The Great Steak Sauce Taste Off

--Tailgatin' and how to make mofos start playa hatin' (Recipes)

I recently mc'd a gathering for 6 (+me) of my food buddies and we had a steak sauce taste off. It was a great event and a helluva way to start off summer the grilling season. We would be trying six different steak sauces including the most well known of the bunch, A1. I had brought a few and another friend of mine who said he had a few different kinds in his pantry brought the others. We had a friend who was judging the contests wife pour the bottles into plastic cups and label them 1-6 and since she wasn't all that into it, she would be the only one who knew what the numbers of each sauce was. Scoring was quite simple with 6 points being awarded to a judges favorite all the way down to just one point for their least favorite. Of course we would be using grilled steaks as the meat of choice for tasting the sauces with. Here is how it went down. Read on to see how you can have a chance to get a free bottle of the winning sauce.


2010 Great Steak Sauce Taste Off Contestants
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A1

Final Score: 17 points for 5th place
Highest Score: 4 by one person
Lowest Score: 1 by one person
Weird Ingredient: raisin paste

Notes: Well this was interesting considering that A1 is the most widely known brand at least in the United States. Well it didn't fare too well in this blind tasting contest and was voted in the bottom half by six of the seven judges. I would believe the steak sauce is one of the Kraft food companies big earners and I actually don't mind it but it didn't stack up with the rest, it got a two from me.
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Ashanti

Final Score: 23 points for 4th place (lost tiebreaker)
Highest Score: 5 by one person
Lowest Score: 1 by one person
Weird Ingredient: raisin paste, OJ concentrate, oil of grapefruit

Notes: This is a steak sauce made by Bridge Foods who is based out of New Orleans. I brought this one with me and score it a four and quite enjoyed it to the point where I wanted to give it maybe even a five but when I had a taste off with my five score it just lost out.
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Louisiana Supreme

Final Score: 23 points for 3rd place (won tiebreaker)
Highest Score: 6 by one person
Lowest Score: 1 by one person
Weird Ingredient: raisins, crushed oranges

Notes: The second of the Louisiana natives steak sauces just so happened to score the same points as the other contestant. Louisiana Supreme won the tiebreaker with having a score of six (Ashanti scored a high of five) from one of the judges but it also had a one just like Ashanti sauce did. I gave it a score of three so I actually slightly preferred the Ashanti sauce but never the less I also liked this. The contestants in the 1st ever Sauce Off were pretty strong in my opinion.
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Original Australian

Final Score: 12 points for 6th place
Highest Score: 3 by two people
Lowest Score: 1 by four people
Weird Ingredient: raisin paste, anchovy

Notes: The sauces full name goes by Original Australian Awesome Steak Sauce but nobody thought of it like they think of themselves. The main reason being how much thinner it was than all the others. It was almost like a marinade and not a sauce. It was my lowest rated mostly to do with this. I kept thinking maybe it would be better served by marinating some cubes of beef for Australian steak kabobs or something to that effect.
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London Pub Jamaican Style Spicy

Final Score: 35 points for 2nd place
Highest Score: 6 by two people
Lowest Score: 4 by one person
Weird Ingredient: Tamarind concentrate

Notes: This sauce comes from the London Pub line of condiments which is a line of many English condiments including their original style steak sauce and this spicy Jamaican version that scored very well. I am a regular consumer of this brand when I see them in the grocery store and had brought this bottle with me along with the two Louisiana sauces. I love this stuff, specifically the Jamaican style due to the extra heat and fact it goes so well with everything. I use it in my Sheppard's pie, meatloafs, steaks, tater tots, you name it. I was surprised when I scored it a five and it had me wondering what I scored the six. Its still one of if not my favorite steak sauces.
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YR Sauce

Final Score: 37 points for 1st place
Highest Score: 6 by three people
Lowest Score: 4 by one person
Weird Ingredient: Apples, Dates

Notes: It was a close call but the fifth generation YR Irish Sauce beat out the English sauce for 1st place in the 1st ever Great Steak Sauce Taste Off. In fact I even gave it a six over my favorite that I had brought which I gave a five. I really liked the stuff because as opposed to the last place finisher it was thick and hearty as it describes itself. I will stock up when I get my chance. If your in the Chicagoland area and you know where to get this let us know. Read on.


The 2010 Great Steak Sauce Taste Off Winner (win this bottle)

Oddly enough my rankings pretty much equaled the final results with just a switch here and there. So when I asked my friend where he got the bottle he told me Strack & Van Til over on Clybourn, a spot I like b/c they carry regional products and have a selection unlike the two main grocery stores in town. But then when I went over there to get some they didn't have any and I went to the people at the company and they told me they didn't think there were any spots for it in Chicago but that they would send me a few bottles, after I told them why I was looking. Well I'm pretty sure you can because I've seen the stuff since at a couple Irish Pubs and know its around since my friend got it at S&VT. But I can make it easy for you. Read on below.


One of the steaks used in the taste off with some twice baked mashed

To get a bottle of the 2010 "Steak Sauce Taste Off" just join my facebook group or click follow on this very site near the top right (those already in the group or following are automatically entered) and you will be automatically entered into the contest where two random winners will be chosen from a random computer drawing on June the 25th, 2010. Good grillings to all and thanks again for reading. Plenty more to come this summer. Stay tuned.