Past Winners - Sauce King NYC

Official Sauce King NYC 2022 awards

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.

2021 Award Winners – Sauce King NYC

Thank you to everyone who entered our second annual Sauce King NYC competition in 2021. Congratulations to all of the winners – pick up a bottle of some of our favorites and support these great brands.

Sauce King NYC Champion

Grand Champion: Juke Food Dressing and Dipping Sauce, Low Country Sauce Company, Houston, TX
A savory and versatile sauce that goes with everything

Barbecue Sauces

Judges’ Awards:

Top Barbecue Sauce: Memphis Mop BBQ Sauce, BBQ Buddha, Asbury, NJ
The 2020 grand champion is still a judges’ favorite

Top Vinegar Based Barbecue Sauce: Jalapeño Business, B.T. Leighs, Bowling Green, KY
Great as a sauce or marinade

Honorable Mention:

Mustard Based Sauce: The Clevelander, B.T. Leighs, Bowling Green, KY

Sauce for a Cause: Veterans Q Gold Barbecue Sauce, Veterans Q, Huntley, IL

Great Grilling Sauces and Marinades:

Habanero Mango Flavor, Linda’s Barbecue Sauce, Bronx, NY

Fatcho Sauce, Kimchi Smoke, Westwood, NJ

Better Than BBQ Sauce, Lawd Have Mercy, New Orleans, LA

Noteworthy:

Smokehouse Original, Cedar Creek Sauce Company, NC

Southern Twang, Cedar Creek Sauce Company, NC

Jamaican Jerk, Elda’s Kitchen, NY

Promising Amateurs:

Black Label Sauce, K C Finest BBQ, Orlando, FL

Maiden Voyage, MAST BBQ Sauce, NV

Rubs and Seasonings

Maple Seasoning, Dutch Hill Maple, Tully, NY

Rooster Rub, Poor Devil Pepper Company x Viking & Daughters, Canaan, NY

Hot Sauces

Best Hot Sauce: Green Bastard Hot Sauce, Coney Island Saucery, Brooklyn, NY
We love using this sauce to spike guacamole

Most Versatile: Hot Chili Maple Syrup, Viking & Company, Canaan NY
Try this on everything from chicken and waffles to grilled vegetables and more

Best Everyday Hot Sauces:

Deecent Hot Sauce, Coney Island Saucery, Brooklyn, NY

Mantra Hot Sauce, BBQ Buddha, Asbury, NJ

Spicy Pepper Sauce, 5 Island Blend, Bronx, NY

Best Seafood Sauce: Ragin’ Cajun Sauce, Sandra Rose Kitchen, Little Rock, AR

Best of Brooklyn – Noteworthy Sauces: Fyah, BK Mamba and Herbal Green, BKLNWORX, Brooklyn, NY

Metro NYC StartUP

In addition to accepting submissions from sauce companies around the world, Sauce King NYC welcomed New York City restaurants to submit their homemade sauces to the tasting as part of the Metro StartUp Category. While these sauces are not yet available for commercial distribution, Sauce King is helping these chefs and restaurants take the next step towards launching a sauce product.

Winners will receive coaching sessions on expanding production from Taste of the Bronx and on ecommerce from Ori Zohar of Burlap and Barrel.

Awards:

Gold: Hot Harissa, Elfassy Foods, New York City, NY
This sauce was so beloved that if it wasn’t an amateur entry it might have won the whole competition

Silver: Spicy Cucumber Mango Sauce, Spice Shanty, Queens, NY

Bronze: Mango Jerk Barbecue Sauce, Vons Famous Jerk, Middletown, NY

Honorable Mentions:

Passionfruit BBQ Sauce, Jase’s BBQ, Arverne, NY

Pineapple Jerk Barbecue Sauce, Vons Famous Jerk, Middletown, NY

Thanks to our judges!

Ori Zohar, Burlap and Barrel

Matt Bruck, Eaters Drinkers

Anthony Ramirez II, Paul Ramirez and Rebecca Scott, Taste of The Bronx

Claire Matern, Hiller and Moon

Leiti Hsu, Journy

Jeanne Muchnick, Westchester Food Blogger

Nick Bandourveris, Film Producer and Epicurean

Duane Joseph, Friend of Food Karma Projects

2020 Award Winners – Sauce King NYC

Congratulations to the 2020 Winners!

