After the Biker, Blues & BBQ competition, Rich and Jan Campana got in touch. They were judging at the event. They're certified Kansas City Barbecue Association judges. I was at Tilley Harley Davidson taking notes, snapping photos, and eating some heap good barbecue. We didn't cross paths (that I know of), but Jan saw my barbecue comp photos over at Facebook. We will have to try to meet up in person one of these days, since they are right here in North Carolina - in Raleigh where I graduated from NC State.
Jan dropped me an email and told me about their barbecue sauce - Dimples. It's a new sauce as far as being on the market now, but it's, of course, the product of a lot of work to develop the perfect barbecue sauce. The small batch sauce is now at a few stores in Raleigh but also luckily available online at Dimples BBQ.
If you're familiar with traditional North Carolina barbecue sauces, you'll know that they are vinegar based and rather twangy and thin. Dimples is tomato based and more in the Kansas City range in terms of thickness. I love both types, but I know that our vinegar sauces can be a bit much for people from other parts of the country. That puts Dimples in a more mainstream category as far as appeal.
Dimples was a deep rich red color and smelled great when I popped the seal, so I was keen to get my pork chops on the O Grill.
You can see that Dimples BBQ Sauce stayed on the meat really well and caramelized really nicely. Pork chops grill quick, so some barbecue sauces are too thin to stay on well or so thick that they don't color up and have the pretty grill grate marks. Dimples was perfect on the chops.
When it comes to barbecue sauces, it's all about the flavor though. It can be beautiful, but if it doesn't taste great, then it's not a score.
I pulled the pork chops off the grill and cut into one. Yum. These pork chops did taste just as good (if not better) than they looked.
The flavor is rich but not overly bold and certainly not hot. Seasonings are balanced with no particular note standing out above the others - just a really pleasant medley. Sometimes I recommend barbecue sauces but specific to certain groups. In this case, you have a barbecue sauce that has general appeal. This could be a solid "go to" pick that would be loved by all your family and friends.
That is some beautiful color and marks on those chops.
ReplyDeleteNice description of the Dimples flavor profile too. Marilyn won a bottle of Dimples, but we've not tried it yet.
Nice article. I had the pleasure of tasting Dimples at the NC Hot Sauce Contest in Oxford NC back in September. It was definitely thicker, sweeter and milder than typical NC vinegar BBQ sauces, giving it a broader appeal (IMHO). Dimples would be great as a finishing sauce for beef or pork ribs, grilled chicken, pork chops, shrimp, kabobs, & grilled veggies. I bet it would be great in meatloaf or mixed into ground meat for burgers.
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