KKruger,Blues Hog Clone


 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bill Comerford:
Jim, you'll have to wait for the next run but now that the company season is starting many people can't wait to purchase them. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Are you talking about Blues Hog T-shirts?
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+1 for the sauce clone - I'm very interested. I find the sauce a bit candy like, but still quite good and have guests that REALLY like it, but some are adverse to HFCS, which is in traditional Blues Hog. Hoping the "clone" will have a variation of usable sugars.
 
Sorry. Not yet. Never had time to work on it prior to my clients leaving for Monte Carlo. Then, I needed to fly out to NC. Then I had a couple days at the ranch, then a couple with my mother in SW Fla. Flew back late yesterday.

My clients return in early May. Have some photo shoots - a bunch - from soon through the end of April but I should easily be able to work in playing with the clone. It will be weird. I can't stand Blues Hog. That said, it should be fun anyway.
 
Preliminary, but where I am at the moment (taste bud fatigue as I type):

4 T light brown sugar, packed

3 T ketchup

1 T plus 1 t cider vinegar

2 t white sugar

1/4 t Morton kosher

1/2 t chili powder

heaping 1/4 t ground black pepper, not too fine, not too coarse

1 t Worcestershire

2 drops vanilla

pinch granulated garlic

pinch allspice

2 pinches cayenne


Start the heat under a small pot. Melt the brown sugar into the ketchup. Simmer gently as you add the other ingredients.


Note: This is an easy one to get burned out on, in terms of cloning, as, like many others, it is so sweet. It is significantly sweeter than many, worsening the problem.

I'm not positive of amount - I never am - but these are likely close. Whether I am missing any key flavor(s) I have not yet determined because working on the ratios with an ultra-sweet sauce rapidly kills taste bud sensitivity.

I can tell you the ingredients are cheaper, commercial ones - one can tell that immediately by the inclusion of high fructose corn syrup in the ketchup used (it is listed on the label). Stuff like this can affect some elements of the flavor and finish but there is not a lot one can do about this.
 
Whoops. Yes. Left it out of the above. I'll edit. Right now I am at a pinch. I'm thinking maybe 2 or not quite that but I need ot go back to that.
 
Pepper, really; peppercorn and chile. Allspice is there but I would not call it predominant. There is not much in the way of flavor breadth there. And all that sugar narrows what depth there might have been considerably.

I converted my little pot of it earlier, to something not so cloying and narrow - so all was not lost.
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See what you think of the clone. I have to do it again with fresher taste buds to check it, and to see if it replicates well.
 
I made this today. From reading the recipe, I thought KK was off, missing some things really. There was no way this recipe was as deep as what I thought BH was, and I really felt he was off when he kept saying it was simply a sauce of a bunch of sweetness and not much else.

Anyway, So I got my ingredients set out and started.

Dumped the sugar and ketchup and realized I forgot to put my Apple Cider Vinegar in place. Drat. Let me measure that. No Apple Cider Vinegar in the pantry?! Whut!? So before my sugar and ketchup could burn, I quickly mixed some white vinegar with Apple Juice and proceeded. Point being, all bets are off from this point. Despite being close, my white vinegar and AJ was not Apple Cider Vinegar.

As the ketchup and brown sugar melted, I felt sure this was not going to turn out like BH. Too red, not sheeny. Just not looking right and not gonna get there.

I proceeded with the rest of the ingredients (yes...I HAD the rest of them....) and once the sauce really came to a light simmer ... bam....dead ringer on appearance for BH. Sheen, color, visual contrast. Everything.

How about the taste?

Well, a couple issues:
1) Of course the afforementioned vinegar debacle.
2) My ground allspice was very fine. More fine than I think the original. Also, although not 'old', it was not very fresh.
3) My vanilla drops were huge. Vanilla over powered it, way more than the original. I should have been more careful on that, I clearly put too much vanilla in and the result was a medicinal taste. I probably put twice the appropriate amount.

All that being said .... yes KKruger hit it very close. I could tell tweaking my vanilla and correcting my vinegar would have a huge impact (duh). I will likely try the recipe posted exactly above again, before tweaking it, but I am confident it is a very very good start, at a minimum.

Again, all just my opinion.
 
Nice write up Gerd!

One of the sauces below is Blues Hog, the other is Kevin's clone.
Which one is the Hog? (answer at bottom)
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First, some of my thoughts, since this has been a somewhat controversial thread at times.
I'm near fanatical about shopping locally owned stores, and buying locally made products when possible.
Blues Hog is a local product and now found in most grocery stores in my area.
I have no need to clone it, but folks in other parts of the country do not have this availability.
Perhaps some would like to know what it's really like before paying the additional cost of shipping.

IMO, Kevin's clone is close enough, as it stands, to give them a very good idea of what to expect, whether they decide to make their own or buy online.
I do not see it hurting the sales of Blues Hog, and it could possibly help.

When the cost of time and ingredients are added up, I feel that it would be a wash.

I followed Kevin's recipe as close as possible.
One exception, my ketchup was Hunts with no HFCS.
I thought the taste is very similar, but mine was very thick, maybe cooked too long?
It seems to need a bit more heat, perhaps some fine ground red pepper flakes?
And maybe a bit more allspice.

A small jar of BH lasts me a long time since I use it mainly on pork ribs and most often mixed with another bbq sauce.

Kevin continues to amaze me, wish my taste buds were half as sensitive/knowledgeable as his.

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Answer: The one on the left is Blues Hog.
 
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