BarBeQueMe: All Hail Woody's Cookin Sauce

BarbequeMe News of the Day

News About Barbeque Grills

October 20, 2007

Sauce is key for Gold Bar griller

By Kristi O'Harran
Herald Columnist

The best barbecue sauce, featured at my house, is a mixture of Coca-Cola and ketchup.

No? You have a better recipe? Perhaps you would like to put it on the line, like Gil Ruiz.

Diners at his Depot Cafe and Smokehouse at 3201 McDougall Ave. in Everett may not know they're ordering award-winning grub the chef prepares as both hobby and career. On spring and summer days off, Ruiz enjoys traveling around the Northwest to compete in barbecue competitions.

"In May of 2005 I entered my first barbecue competition at the 'Cruzin' to Colby' event in Everett," Ruiz said. "I placed dead last."

Dazed and confused, he figured he better do some research to improve on the product.

"I had a custom barbecue pit built for me in Texas and had it shipped to the cafe," he said. "It showed up in July, very exciting. I started cooking like crazy."

He entered the Montana State Barbecue Championship.

"My oldest son, Peter, and I took three top-10 finishes that weekend out of the four meat categories. The game was on, and we were hooked on competition barbecue."

The drill goes like this: You cook four categories, pork shoulder, pork ribs, beef brisket and chicken. State championships must have 25 teams or more to make it a "qualifier" for national events. The grand champion of a qualifier may compete in a national championship.

He calls his team "Smokin' Red Wolf." In 2006, they won 11 cooking awards.

"This year we walked with a total of 19 awards including a grand championship," Ruiz, 49, said. "We scored firsts, seconds and really improved our scores."

Raised in the Bay Area of California, Ruiz aimed to be a rock star, but found working in restaurants actually paid the bills. He's been so low as to wash dishes at a Sizzler, then had an opportunity to learn the restaurant business from inside an Italian operation.

He was the general manager at Lombardi's on the Everett waterfront before opening his Depot, which marks its third anniversary Sunday. One regular customer, Barbara Andersen of Snohomish, said she loves a nonbarbecued dish at the Depot: crab cake salad. She also enjoys the pulled-pork sandwich and navy bean soup.

Ruiz commutes to work from a little farm in Gold Bar, where he lives with his wife, Sue, and Sam, 11, and Lilliana, 8, who often join him on trips. The team has yet to win a national qualifier, but the quest is on, he said.

Smokin' Red Wolf is ranked 433rd nationwide out of 1,033 teams.

Ruiz is tweaking ideas for next season. Everyone has their own ideas and philosophies about barbecue sauces, he said. Though he won't share any cooking secrets, he hinted at a "fruit component" to his chicken.

"I've kept that close to the vest," he said. "It adds a nice profile to it."

We toured his sparkling kitchen and I saw big old slabs of meat slow-cooking on a grill out back. My secret was safe. There didn't seem to be any bottles of ketchup and Coke.

Columnist Kristi O'Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.

Monday, January 15, 2007

All Hail Woody's Cookin Sauce - It's the best

Bar none, even home made, in my opinion, there is no sauce that I personally have tasted that surpases Woody's Cookin Sauce. Now, there are some that are different from Woody's but just not the same and after a while, you just long for Woody's if you stray very far from it for any length of time. I want to thank John D. Auwen (auwen@convex.com) & Steve K. Holzinger for this recipe. Again, I know it is not real barbeque when you cook it in the oven, but the really important part of this recipe is that it calls for Woody's. Truly, it is the best.

Brisket of Beef BBQ

Brisket of Beef BBQ (real slow)

Recipe by: John D. Auwen (auwen@convex.com) & Steve K. Holzinger
Preparation Time :0:00

Ingredients

10 lb brisket, trimmed (not too much) -- USDA CHOICE
1 cup Woody's Cook-in Sauce
2 tbs Bitter Orange Vinegar
2 tbs Hoisin sauce
barbecue sauce -- to serve with it
Texas Toast (Thick sliced White bread)

Preparation

Mix the ingredients and rub into the brisket and let marinate overnight in the refrig.
If you don't have bitter orange then chop or grind an orange, skin and pulp, and mix it with an equal volume of vinegar. Let stand a few days and then strain, saving the liquid. Try an Hispanic Grocery store.
If you don't have Woody's, well that is a problem. Send for free recipe cards: Woody's Foods, Inc., PO Box 60296, New Orleans, LA 70130
Tell them Steve from the eGG sent you, and where can you get their sauce near you? Show them the Power of the Net. Keep them cards and letters comin!
You could use your favorite BBQ sauce that has not too much sugar. Can you believe I saw corn syrup as the first ingredient in a major brand!
Preheat your oven to 210 F. Only two-hundred and ten! This is going to be low and slow! If you put the brisket in at about 8 AM it should be ready in about 10 hours...about 6 PM. I started mine at 6 AM, took it out at 4 PM at 170 F internal, and popped it back for 10 min at 350 when I started dinner.
It was perfect. If you saw the pictures, it really was a dark mahogony color. Beautiful, and not burnt a bit! Juicy tender and easy to slice.
Thank you John, great method. I'm going to try a Prime Rib this way, but only to rare.
PS. My son who lives and works in Pompano Beach sends me bitter oranges by mail. Picks them a little green. Priority mail =2 lbs for $3.00.
Folks plant them for decoration and the orange blossom smell.

technorati tags:Woody's, Cookin, Sauce, barbeque, beef, ribs, brisket, recipe, bbq

BarBeQueMe

Pat Hicks

Blog Archive

About Me