KansasCity BBQ (Kansas City, Washington, Union: buy, allergy, living)

[IloveOC]

Hi guys - I just have a general question...is KansasCity BBQ a little more spicy than other places? We ate at Gates and luckily didn't have the sauce put on the meat - the sweet and smokey was way too spicy and even the mild was. I noticed cumen in the sauce. I know that we are kind of wussies when it comes to spice - but even the meat seemed spicy to me. I could tell lots of people liked it - they were busy. Just wondering.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by IloveOC

Hi guys - I just have a general question...is KansasCity BBQ a little more spicy than other places? We ate at Gates and luckily didn't have the sauce put on the meat - the sweet and smokey was way too spicy and even the mild was. I noticed cumen in the sauce. I know that we are kind of wussies when it comes to spice - but even the meat seemed spicy to me. I could tell lots of people liked it - they were busy. Just wondering.

If you found Gates Sweet & Mild too spicy, what are you doing anywhere near barbecue sauce?

Or maybe you just have a high sensitivity towards cumin, which I consider the secret ingredient that makes Gates' sauce the best on the planet.

Do you have a similar reaction when eating chili, in which cumin is a common ingredient?

But if it's not that, yeah, you're kind of wussy when it comes to spice. Most people would consider Gates Sweet & Mild exactly what its label says it is.

And no, KC Q is no spicier than Q elsewhere. You might have an even stronger reaction to eastern North Carolina Q, where a vinegar-based sauce is used. It would be the acidity rather than the heat, but I suspect the reaction might be the same.

[sub]

Disclaimer: I'm far from being a BBQ connoisseur. I just eat it once in a great while, but not something I seek out or crave.
That being said, perhaps it's my own ignorance, but I'm not sure what Kansas City BBQ is exactly.
Every place I've ever eaten at there seemed to have a very different thing going on from the rest in terms of flavor. Maybe it has a little influence from everywhere, like the city itself.

Most kinds of sauce in any region seem to have some kick. That's part of the deal.
It's all very good though. When asked, I say KC's the best.

[zenith32]

I actually had KC BBQ for the first time a few days ago. Found a place called Jack Stack BBQ a few miles south of downtown and that sandwich alone was well worth the 5+ hour drive each way (was there for other reasons, the BBQ was just a happy bonus). I found the meat to be tender and moist but not spicy, and the sauce I got with it (a mustard BBQ vinaigrette sauce) to be some of the best BBQ sauce I've ever had but similarly not particularly spicy. The cheap stuff you can get at the supermarket often has more of a kick, I think.


If you get that strong of a reaction from even a mild sauce (assuming there isn't some kind of high sensitivity going on or maybe even a mild allergy) then maybe consider just...not going out for BBQ. As a previous poster said, the kick from the sauce is part of the appeal just like hot wings or various Asian cuisines.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by sub

Most kinds of sauce in any region seem to have some kick. That's part of the deal.
It's all very good though. When asked, I say KC's the best.

Well, there is a problem.

Thanks to dentist Rich Davis, the creator of KC Masterpiece sauce, a lot of people think that KC sauces have a tankful of molasses in them. Most of the store-brand "Kansas City" barbecue sauces you can buy have molasses listed as either the second or third ingredient on the ingredients list. These sauces are sickeningly sweet, not a quality I associate with the KC sauces of my youth (and most KC Q joints had their own sauces then, and still do now).

Neither Gates' original sauce nor Grant's (a now-departed BBQ place at 11th and Washington Boulevard in KCK that friends of my family owned) were terribly sweet. Nor is Bryant's sauce, for that matter (I don't know if this is still the case, but one of its ingredients when I was a lad was lard).

Gates introduced Sweet & Mild as a response to the spread of these overly sweet, molasses-heavy sauces. It wasn't part of the company's original line (Original and Extra Hot).

BTW, one store brand of Kansas City-style sauce I've tried that doesn't fall into this trap is Burman's, Aldi's store brand. It also doesn't use high fructose corn syrup. Sadly, Gates does now; I copied the recipe when Ollie Gates gave it up to Martha Stewart on her old Food Network TV show and make my own. The home-brew version uses brown sugar, which means it does have molasses in it at one remove.

