We Got Just One Minute To Make BBQ Sauce From Scratch, Here's What Happened

It’s not every day you and your co-workers get challenged to make some dope barbecue sauce on board of a legendary luxury ship while it all gets streamed live on Instagram.

That’s exactly what happened to myself and a few other members of the Foodbeast squad last week. In anticipation of the West Coast BBQ Classic competition happening on board the world famous Queen Mary ship in Long Beach, California this Saturday, seven of us headed out to the ship to attempt to make the best barbecue sauce for some mouthwatering ribs the ship’s culinary team had prepared just for us.

The rules were simple enough: We could use any ingredients on the table, but we only had one minute to make our own sauce. After everyone was done making theirs, Foodbeast managing editor Reach Guinto, Queen Mary Commodore Everette Hoard, Executive Chef Todd Henderson, and the Sous Chef of the Queen Mary tasted each entry to determine a winner.

Since Reach was judging, that left six competitors in the field for the best sauce. The ingredients available to each sauce competitor were as follows:

Bacon, Jack Daniels Whisky, Balsamic Onion Spread, Brown Sugar, Salt, Pepper, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Paprika, Chili Powder, Chipotle Paste, Ketchup, Diced Tomatoes, Molasses, Water, and Worcestershire Sauce.

In order, each of us stepped up to make our attempts at an epic barbecue sauce.

“Bacon Princess” Analiese Trimber brought some whisky and bacon action to her sauce,

Evan “That Fuego” Lancaster went in heavy on the black pepper for his creation,

“The Latin Lothario,” Isai Rocha, went with a sweet and thick barbecue sauce,

“Sawce Bause” Chris Abouabdo needed some whisky before making his flavorful concoction,

Rudy Chaney, aka “Action Saucin,” brought some spice into his sauce game,

…and last but not least, the “Greek Geek” (that’s me, y’all) went for some whisky and chipotle in what I called the Whisky Tango Foxtrot sauce.

Everybody made some pretty bomb sauces, but there were only four votes to go around for six different competitors. Things got intense when Reach, the executive chef, and the sous chef voted for Isai, Chris, and myself respectively. That left Commodore Hoard with the final vote of the competition and the chance to declare an overall winner.