Thank you to everyone who entered the Sauce King NYC competition in 2022. Congratulations to all of the winners! Go pick up a bottle of some of these favorites sauces and support these great brands!
Sauce King NYC 2022 Champions
Grand Champion:
Harmacy Hot Sauce Co , “Brimstone Rimjob” Pepper Sauce
Homero Gonzalez | Cookeville, Tennessee
(Texture, flavor, balanced heat. I’d fight over this sauce!)
BARBECUE SAUCES
Top Barbecue Sauce
BBQ Buddha’s Kansas City Sauce
Asbury, NJ.
(Mesquite flavors stand out, well made, balanced.
Best Traditional BBQ Sauce
OL’Chefskis BBQ’s Road House BBQ Sauce
Cleveland, Ohio.
(Everybody loves it)
Best Flavor Enhancer
B.T. Leigh’s The Magical Mop
Bowling Green, Kentucky. (classic bbq mop sauce with a Harissa kick)
Best Dipping Sauce
Low Country Sauce , “Bigyia”, food dressing and dipping sauce
“Like a tomato aioli, serve with crab cakes.”
Houston ,Texas.
(A new sauce by our 2021 Grand Champion – a completely different style of sauce.)
Best Fruit BBQ Sauce
Linda’s Pineapple Jerk Sauce
Bronx NYC.
“EXCELLENT. Delicious on its own.”
“Little chunks of pineapple. Just a FUN sauce that can inspire even a decent chef’s imagination.”
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Noteworthy – Barbecue sauces, Marinades, Dipping Sauces…
Bbq buddha, Memphis Mop
Asbury, NJ
“Midwestern flavors.”
(not fair, it was our 2020 original Grand Champion, still a favorite)
B.T.Leighs, The Clevelander
Bowling Green, Kentucky
(Mustard, chili)
Uncle Lucky’s- BBQ Nirvana…
John Seeley
Short Hills, NJ
(sesame)
Pure Grit BBQ, The BBQ Sauce
Manhattan, NYC
(Created for plants. Good on everything.)
Father and Sons Kitchen. Sweet and Tangy Barbecue sauce
The Bronx, NYC
(Really nice and smooth.)
Gourmet Road sauce company , Louisiana style original
Maurice, Louisiana
Cuban Kitchen. Guava-Habanero BBQ Sauce
Lynna Martinez
San Mateo, California
Ass Kicking BBQ , jerk sauce
Frank Sullivan
Staten Island NYC
EROC’S , The Other Sauce, BBQ sauce
Eric Lofthus
Dodge Center, Minnesota
INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
Best International Sauce Family – Spotlight
Firefly BBQ, UK
Judges’ Notes:
*the Firefly full lineup of sauces was just such a judges’ favorite. It stood out because:
- unique flavors (even though not always what the bottle titled it)
- unified packaging, making it recognizable and easy to grab off a shelf, whether at store or in your kitchen.
Four Favorites
Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce
“VERSATILE: Sweet mustard. Very good and distinctive, as all the firefly flavors are.”
- “For pork shoulder, ribs, porkchops”
- ” Sandwich with ham or lots of sandwich ideas”
- “A mustard vinaigrette dressing”
Caribbean Hot Mango Sauce
“Loved it. Good heat that stays on the tongue. Peppery but not too hot.”
Oaxaca Chilli Ketchup
“Great name. Good heat, and lots of actual tomato flavor, as opposed to ketchup at the grocery store.”
- ” It’s ketchup. Good on so much. Great on EGGS…”
Japanese Yuzu BBQ Sauce
“ginger forward, sweet, just FUN”
- ” Use on salmon, steak, veggies – very WELL BALANCED sauce “
- ” GREAT marinade”
HOT SAUCES
Best Hot Sauce
718 Heat Factory Sweet Heat
John Hercel
NYC
Most Versatile Hot Sauce
Rocket Fuel Foods, Fresca Salsa Verde, mild hot sauce
Favorite Hot Sauce Family Pack
Rocket Fuel Foods , Dead Red.
Rocket Fuel Foods, Louisiana Style Red.
Rocket Fuel Foods. Super High Octane.
Rocket Fuel Foods. Liquid Atomic Fire.
Best Farm Sourced Flavor
Morning Glory Pepperworks, Smokebomb wicked hot verde
(smoked green chili.hot sauce)
Morning Glory Farm x Culinary school collaboration!
Bethel, Maine
HONORABLE MENTIONS
CRAIC SAUCE
The Golden Pumpkin,
Lowell, Massachusetts.
CRAIC SAUCE
Mill City Red, Louisiana style.
Lowell, Massachusetts.
Pure Grit BBQ, The Hot Stuff, hot sauce.
Manhattan NYC.
BBQ Buddha, Mantra hot sauce.
Asbury, NJ.
CONDIMENTS, RUBS
Best Ketchup
Rocket Fuel , Granny Smith Apple Ketchup.
(“Great for French fries.)
Noteworthy
Harissa- El Fassy( metro nyc)
Rubs
Judges’ Award-
Bayou Gotham,
BAYOU BOURRÉ Creole Seasoning & Craft BBQ Rub.
NYC.
Noteworthy.
Uncle Tony’s BBQ rub.
Anthony Hester
Hampton, Virginia
METRO NYC START UP CATEGORY
METRO NYC- PROMISING FAMILY OF SAUCES
Overall Favorite
International Wings Factory
multiple WINGS and dipping sauces….
Deepak Ballaney, Manhattan NYC.
NOTEWORTHY METRO NYC
Sands Jerk Hut
Darlene Lawrence
Brooklyn NYC
Dirty Jerz BBQ
Wolfgang Tsoutsourus
Milburn NJ
Craft House Staten Island, bbq sauce
Chef, Kurron Mangin
Staten island NYC
PRIZES
Kikuichi Cutlery – Japanese knives.
Porter Road meat gift certificates.
Prime 6 Charcoal.
Burlap and Barrel.
Taste of the Bronx.