Who uses what on Pulled Chicken

[eaglewing]

Pulled 3 chickens and I just tried a natural but good BBQ sauce on one of them and it was too bland...

The chicken was smoked with Hickory and Apple and turned out GREAT, the other 2 chicks go to my neighbor for her picnic tomorrow, but I don't want to just use this same sauce on her's, it didn't have a kick.

By bland I mean I thought it needed salt, and more smokey flavor.

OR, should I NOT do anything to it and let people put their own sauce on???

 

[oldschoolbbq]

IMHO, I feel the meat should do the selling,let the eaters decide.If you have a god tasting bird after it's cooked,why spoil it?All my 'Que' is served Sans Sauce and what I call Texas Catsup on the side.
I cook for the smoke flavor, otherwise I'd be in the Kitchen, bothering the Wife.

Have fun and,

 

[fire it up]

I would do sauce for pulled chicken.

I have found the same problem that a lot of BBQ sauces don't quite work for it.

I like to inject my chickens with some butter and BBQ sauce mixture so they get a nice deep flavor in the meat.
Do you have any Accent (MSG) in the house? If so take some warm chicken and the sauce you had and mix it together with a little sprinkle of that and you should be good to go on flavor, it will help improve the boldness of the sauce as well as bring out the natural savoriness of the chicken.

Also if the sauce is tomato based that will also help with the overall "umami" of the dish.

 

[mythmaster]

Hmm. Well, I've never pulled chicken, but I always serve sauce on the side except a finishing sauce, of course. It just makes more sense to me to let the guests decide how much and what they want on it.

"Head Country" is local here and has a nice little kick (it has become my favorite) -- it's thinner and more spicy than, say, Sweet Baby Ray's, and you can get the "Hot" version, too (which I haven't tried).

 

[flbobecu]

We pulled one for dinner last night. With the rub and seasonings I thought it needed nothing, nor did the rest of the family.

Just pulled, served and ate - well.

 

[ellymae]

I am a sauce on the side kind of gal, that way everyone gets what they like. I will add a little of the same rub I used during the cook to the finished product - not a lot, but enough to boost the flavor.

 

[squirrel]

I prefer a white sauce with my chicken, but then I'm not a huge sauce fan to begin with. I like to taste the meat!

 

[mballi3011]

I have found that when I smoke a good yard bird I don't need any sauce. It is just niceand juicey and the flavor of the wood I used and that is all it needs. Thats my pennies.

 

[tom37]

Myself, I don't put sauce on anything unless its a complete and total disaster. At a contest once we had brisket that due to consuming to many adult beverages, it kinda got over cooked and dried out like the Sarah desert. We sliced it and drown it in sauce, then took 6th out of 112 teams.

So I have to say sauce is not totally bad, I'm like the others tho, I prefer to taste the meat.

You can hide poor meat with good sauce, not sure tho if you can hide bad sauce with the best of meat.

 

[jirodriguez]

I serve my sauce on the side. For chicken I like to use the following:

1 Cup Sweet Baby Ray's Original BBQ sauce
1/2 Cup Katchup
1/2 Cup cider vinegar
1/2 Cup apple juice
Brown sugar to taste
1 table spoon red chili flakes (optional)

This sauce has a nice twang, and a little bit of sweet. Goes real well on chicken and pork.

 

[rgacat]

I use Jeff's sauce on the side I have found it goes with most things.