St. Louis BBQ - Maull's

NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 22:35:07 CDT
Xref: usenet.INS.cwru.edu alt.food.barbecue:34035

I got this off the Maull's site:

                  We like to think that Maull's great taste has
contributed to
                  making St. Louis the Barbecue Capital of the world.
St. Louis'
                  claim to that title may surprise a lot of people who
think that
                  Memphis, New Orleans or Kansas City is the Barbecue
Capital.
                  But while those cities may have very well-known
barbecue
                  restaurants, the people in those cities don't use
nearly as
                  much barbecue sauce on a per capita basis as St.
Louisians.
                  According to the Nielsen company, which measures
consumer
                  sales through food stores , St. Louisians use 2-1/2
times more
                  barbecue sauce than the national average -- much more
than
                  any other city.
  Source:  http://www.maull.com/minfo.html

Anyone who has not tried the plain Maull's should.  I am not affiliated with Maull's in any way, and the prices on their website are a bit steep, though the free shipping is a good deal, and if you spend the $12.95/3 24 oz. bottles, I think that you'll be tempted to buy cases of it if you are ever in St. Louis, where it is cheaper.  The grocery stores often sell it buy-1-get-1 free.  When I lived in Florida ('90-'92), I had visitors bring me cases of the stuff.

If you prefer a hotter sauce--as I do--you can add Pure Cap (500,000 scovilles) or extra hot Indian chili powder to the sauce you use for the first basting, then switch to unaltered Maull's for subsequent bastings.

http://www.tastethepain.com/catalog.htm seems to have the best price on Pure-Cap, $9.95, but be careful with this product.  My genius/idiot nephew has gotten daring with it to the point that the Q was practically inedible. One-three drops in a 24 oz. bottle is more than adequate. Powdrered Indian chili can be bought at Asian food stores very cheaply, and it alters flavor almost as imperceptably as Pure-Cap, at a fraction of the cost.

Again, whatever sauce you choose to heat up, only use it for the first coat.  Let the heat cook into the chicken or pork, while leaving your favorite straight sauce on the outside.  Happy Qing!

Note:
DO NOT do as my above mentioned nephew, my wife's cousin, and I have done. DO NOT take ~a third of a dropper of Pure-Cap and put it directly into your mouth while drunk on a gravel bar on a creek in the Missouri Ozarks.  It could kill you if you have heart or blood pressure problems.  If not, you will still suffer ~15 minutes of excruciating pain.  Fluids will instantly pour from your nose and eyes, and you will likely drool as well.  Few women are impressed by this spectacle of stupidity.  They see it for what it is, drunken male stupidity.