Brobecks Barbeque Mustard Sauce
Background
Growing up in Eastern Tennessee, Doug Brobeck was familiar with the tradition of pork barbecue and started to hone his craft as young man. After settling in the Kansas City area, Doug started on the competition circuit in the early 1990's, and success there led to the next logical step of opening a restaurant. That happened in 1994 with Stilwell Smokehouse on the south side of Kansas City, and he ran that joint for 10 years before selling it and moving on. Stilwell Smokehouse only survived two years after its sale, but Doug was busy with his next venture in his new locale of Overland Park, Kansas. Brobeck's Barbeque opened in 2007 and continues to sling smoked meats to this day along with selling two of their sauce varieties online.
Aroma
An uncomplicated honey mustard aroma defines the first whiff of this sauce. The distinct smell of mustard has its harshness cut by honey and sugar, while there's an added vinegar that creates a tangy character. Deeper nosefuls don't bring too much else to the party, save for a light garlic and just a hint of pepper.
Thickness & Texture
While this sauce is opaque, its light mustard yellow hue makes it easy to see a lot of small bits of spices that come in black, orange, red, and white. The sauce's thickness sits right at the medium mark, and it has a syrupy consistency with a slight texture to it. When poured from a spoon, the sauce first falls in a large drip that's followed by a fast and uneven stream. After that slows to a few final drips, a medium coating of sauce is left clinging to the silverware.
Out of the Jar
A pretty neutral start to the flavor only takes a second to gain its mustard base. The bite of mustard never enters the party though, instead a mellow sweetness holds it at bay, then vinegar comes in to overtake the sugars and creates a hefty tartness. At the same time as the entrance of the vinegar, there's fleeting tastes of garlic and molasses. From there, the vinegar and mustard ramp up and a little peppery heat kicks in right at the end, all which combine to leave a pretty strong aftertaste.
Slathered & Cooked
The medium, even coating of sauce that brushed on the chicken baked down like a champ over indirect heat. Despite that, there was a bit of sauce loss when the chicken was introduced to the more fierce direct heat, Caramelization was slow, leading to just a little blackening in spots without any burning. The flavor delivered a pleasing ubiquitous mustard taste, but without any harshness. A bump in the sweetness had the sauce in more balance with the vinegar. Those traits, combined with a noticeable extra depth from the spices. definitely left this leg tasting like barbecue even without the standard tomato at play at all.
Put to Use
I really appreciated Brobecks approach to a mustard sauce, where mustard was central and the rest of the flavor wasn't overly complicated, but was undeniably barbecue. The balance out of the jar leaned more heavily into vinegar, but neither that nor the mustard was so harsh that it became unenjoyable to down spoonful after spoonful. The sugars being notched up after cooking provided more of an overall balance, but I couldn't say I preferred raw or cooked—both tasted great in their own ways. This all combined to make this a pretty universally usable sauce, whether it's coating wings, topping hot dogs, brushed onto ribs, or used to dunk a hot pretzel, this sauce is going to do right by you...as long as you're a fan of mustard.