[MarketStEl]

Originally Posted by zenith32

I actually had KC BBQ for the first time a few days ago. Found a place called Jack Stack BBQ a few miles south of downtown and that sandwich alone was well worth the 5+ hour drive each way (was there for other reasons, the BBQ was just a happy bonus). I found the meat to be tender and moist but not spicy, and the sauce I got with it (a mustard BBQ vinaigrette sauce) to be some of the best BBQ sauce I've ever had but similarly not particularly spicy. The cheap stuff you can get at the supermarket often has more of a kick, I think.


If you get that strong of a reaction from even a mild sauce (assuming there isn't some kind of high sensitivity going on or maybe even a mild allergy) then maybe consider just...not going out for BBQ. As a previous poster said, the kick from the sauce is part of the appeal just like hot wings or various Asian cuisines.

I remember dining at Fiorello's Jack Stack at that warehouse development across from Union Station (maybe this is the one you ate at; there are several Jack Stack locations around the metropolitan area) back in 2016 and telling the friend who had come with me on the trip, "This is what happens when you take barbecue and dress it up in a suit and tie."

Which was not to say that it wasn't good. It just didn't feel real to me.

Interesting that you got a barbecue sauce with mustard as a base ingredient. That's a South Carolina thing, by and large.

Vinegar is the base ingredient in Eastern North Carolina sauces, as I mentioned upthread. The most common base ingredient for barbecue sauce is tomatoes, and most KC (and Memphis, and supermarket) sauces are tomato-based.

Next time you're in the area, try LC's at Blue Parkway and Sni-a-bar Road. The business continues to roll after its founder's death, and they have great burnt ends (a KC Q specialty, these are chunks of brisket cut off the point, which chars before the rest of the brisket is done).

[sub]

Occasionally, one might find authentic Kansas City sauce in a store outside of the area.
I was at a Cabella’s in Green Bay recently and they had actually had a decent selection of KC sauce in the grilling section. I think it had Bryant’s, Gates, Jack Stack, etc., among others I think. My guess is Bass Pro does the same.
Not certain if LC’s was one of them, but I know I’ve seen their sauce in a store somewhere and got all excited about it.
The best authentic food is often found in hole-in-wall dives or on food trucks. Jack Stack intimidates me because of that.
*sigh*
Now I need to talk my family into a 600-mile whirlwind-weekend…
LC’s is down the street from the zoo so maybe that’ll sweeten the deal.

[WiseOwlSaysHoot]

I would say that Gates is on the spicier side for KC BBQ (which is why I like it). I wouldn't call their sweet and mild sauce spicy, but it does still have a little tangy kick to it. Places like Joe's and Jackstack are a little more on the sweet side.

There is a fairly wide range in taste profiles in KC BBQ, but the general flavor is a little sweet combined with a little spice. If Gates' sweet and mild is too much for you, you might be in trouble.

[Weaubleau]

When I first moved to KC, I thought that KC style sauce was sweet and molasses-ey based on KC Masterpiece, which honestly was never my favorite bottled sauce. Once I tried BBQ from many restaurants around town, I found many styles being prevalent. My two favorites are Zarda original, which doesn't have much taste to be honest, but lets the smokiness of the meat shine through, and then Oklahoma Joe's (I still call it that) Night of the living BBQ, which is the best hot BBQ sauce around town. Next would be both the Gates original and sweet, and then last place would be Rosedale's, which to me tastes like Karo dark syrup with red food coloring in it.

[KC_Retiree]

Originally Posted by Weaubleau

When I first moved to KC, I thought that KC style sauce was sweet and molasses-ey based on KC Masterpiece, which honestly was never my favorite bottled sauce. Once I tried BBQ from many restaurants around town, I found many styles being prevalent. My two favorites are Zarda original, which doesn't have much taste to be honest, but lets the smokiness of the meat shine through, and then Oklahoma Joe's (I still call it that) Night of the living BBQ, which is the best hot BBQ sauce around town. Next would be both the Gates original and sweet, and then last place would be Rosedale's, which to me tastes like Karo dark syrup with red food coloring in it.

I don't think any one type of sauce characterizes KC BBQ. I think the absence of a particular type of sauce is more typical of KC - the really vinegar-rich sauces. I was long gone from KC when I first sampled what I considered a vinegar-rich sauce. That was in Texas and it tasted pretty alien to my KC bbq-trained palate. I haven't had Carolina BBQ but I understand it has a stronger vinegar taste than what I experienced in Texas. KC sauces seem to have a wide range from sweet to very spicy but I don't recall any KC sauces that had really strong vinegar tastes.