DEBATE: All Purpose Sauce vs Specialty Sauce
The sauce listed above is Rising Sun Pepper Farm’s 3 Pepper Garlic Sauce. There is not a product more a specialty sauce to my needs than this one is. While it is tasty and could be used for multiple purposes I use it for just one thing and it is their recipe for Beer Cheese Dip. I serve it at parties and functions to an eager crowd that can’t get enough of it. CaJohn’s Oaxacan is my most used and one of my favorite hot sauces on the planet, but I only use it on Mexican-style food. I could go on and on with certain hot sauces and spicy condiments and how I choose to use them each. There is a debate on the merits of buying the all purpose or everyday sauce over the specialty sauce. Which side of the fence do you fall on? I am very clear where I stand on this matter.
The all purpose sauce can be used on a wider array of cuisines including many of the choices that a specialty sauce could be applied to. The multiple usage is an obvious advantage to buy. In fact, why would one go and buy a specialty sauce if it is so limited? Why would I waste money on a product that will lie waiting to be used only when I choose to target a particular meal just to have some again? Do we as consumers want to fill our refrigerators with so many different condiments so we can place each one on a rotation? Fish tacos today let me pull out my fish taco specialty sauce. Hungarian Goulash tonight honey, please get my goulash sauce! That all might sound stupid, but don’t we all ready do this with certain food all ready?
How about cocktail and tartar sauce? Does it get anymore specialty than that? I love cocktail sauce and there is always a bottle of some in my fridge when I want to have some shrimp or fish and chips. Not a huge fan of tartar, but does anyone buy it to use on anything besides seafood, and very specific seafood at that, right? Then there is the popular mustard. I am sure there are a few of you that will use mustard on many more things plus recipes than most of us, but as much as I love it, I use it sparingly. Foods of choices are hot dogs, bologna, potato knishes and Italian subs. Ketchup too for me is used for just a few food choices. I love it and I do mean love it on burgers and fries, but that is just about it.
The point I am trying to make here is that we would surely store certain condiments away for particular kinds of food we love, so why not hot sauce too? Maybe it is a wiser investment to buy hot sauce that we can use regularly on a wider array of selections than a specialty hot sauce. In this recession it surely is, but if you need your hot sauce like I need my hot sauce then your going to buy it regardless whether it is a specialty product or an all purpose one. If money gets that bad then I will be buying more cheaper hot sauce like one of my favorites- Trappey’s Red Devil. It will definitely hold me off while I get more funds together, but it will not satiate my desire for different flavors. Sure there is a place for fruit-based sauces in my refrigerator and wing sauce, teriyaki, barbecue, jerk and other great specialty sauces.
What do you think?
I am a Super specialty sauce person. I have a sauce that I prefer on almost anything you could imagine. Hard boiled eggs – Tahiti Joe’s Rectum Ripper, Omelette – Captain Sorenson’s, Fried rice – 1498, and so on. You name a food, I have a hot sauce I use specifically for it! Now being in the business and getting to bottle such a wide aray of sauces makes it easier. I don’t have to purchase the majority of the sauces I use.I still purchase sauces online and at the shows I attend because of the creativity of the folks in our business! Love me some specialty hot sauce!
Buddah, your second sentence needs some restructuring.
To me, when I see “All Purpose Sauce” on the label, I’m thinking that it’s probably going to be boring.
Thanks Tom.
I am presently doing a product review on something that is referred to as a “Super Condiment”. If I saw a spicy product like that in the store I would feel the necessity to buy it.
When it comes to tartar sauce and cocktail sauce I dont buy, but make my own because I always have mayo, ketchup, horseradish and pickles in the fridge. Since I started doing reviews I now have a few sauces just for certain foods where I never did that before. But to take it one step further, I do have pots and pans for certain foods. An egg pan, a spagetti pot so on and so forth.
I do not buy/like sauces that are limited in their use. I don’t expect sauces to be good on everything. But, at the same time, I expect to be good on more than one dish. As a reviewer, I have the luxury of having sauces sent to me so that I can tell the people that follow my reviews or stumble upon my reviews to inform them how a sauce is .
A lot of people don’t have the money to buy a sauce that is only good for a certain dish or style. If a sauce is only good on beef dishes and doesn’t taste good on pork,chicken,fish,etc. should it get a good rating from people or be bought.
My answer is NO.
I eat both. I definitely do like some versatile table sauces, but probably 2/3 of what I eat are specialty ones.
There are several sauces I love with a select number of dishes, and will go through them fast enough where I can just try to plan what I cook for dinner around what sauce I have. And as long as I know what to be using the sauce on, I’ll get just as much enjoyment from that sauce as I would any other, and maybe even more.
If once sauce is made specifically for chicken and is one of the best things you have ever ate, but is not good with anything else, should that sauce really get knocked down for its lack of versatility? I do not think so.
Interesting post.
As a manufacturer of sauces that are mainly defined as BBQ sauces, I focus hard on making sure pople know what else they can do with them, pizza, sloppy joes, eggs, dipping pot stickers and my all time favorite sauted with bacon. We also don’t label our spices or sauces as “rib sauce” or “fish spice” or “taco seasoning” specifically because it limits the thinking of most consumers. I say “most” because chilieheads are pretty creative when it comes to “what else can I do with this sauce” type of thinking.
As a consumer, I don’t eat ketchup much at all, not a fan. I eat mustard a bit because it’s different than our sauces or hot sauce. I love pesto, that’s a sauce, but use it for things other than pasta and it’s not an all purpose sauce, so to speak. Hot sauce is a bit different, all purpose, because I can cook with it, marinade or add it to a salad or eggs for just that special something.
I think specifying a sauce as ribs, or seafood or pasta is limiting but it helps the average consumer get focused on it’s primary purpose. And then look at Frank’s Red Hot recent ad campaign “I use that sh*t on everything”… great idea… wish I’d thought of it.
I wish I had thought of that one too.
I didnt make my Jens Rib Rub to be a specialty rub, but I still have people ask me if its good on anything besides ribs. The explination to that is a bit lengthy because it is so versatile.