Review--Country Bob's All-Purpose Sauce

I received an email a while back asking if I'd like to do a review of Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce. This is not a product I was at all familiar with, but I agreed, and they sent me two bottles to try, along with a little booklet.

I went to their website first, http://www.countrybobs.com/ to find a little more about their products. What I found was an interesting backstory--doesn't knowing something about a product's history make it even more interesting? It does for me!

I'm not going to reprint the whole story, but this is a company that's founded on Christian principles--a little lagniappe for me--by a gentleman who started off making the sauce for his own use, then for family and friends, and finally expanded into commercial production. They now produce Country Bob's All Purpose Sauce, All Purpose Spicy Hot, Barbecue Sauce, and Seasoning Salt, as well as a really nice cookbook.

The sauce that I got to try was the regular All Purpose Sauce.

The first thing I did with it was use it straight, as a steak sauce. I liked it, but thought it was a little sweet for that. I think I'd like the Spicy Hot version better for that.

Next I put some on some boneless skinless chicken thighs, which I baked in the oven--this was similar to oven-barbecued chicken, but without the smoky taste that most bbq sauce has. Good, but again, I'd like the try the regular barbecue sauce for this.

Next, I used this as a dip/sauce for steak and baked chicken, this time mixed with ranch dressing, and loved it that way. (I have a long history of mixing ranch dressing with ketchup, bbq sauce, or steak sauce--I don't like ranch on salad, but I love it, mixed with various sauces, with meat). This is my table use of choice, but again, I hardly use anything without mixing it with ranch dressing.

And the final use--my favorite cooking use--was mixed into ground meat, along with bbq and a little worchestershire sauce, which made some of the best sloppy joe's I've ever made!

When I got back to Georgia after being home in Louisiana for several weeks, I had another package from Country Bob's waiting for me--with a complimentary copy of their cookbook, and ten coupons for free sauce--some for me and some to give away to family and friends! If you've ever read my other blog, A Virtuous Woman, you know how I love my coupons! I was surprised, though, at how much I liked the cookbook. It's a really nice hardback book, well laid out with attractive pages, and has recipes for everything from appetizers to main dishes, and even some for desserts! No, the desserts don't have Country Bob's sauce in them!

One thing I like about this company, as well as the cookbook, is that this is a Christian-based company, and they make no apologies for that. "Christ is our CEO" is a slogan that's prominently displayed on their website, as well as their products.

Another thing of interest I found on their website, which may be of special interest to some of you foodies out there, is that you can purchase plastic bottles from them to use for your own concoctions that you may want to give away to family and friends--and, they can also contract with you to make and bottle your sauces for you if you're ready to branch out to sales! Isn't that the coolest thing??? I'm not that creative at this point, but you can be certain that if I ever get ambitious, this is the kind of small company I'd want to do business with.

Visit http://www.countrybobs.com/, check out their story, and request a free bottle to try.

Good cooking, and good eating!