A stranger's comment about my BBQ sauce changed the recipe

I've been making the same homemade BBQ sauce for years, sweet and thick, and brought it to a cookout in Columbus last month. This guy tried it and said it needed more acid to cut the fat, so I added a splash of apple cider vinegar. Now I'm wondering if I've been missing that balance in other sauces too, anyone else get feedback that forced a total rethink?

2 comments

2 Comments

hernandez.brooke1mo ago

Hey, hold on. I get where the vinegar suggestion comes from, but your sauce was already working for years. Adding acid just to satisfy one guy's palate could strip out the whole character you built. He was eating it with whatever fatty meat was on his plate, not tasting it on a spoon by itself. I've had sauces that benefited from more tang, but most of the time people just want the sweet and thick thing they know. Don't let a random comment at a Columbus cookout rewrite your whole kitchen playbook.

jenny_sullivan971mo ago

Whoa, my buddy Tom changed his chili after one comment, now nobody eats it.

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