The BBQ GRAIL April 12, 2010
www.thebbqgrail.com
Review by Larry Gaian
There must be a huge demand for BBQ sauces. Stop by any
grocery store and you’ll see shelve upon shelve of commercially produced
sauces. If you are fortunate enough to have a large regional grocery
store chain, near by, you might find some local sauces, but for the most part
you’re just going to get those normal, everyday mass produced sauces.
There’s not anything necessarily wrong with those sauces, but there are so many
artisan sauces produced by real BBQ people, that with a little investigation
and forethought, you can get some great tasting sauces that will make you truly
appreciate what a sauce should do. Compliment the meat it’s on.
One of those artisan sauces is Funny Farm BBQ’s “Original
Competition BBQ Sauce.” Based out of Paola, Kansas Marc Matthews, the
leader of the Funny Farm Competition BBQ Team, has come up with a great sauce
that will compliment any meat.
I gave the Funny Farm sauce two different tries. Once on
pork spare ribs rubbed with Simply Marvelous Pecan Rub and a second time with
baby back ribs with Simply Marvelous Sweet & Spicy Rub. This allowed
me to tell how the sauce would react to different flavor profiles.
In both cases the Funny Farm sauce
complimented the rubs and meat. There’s a great deal of seasoning in the
sauce and often times sauce makers try to make a good tasting sauce for the
sake of the sauce. This is a great way to make a sauce if you want a
sauce that overpowers everything. But true BBQ fanatics want a
sauce that can be used as a compliment to the meat, rub and smoke. You
get this with the Funny Farm sauce.
The sauce is sweet when it first hits the tongue which is a nice
touch for those that enjoy enjoy sweet sauces. But because many of the
popular BBQ rubs have a more spicy flavor profile it often clashes with the
sweet sauces. In the case of Funny Farm sauce they’ve also given you a
little spicy kick on the back end. It’s not really “hot” spicy, just
spicy. This little surprise is what really enhances the seasoning on the
meat.
I like to use mild fruit woods when I smoke pork. Since
fruit woods are often times more mild you don’t want a sauce that will
overpower the wood smoke flavor. What’s the point of spending six hours
smoking ribs if you aren’t going to taste the wood smoke flavor. The
Funny Farm sauce allows the wood smoke flavor to come through.
It’s no wonder the Funny Farm Competition BBQ Team has had the
great results they have had on the BBQ competition circuit. I’m hoping
they have great success with this sauce because they have a couple other sauces
up their sleeves.
You can find Funny Farm on Facebook and order their sauce on their
official website.
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The Miami County Republic August 26, 2009
http://www.republic-online.com/
WRITTEN BY BRIAN MCCAULEY
WEDNESDAY, 26 AUGUST 2009 08:00
With revised recipes and a renewed spirit, Marc Matthews and his Funny Farm BBQ partner Jan Thompson have high hopes for this weekend, when they are set to put their smoking talents on display at the East Central Kansas Barbecue Championship during Roots Festival in Paola.
The cooking couple from rural Miami County have already participated in four barbecue competitions this year, and Matthews said he’s got a fresh arsenal of barbecue flavors in store for Roots this weekend.
The Funny Farm BBQ team has had some success in the pork category in the past at Roots along with decent showings in sausage, but Matthews is hoping a new approach will lead to better results this year.
Marc Matthews and Jan Thompson are
“I changed almost all of the recipes for Roots,” also known as Funny Farm BBQ. They
Matthews said. “I’d love to have at least one top 10 plan to compete this weekend at the East
finish overall, and I’d really love to get the Miami Central Kansas Barbecue Competition
County trophy.” during Roots Festival (submitted photo)
Matthews knows, though, how difficult the competition is for the Miami County trophy.
“There are a lot of good barbecue teams in this county,” he said. “There’s three within a three-mile radius of where I live. It’s pretty stiff competition.”
Last year, Munchin Hogs @ The Hilton finished first overall, and Smoke on Wheels won Best BBQ in Miami County.
Regardless of how his barbecue does at Roots, Matthews still knows his bread and butter is his sauce, which he bottles and sells.
Funny Farm BBQ recently finished second in the mild baste category of the Great American BBQ competition in Bonner Springs.
Steve McMullin, who organizes the barbecue competition at the Roots Festival, said there will be 66 teams competing this year.
He also said there will be a slight change to the organization of the Kids-Q barbecue competition. There are 20 kids signed up this year, which is a record. McMullin said the event will be split into two categories, ages 5 to 10 and ages 11 to 15.
