We have tried a good number of the products from CaJohns Fiery Foods, but we realized when we sat down to do this one what we had been missing.

Barbecue sauce. Most all of them. We’ve tried a fair number of them, but somehow we have not gotten around to actually writing about them. How could that happen? To remedy this oversight, we sat down with a bottle of the Orange-Chipotle Carolina Style BBQ sauce and began our tasting adventure. To do this right, we had to answer one basic question.

Just what the heck does “Carolina Style” mean when it comes to barbecue?

Barbecue in this country goes way back, and is incredibly regional in nature. What you might call BBQ in Texas just wouldn’t fly in Tennessee, for example. Thanks to the glory that is the Wikipedia, we can set some guidelines of what is commonly referred to as BBQ when coming from the Carolinas…we say Carolinas because even the North and South versions of Carolina are just a little different. For example:

North Carolina

Within North Carolina, there are two regional barbecue traditions, both based on the slow-cooking of pork, served pulled, chopped, or sliced. In eastern North Carolina, typically the whole hog is used, and the dominant ingredients in the sauce are vinegar and hot peppers. From the Piedmont westward, Lexington-style barbecue is the norm. It is prepared from primarily pork shoulder and served with either a vinegar-based or tomato-based sauce. The tomato-based sauce, called “dip” by some, can be made with ketchup and is thinner and less sweet than most bottled barbecue sauces available nationwide. Except for the “whole hog” preparation, hams are not generally barbecued.

Throughout the State, the term “barbecue” usually refers to slow cooked pork, but it can also refer to a backyard cookout. Any meat basted in a barbecue sauce and cooked over heat can be called “barbecued,” for example, “barbecued chicken” or “barbecued ribs.” A common home preparation called “chicken barbecue” is oven-braised chicken pieces with a sauce, usually thin and slightly spicy.

Barbecue is prepared by placing a pork shoulder or half a hog (that is, a side) in a “hog cooker” over prepared wood coals and cooking very slowly, usually overnight. Which wood to use is subject to debate — often oak or hickory, but never pine. For convenience, gas, electric, or charcoal heat may be used, alone, or in combination with a wood, although most will agree that regardless of primary heat source, long exposure to hardwood smoke produces the most flavorful barbecue. Other variations involve cooking times, turning frequency, and basting methods.

When the meat is finished, it may be cut up or chopped by the cook, or diners at a pig pickin’ may pull the desired quantity directly off the bone. A “Pig pickin’” is a popular type of gathering centered on the consuming, and possibly cooking, of barbecue. Pig pickin’s are popular for church gatherings, family celebrations, reunions, weddings, funerals, and pre-game parties.

Common side dishes include hushpuppies, barbecue slaw, french fries, boiled potatoes, corn sticks, Brunswick stew, and collard greens. In the popular NC State Legislative Building cafeteria, accompaniments include deep-fried dill pickle slices. Also popular is the “barbecue sandwich,” consisting of barbecue, vinegar/pepper sauce, sweet cole slaw, and perhaps a little yellow mustard, served on a hamburger bun. A “barbecue tray” is a thick paper rectangular bowl with barbecue and french fries or hushpuppies served side-by-side. The meat may already have sauce mixed in, or the diner may add his own.

South Carolina

South Carolina is the only state to have four types of barbecue sauces: mustard, vinegar, heavy tomato, and light tomato. The meat used in South Carolina is consistent throughout the state, slow-cooked pulled pork. In the Pee Dee and Lowcountry coastal region, a vinegar and pepper sauce is prevalent, though the region is home to Sticky Fingers, a rib house who uses all four sauces. In the Midlands area around Columbia, a mustard-based sauce sometimes referred to as “Carolina Gold” is the predominant style. Such establishments as Melvin’s (2 locations in Charleston, SC), Maurice Bessinger’s “Piggy Park”, Shealy’s and Jackie Hites* (both located in Batesburg-Leesville) and Dukes BBQ (3 locations in Orangeburg, SC) use gold sauce made from mustard, apple juice, pear juice, and other ingredients. In upcountry around Rock Hill, one finds the light tomato and the rest of the upcountry stretching down past Aiken is home to the heavy tomato sauce. In addition to pork, other popular BBQ dishes include hash and ribs.

At the very simplest, let’s just say that a vinegar-base sauce is more typical of Southern United States barbecue, while tomato-based sauce is really more Western United States style. That said, our ingredients list looks like this:

Ingredients: apple cider vinegar, brown sugar, CaJohns orange chipotle seasoning (salt, sugar, onion, garlic, bell pepper, chipotle chiles, modified food starch, turmeric, yeast extract, orange zest, paprika, parsley, citric acid), Worcestershire sauce (vinegar, molasses, corn syrup, water, salt, caramel color, garlic powder, sugar, spices, anchovies, tamarind, and natural flavor), garlic powder, onion powder, salt, black pepper, mustard flour

So yes, this is a vinegar-based BBQ sauce. In fact, we had original tried this when made with pulled pork at our most recent Grillmasters festival here in Columbus.

While it may not be a typical choice, but we had some ribeye steak that was just yearning for a little BBQ sauce, so we figured to add some of this concoction to see how well it fared. We marinaded the steaks in this BBQ sauce for about 2 hours before they ever reached the fire, so there was plenty of time for the meat to absorb some of the flavor. Not being familiar with thus style of BBQ, our first reaction was to notice how thin this sauce was. Like pure liquid thin. If you’re used to those tomato-based sauces like we are, it might be a little bit alarming…so there was a question as to whether this would work more as a marinade or as a more typical BBQ sauce. After its timed marinade, the steaks went off to the grill:

Here are the ribeyes just grilling their way to BBQ nirvana. The sauce itself, while being thin, has a really nice aroma to it. Vinegar aside, there is a definite orange scent with overtones of some kind of pepper, presumably the chipotle as it’s the only one. The flavor matches the aroma, save for the fact that the vinegar taste wasn’t as heavy as it could have been. The spiciness is more than just chipotle, though. The spice mix adds a whole-flavor taste that provides more real flavor than heat. Speaking of heat, it has just enough to get your attention. Call it a 4/10. Not too hot, but it will register on your heat sensors.

So, above you can see the results of Carolina-style orange-chipotle ribeye experiment. As it turned out, it wasn’t too shabby. We did feel as thought the pulled pork we had tried previously was a better choice of meat for this kind of BBQ, but this was no slouch either. If you can stomach the pain of adding BBQ to this cut of meat, all the power to you. We enjoyed the orange-chipotle flavor, which was mellowed quite a bit by the grilling process and had good penetration into the meat.

Overall recommendation: The result of our education about this kind of BBQ was that we wanted to try more of it. This sauce was good, but somehow we wanted it to be a little thicker to get some of that “cling” factor so common to the tomato-based BBQ sauces. The longer it was cooked, the better it tasted…which is good news for those of you who are into slow-cooking your BBQ for hours on end. As for us, we liked it but need to do some more tasting to find out some better food pairings. In true CaJohn style, however, you can tell it’s a quality product. Give it a try and turn your next BBQ into a Carolina-style feast. North or South, it’s up to you. Enjoy!