The 10 sauces worth putting beside the barbecue this summer
Sous Chef selects 10 sauces to elevate your British barbecue, from gochujang and harissa to Sichuan chilli crisp and Texas BBQ glazes.
There is a particular optimism to the British barbecue. The appearance of blue sky is enough to send charcoal disappearing from supermarket shelves, gardens filling with smoke and somebody inevitably assuming responsibility for cooking everything over a fire considerably hotter than necessary.
Yet the food itself has changed. The British barbecue is no longer necessarily an endless rotation of sausages, burgers and ketchup. Korean gochujang, North African harissa, Sichuan chilli crisp and American barbecue sauces have become increasingly familiar kitchen ingredients, making it remarkably easy to take dinner around the world without moving the grill from the patio.
For anyone whose barbecue could do with a little more ambition this summer, Sous Chef has selected ten sauces, seasonings and condiments that can transform everything from ribs and chicken to prawns, aubergines and corn.
Thiccc Sauce Meat Candy Texas BBQ Sauce, £6.99
There are moments when subtlety is admirable. A plate of sticky barbecued ribs is not one of them.
Meat Candy combines tomato, brown sugar and apple cider vinegar with chipotle chilli to produce the sort of sweet, smoky glaze that comes into its own over fire. Brush it onto ribs, brisket or chicken thighs towards the end of cooking and allow the sugars to caramelise.
Despite its rather carnivorous name, the sauce is vegan, making it equally useful on cauliflower wings and vegetable burgers.
Flying Goose Sriracha Blackout, £5.89
This is for the person at the table who complains that hot sauce is never actually hot.
Chilli accounts for 70 per cent of Flying Goose's Blackout sauce, which sits above the company's extra hot sriracha in intensity. A little goes a long way. Try it across grilled prawns, chicken or vegetable skewers, or temper it with mayonnaise for a sauce that still carries considerable heat without overwhelming dinner.
Chimac Sriracha Caramel Sauce, £8
Perhaps the most interesting bottle for anyone who likes the sticky edges of barbecue cooking. Chimac combines sriracha, fresh garlic and caramel, producing sweetness, savouriness and heat in one sauce.
Pork belly is the obvious candidate, although chicken thighs work beautifully too. Brush the sauce on during the latter stages of cooking and allow it to become glossy and lightly charred. Sweet potato cooked over the barbecue provides an excellent meat free alternative.
The sauce received a Great Taste Award in 2023.
Slap Ya Mama Original Cajun Seasoning, £6.50
The name is difficult to forget, but the Louisiana inspired flavour is the reason to keep it in the cupboard.
Red pepper, black pepper, garlic and salt provide a slower, savoury heat rather than an immediate chilli assault. Rub it into chicken, prawns or fish before they reach the grill, or scatter it over corn on the cob. It is particularly good for rescuing chips from becoming the least interesting thing on the table.
Yep Kitchen Sichuan Chilli Crisp Oil, £7.99
Chilli crisp's conquest of British kitchens has largely happened by way of noodles and rice. The barbecue might be an even better home for it.
Yep Kitchen combines dried chillies with broad bean paste, mushroom powder and Sichuan pepper, giving it crunch and deep savoury flavour alongside the heat. Spoon it over grilled aubergine, mushrooms or corn, incorporate it into marinades or add a little to a dipping sauce for meat.
It also makes an unexpectedly convincing finishing touch for pizza cooked on the barbecue.
Chimac Korean Hot Sauce, £8
Gochujang has become one of the great shortcuts to making barbecue food more interesting. The fermented Korean chilli paste provides heat, but also the depth and slight sweetness that simpler chilli sauces can lack.
Chimac's Korean Hot Sauce can be used as a marinade for chicken, tofu or aubergine, although wings may be its natural habitat. Mixed with mayonnaise, it also becomes an excellent burger sauce.
Belazu Rose Harissa, £5
Not all heat needs to announce itself immediately. Belazu's Rose Harissa combines chilli and garlic with more than 13 spices and rose petals, producing something considerably more aromatic.
It is particularly good with lamb and chicken, but vegetables may be where it becomes most useful. Courgettes, peppers and aubergines all benefit from a coating before grilling. A spoonful stirred into yoghurt creates the sort of dip that tends to disappear before the meat does.
BomBom Korean Ssamjang Seasoned Soybean Sauce, £8.70
Anyone interested in Korean barbecue should become acquainted with ssamjang.
BomBom's version combines fermented soybean flavours with chilli and a touch of vegan mayonnaise, creating something rich, savoury and gently spicy rather than aggressively hot.
Serve it with barbecued beef or pork wrapped in crisp lettuce leaves, use it as a marinade for chicken or brush it across vegetables on the grill. It is one of the more versatile choices here precisely because heat is not the entire point.
Blues Hog Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce, £15.99
A useful reminder that a good barbecue does not require everybody to lose sensation in their mouth.
This American honey mustard sauce balances sweetness with acidity and works particularly well with chicken and pork. It can be brushed over meat as it cooks, served at the table for dipping or used as a dressing for the salad everybody bought with good intentions.
At £15.99 it is the most expensive choice on the list, but the bottle is a substantial 595g.
Valentina Extra Hot Sauce, £3.40
At the opposite end of the price scale comes a Mexican favourite with rather more serious intentions.
Valentina Extra Hot uses arbol chillies, which can reach between 15,000 and 30,000 on the Scoville scale. This is not a sauce to pour absent mindedly.
A few drops can transform steak, burgers, chicken and grilled vegetables. It also works in marinades or across loaded fries. Put the bottle on the table and somebody will inevitably interpret it as a test of character. That is between them and their taste buds.
The barbecue has gone global
The more interesting approach is not necessarily to choose one cuisine and faithfully reproduce it. Summer cooking lends itself to experimentation. Rose harissa chicken can sit perfectly happily beside Korean aubergine, Cajun prawns and sticky sriracha caramel pork belly.
And that may be the greatest improvement to the modern British barbecue. The weather remains unpredictable, somebody will still burn the sausages and there will almost certainly be too much food.
At least the ketchup no longer has to do all the work.
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