Meet Meat Mitch

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine from Kansas City sent me a bottle of Meat Mitch BBQ Sauce, which some friends of hers--part of a KC-based competition barbecue team--have just put out on the market.  I tried some right away, and thought it was pretty good, but you really need to let these things sit and percolate for a while.

So, over the past few days, I tried it here and there on some barbecue chicken wings, on some left over pork ribs, and on some of my own home-cooked chopped pork.  And, in all instances, it held up quite nicely.    It's a sweet, dark-brown concoction very much in the Kansas City vein: brown sugar and ketchup are the primary ingredients, and it's got a pretty considerable spice kick to it.  And, one of the ingredients might surprise you: vanilla extract.  Not a typical thing to find in barbecue sauce, but if you pay close attention you can detect a very subtle, sweet vanilla flavor underlying the spice.

On the label, Meat Mitch advises, "When in doubt, JUST ADD SAUCE!  Use it for ribs, steak, brisket, pork, foie gras, chicken, 9 irons, eggs, your mother-in-law, use it to water flowers.  WHOMP!"  This might be pushing things a bit.  But, it makes me wish I had some proper burnt ends to give it the true test on.

I may be a South Carolina boy, and I have a big plastic squeeze bottle of homemade mustard-based barbecue sauce in my refrigerator at all times--useful on everything from chopped pork to pickled okra.  Still, I have a long standing fondness in my heart for Kansas City barbecue, and Meat Mitch's sauce is a little reminder that I need to get out west of the Mississippi very, very soon.