Franklin Barbecue Spicy BBQ Sauce
Background
Aaron and Stacy Franklin's barbecue story starts as many do—they found a love for smoking meats at backyard cookouts, then took the next step to transform that passion into a business. It started in 2009 with a trailer on the side of the highway in Austin and the brisket the pair were slinging gained such notoriety that almost every day was a sell out. Knowing in no uncertain terms that they had a good thing going, they expanded to a brick-and-mortar in 2011, which drew daily lines and continued to sell out. Franklin Barbecue's popularity didn't need any endorsements to keep them going, but with guests like Anthony Bourdain and Barack Obama, their status only continued to grow. These days Franklin Barbecue is still going strong and the quality of their smoked meats, combined with their success, was one part of helping bring about a barbecue renaissance both inside and outside of Texas. Franklin Barbecue produces three barbecue sauces and three rubs that are available for purchase online and in select local Texas grocery stores.
Aroma
A tart tomato aroma is the first thing to hit when taking in whiff of this sauce. Upfront there's also a strong pepper component that has qualities of a variety of chiles with notes of earthiness, sharp heat, and a mellow smokiness. Also present is a fair amount of Worcestershire which delivers an enhanced barbecue depth.
Thickness & Texture
The semi-glossy sauce has a dark maroon hue that is likely the reason why you can't see any of the spices within. The sauce's consistency is like a watered down tomato paste, having a light texture to it and a medium-thin thickness. From a suspended spoon the sauce falls in a fast, uneven pour that's made of a lot of large drips before slowing to a few smaller ones. Once the sauce is done releasing, only a thin layer is left adhered to the spoon and in that you can see a plethora of small red and black spice specs.
Out of the Jar
Mirroring the aroma, the initial taste is of tart tomato, but there's just enough sugar to hold back the acidity for a second or two. As the sauce settles on the tongue, the tanginess really ramps up, but while it does, the sauce gains a lot of complexity first from Worcestershire, then spices that include garlic and a variety of peppers. An earthy fruitiness hints at jalapeño and anchos, but it's clear there's some spicier peppers at play too as the sauce makes its exit and leaves a pretty spicy and increasingly tart aftertaste. After a few spoonfuls, the heat built up enough to induce hiccups in me.
Slathered & Cooked
This sauce brushed onto the chicken in a medium, uneven layer that then baked down well, but also turned to looking more dry than saucy. When moved over direct heat, there was a medium amount of sauce loss with patchy caramelization in the spots that maintained heavier sauce pockets. There was a slight bump in the sugar content that kept the first few bites of the chicken in a good balanced between tangy, sweet, and spicy. At this point I could taste all the other ingredients too, like Worcestershire and garlic, but from about the fourth bite on, the peppers and vinegar totally dominated the flavor profile. By the end of the leg my lips had a good tingle on them, making a little sip of water helpful to relieve the medium heat that had built up.
Put to Use
I've been to Franklin's a couple times and I remember I tried an Espresso sauce on my first visit out of curiosity, but mainly the meat didn't call for any saucing. Since I don't really associate Franklin's with barbecue sauce is the main reason why its taken me so long to get around to giving one of their products a review. Being a spicy sauce fan, that's usually where I start in a brand's line-up, and Franklin's recipe really impressed me with a well crafted layering of various chiles. This didn't taste haphazardly thrown together, but like there was thought given to which qualities each pepper would bring to the party and that allowed the peppers do the heavy lifting in creating the great depth this sauce had. This strategy did have a slight downfall for me though as the amount of peppers, along with a heavy dose of vinegar, meant that after either a few spoonfuls or bites of chicken, my taste buds were overwhelmed and I was then missing the subtle sweetness and other more nuanced notes that were in there. Taking that into consideration, plus the fact that it's not the best grilling sauce, is why it was knocked down a star, but for pepper appreciators out there, this might just be a pinnacle sauce for y'all. It's heavy hand does also limit its uses, and I think this sauce is best paired up with heartier items like ribs, brisket, and steak, where the flavor of the sauce won't completely down out the meat.
