Squealer's Smokey Sweet Barbecue Sauce - BBQ Sauce Review

Squealer's Smokey Sweet Barbecue Sauce

It was another grilled pork loin at my house. Some people are a bit nervous about grilling a whole pork loin, but it's actually pretty easy.

Squealer's mailed me some of their southern style barbecue sauce, and I'd hit a pork loin sale which is always a good thing. I'd not heard of Squealer's. They are a barbecue restaurant out of Indianapolis and appear to be growing, since they now offer franchise opportunities. They have also started selling their sauces including an online option.

With a thicker barbecue sauce like this one which would be in the Texas range as far as thickness and with a tomato base, you need to grill the meat close to done and then sauce. If you start out with sauce on the meat, then it's going to burn before your grilled meat is done.

I offset charcoal in a Weber 22.5 inch Kettle grill. You can use gas as well. To offset on a gas grill, just turn one side on and leave the other off. Offsetting allows you to grill low and slow. You can also get a dedicated smoker to do the same, but if you don't have a smoker, you can do most meats including a pork loin right on your home grill.

The pork loin grilled along on the side of the grill without coals for a half hour or so. I checked it with a pocket Taylor thermometer now and then. The target temperture is 145 degrees F, and it's hard to tell if you don't use a thermometer. For more well done pork, you can run up to 155 degrees. My boys like it more on the done side with very little pink, so when I hit 145, I went ahead and sauced the meat and let the sauce carmelize for a little while longer to get the pork on up to a more done stage.

Pork Loin Sauced with Squeale's Barbecue Sauce

Once the Squealer's Sauce was set, I pulled the pork loin off. It definately looked pretty. The sauce is a rich and pretty color, and it set up well on the meat.

You can wrap a pork loin in aluminum foil after it comes off the grill and let it rest. If so, then you probably want to shoot a bit under the temperature, since the meat will continue to cook more while wrapped.

We were pretty darn hungry, and the sides were ready, so I sliced and served the meat right off the Weber.

Pork Loin Off the Grill and Sliced with Squealer's BBQ Sauce

The Squealer's BBQ Sauce we used was the Sweet and Smokey. It definately had a rich and sweet taste. It has high fructose corn syrup, honey, and molassas, so you would expect it to be pretty sweet. There are other seasonings as well but the sweet notes are the strongest. All in all, it has a popular flavor that appeals to general crowds. I could serve Squealer's to friends and neighbors, and they would like this barbecue sauce.

In this category of thick and rich sauces, Squealer's is solid. It has a fuller taste than the sweet sauces you may usually get at the grocery store. This one would be good on ribs which is one of the key dishes at the restaurant. Ribs, of course, take longer to smoke and would be more heavily sauced than my pork loin.

Grilled Chicken on the Weber Kettle with Nature Isle Caribbean Spicy BBQ Sauce

Last night we grilled whole chicken breasts on the Weber Kettle and sauced them with Nature Isle Caribbean Spicy BBQ Sauce. I won the sauce when I responded to a post on Twitter where you can find me listed as cyndiallison.



I often grill the little boneless chicken breasts. Around here, that's fast food. But, we went with the full chicken breasts tonight which take a bit longer. They are still easy to grill though.

First, we rubbed the chicken breasts with a little Garlic Gold olive oil and then sprinkled on some Chef of the Future Cajun Seasoning which I just had added to my OpenSky store. Don't let the "cajun" part put you off. This is just a very flavorful sprinkle season that is healthy and tastes fabulous but not hot.

Then we used the offset trays for the 22.5 inch Weber Kettle. You can get a similar effect by stacking the coals on each side with space in the middle, but it is really convenient to have the charcoal holders.

With larger cuts like the big chicken breasts, we grilled lid on or convection. It is much like baking at home. Vents both top and bottom were wide open for this barbecue grill session.



The total time for large bone in chicken breasts on the Weber with offset heat is around 45 minutes. The temperature should be around 165 degrees F in the thickest part of the chicken, and I like to use a very basic Taylor but accurate pocket thermometer. I do have some fancy probe thermometers that ring when the meat reaches temp, but I find the pocket version to be more convenient.



When the chicken was getting close done, we sauced them with the Nature Isle Caribbean barbecue sauce. The sauce goes on close the end - like the last 15 minutes or so. Otherwise, it burns. You just want the bbq sauce to set and not char and taste burned.



Boy, this chicken turned out pretty! And, it was just as yummy as it looks here. I never PhotoShop my photos. For starters, I don't know how (-:

The Nature Isle Carribbean is a sweet barbecue sauce with lots of flavor but no major heat. It is just a burst of flavor pleasure. The island theme makes sense. I could see sitting on the beach and eating this chicken sauced with Caribbean Spicy.

Barbecue Cook Out After Thanksgiving - Nice Change of Pace

Thanksgiving leftovers are terrific, but we were ready for a change of pace. So, we packed up the Portable Kitchen grill and headed out to the Bull Hole River Park in Cooleemee, NC for a "day after" cook out.

With the temperatures in the lower 50s, it was a good day to get outside and burn off some holiday calories. Plus, I love to grill, so it was an easy meal after turkey day which is pretty labor intensive as everyone knows.

The PK grill is cast aluminum, so it holds the heat and smoke as you can see in the photo. Actually, the PK doubles as a great smoker. It really cranks the smoke like here when I lifted the lid to check the food.


The Bull Hole is a beautiful spot for a cook out. It's on the Yadkin River with lots of trees and trails. Our new relatives (Mom got married this year) really enjoyed the scenery and the chance to get out in the fresh air after a couple of days in the house.


My sister brought some kind of game where you toss these balls on a string at stands with different levels. It's a bit like horseshoes or cornhole but with string balls. It worked out great for the adults and kids (with the kids standing closer to even things out). I need to check and find out the name of the game. It works out well for a cook out.


With a lot of burgers and hot dogs to grill and with it cold outside, I offset the coals. In other words, the coals are just on one end of the PK grill.

This grilling offset gave me space to barbecue grill but the cooler end of the grill to keep the food warm and for those who like cheese to add a slice and have it actually melt. Yes. We are spoiled (-:

Also note that I take a thick frying pan with a lid to help in keeping the food hot as it comes off the grill.

With the offset grilling and a skillet to hold the heat, I go slightly under the doneness on the meat as it continues to cook a bit more on the cooler end of the grill and in the holding skillet.


I grilled the burgers up first, since they take longer. Then, I put them on the cooler side of the grill and grilled up the hot dogs which don't take much time at all.

That hot end of the grill also worked out well for family members who like hot dogs grilled crisp. Most of the kids like the hot dogs lightly grilled, but some of the adults like hot dogs pretty well charred. No problem. With the offset on the barbecue coals, I could grill to order with very little effort.


Mom said "Yahoo!" for an easy meal out of the kitchen and some space to move around and burn off some energy. Anyone with kids in the family will relate. Gotta love those little ones, but they sure have energy to spare. So, a cook out was just the ticket after a traditional holiday dinner the day before.