sauce ($7)
Rockland County’s Jonathan Barnwell, the owner of Hudson Valley Pantry, added barbecue sauce to the repertoire only last year. “Clients that I see regularly asked me to make a sauce since they liked my other products so much,” he explains. The contrast of brown sugar, garlic, and cayenne, he says, provides a duality of hot and sweet flavors in his sauce. This and other unique products (like a ketchup made with chipotle and another with blueberries) can be found at farmers’ markets. “I source as much of my material as I can locally,” says Barnwell. “I’ll get strawberries from a farmer at a market one week and bring them a bottle of jam made from their product the next.”
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