The Sauce King NYC Champion:

Grand Prize: Memphis Mop BBQ Sauce, BBQ Buddha, NJ

Barbecue Sauces:

Awards:

Best Flavor Enhancer: Belizean Season-All, Marie Sharp’s, NC

Most Inventive BBQ Sauce: Somethin’ Somethin’ Sauce, B.T. Leigh’s Sauces and Rubs, KY

The Holy Trinity (Sweet, Spicy and Savory): Touch O Heat, Rufus Teague, KS

Honorable Mentions:

Fruit Based Barbecue Sauce: Mi Gente, Mi Tierra Spicy Guayaba Barbecue Sauce, Father & Son’s Kitchen, Bronx NY

Promising Amatuer Sauce: Honey Whole Grain Mustard BBQ Sauce, LondonOak, UK

International Barbecue Sauce: Sweet and Savory Korean BBQ Sauce, Firefly BBQ, UK

Barbecue Sauces for a Cause:

KUREious Monkey Spicy Chipotle Sauce, Children’s Cord Blood Bank, Staten Island NY

Fubar Elite BBQ Sauce, WarPig BBQ, TX. The Cause: giving back to our veterans by teaming up with 3 different veterans charities: The Folds of Honor, The Lone Survivor Foundation and the PTSD Foundation of America.

Noteworthy:

Honey Sweet, Rufus Teague, KS

Can-O-Que Boulevard Wheat, Rufus Teague, KS

Steak Sauce, Rufus Teague, KS

Orange Chili, Five Monkeys BBQ Sauce, CA

The Clevelander, B.T. Leigh’s Sauces and Rubs, KY

Hot Sauce

Awards:

Best Hot Sauce: Serrano & Chipotle Pepper Smoky Hot, Silly Chilly Hotsauce, NJ

Best Wing Sauce: Mild Wing Sauce, Rippin Red Sauce Company, MD

Best Verde Sauce: Bayou Gotham — Juju Guru Tropic Jalapeño, Scotty Peppers Hot Sauce Co., Manhattan, NY

When You Want Hot: Dead Red, Rocket Fuel Foods, Manhattan, NY

Honorable Mentions:

Habanero Hot Sauce: Forbidden Angel Habanero Sauce, Rippin Red Sauce Company, MD

Seafood Hot Sauce: Bayou Gotham — Bayou Bourré Louisiana Boil, Scotty Peppers Hot Sauce Co., Manhattan NY

Calamari Style Sauce: Signature Pepper Sauce, 5 Island Blend, Bronx NY

Runner Up, Verde Sauce: Vermont Maple Sriracha, Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind, VT

Noteworthy “Everyday Hot Sauces:”

Trailer Park Boys Deeecent Hot Sauce, Coney Island Saucery, Brooklyn NY

Original Hot Sauce, 5 Island Blend, Bronx NY

Louisiana Classic Red Hot Sauce, Rocket Fuel Foods, Manhattan NY

Other: Marinades and Condiments

Awards:

Most Versatile Sauce: The Original Smoked Maple Syrup, Sugar Bob’s Finest Kind, VT

Best Barbecue Marinade: Japanese Miso BBQ, Just Add Beer Sauce & Marinade Mix, Queens NY

Best Hot Ketchup: Granny Smith Apple Ketchup, Rocket Fuel Foods, Manhattan NY

Honorable Mention:

Chili Oil: Sichuan Chili Oil, Blank Slate Kitchen, VT

Runner Up, Hot Ketchup: Hot Ketchup Rocket Fuel Foods, Manhattan, NY

Noteworthy:

Sweet Habanero Sauce, Marie Sharp’s, NC

Mexican Tres Chiles, Just Add Beer Sauce & Marinade Mix, Queens NY

Chipotle Marinade, Mustard and Co., WA

Metro NYC StartUp Category

This category includes sauces submitted by NYC restaurants that are not yet available for distribution.

Awards:

Gold: Pique Rojo, Que Chevere, Manhattan NY

Silver: Pique Verde, Que Chevere, Manhattan NY

Honorable Mentions:

Promising Amateur: Weekend Warrior, Sauce Man Ash, Queens NY

Condiment in Metro NYC StartUp: Cassato’s Giardiniera, Salvatore Cassato, Brooklyn NY

Noteworthy:

Silva Bullet Hot Sauce, Christian Silva, NY

About Metro NYC StartUp

In addition to accepting submissions from sauce companies around the world, Sauce King NYC welcomed New York City restaurants to submit their homemade sauces to the tasting as part of the Metro StartUp Category. While these sauces are not yet available for distribution, Sauce King is helping these chefs and restaurants take the next step towards launching a sauce product.

Winners received a consultation with Christine Rico, Co-Chair of Slow Money NYC and the founder of CFO on Speed Dial as well as one-on-one sessions about getting their sauce ready for market with Rebecca Scott, founder of Sustainable Snacks. Winners have also been offered shelf space at The Bronx Beer Hall and the opportunity to sell their product online via Taste of the Bronx.

Food Karma is proud to create valuable connections within the hospitality industry and offer support restaurants when they need it most.