Trader Joe's Barbeque Popped Ridges

Well, I have to admit I don't really get the point of this product. The chips are very much like regular barbecue potato chips, except (1) with a little corn flavor added to the potato, (2) a little puffier, and (3) a little less crisp. I don't mind barbecue potato chips now and then, but they're rarely my first choice. On those occasions that I felt like having some, these would do as well as any others, but not superior.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not.

Trader Joe's TJ's Organic Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce

When I reviewed the Carolina Gold Barbecue Sauce, I wrote, "It's straight down the middle in terms of overall flavor, sweetness, heat, etc. It's just what I would expect from a grocery-store BBQ sauce, really." 

I wish to retract that, and instead apply it to this one. I blame the misattribution on too many years having elapsed since I had purchased and used barbecue sauces. My memory was warped. 

Since writing that, I've found something I like, and now eat frequently, that cries out for good barbecue sauce: Morningstar Farms fake pulled pork. I've been using the Carolina Gold almost exclusively, despite having originally written that I wasn't sure whether it would become a staple. 

Now I have tried the Carolina Gold and this new one side by side--literally on the two halves of the same plate of food--eight times. It has become clear to me how mistaken I was in my sense memory to see the Gold as the standard product. Compared to this, the Gold is quite a bit sweeter, tangier, and spicier. This one is the down-the-middle, traditional BBQ sauce--less sweet and spicy than the Gold, but with much more smokiness. It's also quite a bit thicker; it comes out more in globs, whereas the Gold is fairly thin and pours easily. 

Which one do I like better? I spent a good portion of eight meals pondering that, and couldn't come to a definitive answer. I think if you put a gun to my head and made me pick one of them to use for the rest of my life, it would be this one. But I found that I really, really liked having both of them on my plate of food, side by side, and switching between them several times in the course of one meal. I had originally done that just for comparison-testing purposes, but I think I'm going to keep doing it, even though it seems like a bit of an odd practice. The contrast just works really well for me. 

I guess you could say I discovered co-champions. 

Will I buy it again? 

Yes, definitely. I'm going to include both this and the Gold in my list of staples, because I anticipate keeping both of them on hand permanently. 

Trader Joe's Korean Style BBQ Sauce

I think calling this barbecue sauce is a misnomer, if not outright fraud.

After water and sugar, the main ingredient is soy sauce. This is followed by something called gochujang sauce, consisting mainly of sugar and miso. Bringing up the rear are sake, garlic, ginger, cornstarch, lemon juice concentrate, and red pepper. There's almost nothing traditionally barbecuish in the bottle.

From the product name, I expected a mainstream BBQ sauce with a soy-sauce accent--which I think would be interesting and potentially a winner--but frankly I found it hard to taste anything here except the soy sauce. A spiced-up soy sauce is really not what I want on my (fake/vegetarian) pulled pork.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Sauce

I've never swallowed any bourbon, but now I have a pretty good idea of what it tastes like. This sauce is loaded with an unfamiliar (to me) flavor that just has to be the bourbon. It's a burned, slightly bitter flavor--and I don't like it at all. I've tried it three times now, and though my dislike on the third tasting wasn't as intense as on the first, it's still a net negative. On all three occasions, I was comparing it directly with Trader Joe's Carolina Gold, with half of the plate using each, and I strongly preferred the latter each time, with every forkful.


Will I buy it again? 

No. I don't want to eat any more of it, so it's going back to the store for a refund.

Trader Joe's Carolina Gold Barbeque Sauce

I've had this bottle sitting around unopened for over a year. I almost never use barbecue sauce and didn't really feel like finding a recipe in which it would be needed. But then I brought home a new MorningStar fake-meat product, this one a pulled "pork." No sauce included. This gave me an obvious opportunity to crack open the TJ's.

It's fine, though not distinctive. It's straight down the middle in terms of overall flavor, sweetness, heat, etc. It's just what I would expect from a grocery-store BBQ sauce, really. I definitely liked it better than the only other TJ's barbecue sauce I've tried, which was way too sweet.


Will I buy it again? 

Undecided. Now that I've found a product that I like that calls for BBQ sauce, I'll try some more of TJ's offerings in the category and see which I like best.

Trader Joe's Barbeque Popped Potato Chips

Nina is a mighty strong woman. But she does have a few weaknesses, and I've known her long enough to be aware of what they are. Number one on the list? Barbecue potato chips. She will eat them compulsively, until her stomach ruptures open like that iconic scene from "Alien." You think I exaggerate, but I HAVE SEEN IT HAPPEN! Oh, if you could see the abdominal scars from where the doctors have had to suture her stomach closed again and again, it would make you turn your eyes away in horror.

So the other day when I saw somebody on Twitter ecstatic about their discovery of this product, which I had not noticed previously, I thought I should get some to feed to Nina. Y'know, to make her love me more. Fortunately, the bag is small enough that there was little risk of needing to interrupt dinner for a trip to the ER.

I liked them. They're better than typical BBQ potato chips for two reasons. First, the seasoning is milder, less in-your-face than I remember from other products. Second, the underlying puffed/popped chip is nicer, more delicate and airy. That said, BBQ potato chips are not really my thing. I would choose plain potato chips over them nearly every time. But if I got a hankering for BBQ chips, these would be my first choice.


Will I buy it again? 

Probably not for myself, but I might slip a bag into a Christmas or birthday gift box for a certain someone I know.

Nina's View

CrrrrraaaaaaaaaaackBOOM!

What was that sound, you ask? That was the sound of this tasty, tasty snack breaking the sound barrier as it rockets to the top of my TOP TEN list. 

By coincidence, the host at a poker game I attend irregularly had introduced me to a snack chip (the exact name and maker of which I cannot remember at this moment, but he buys huge bags of them at Walmart) that looks and tastes exactly the same as these. I adore them and I eat them to the point of… well, let's just say it's a tad embarrassing. The others mock me. As I deserve. 

Anyway, my point is: these are the same. THE SAME. IDENTICAL. Clonishly alike. 

Where was I? Oh yes: buy them. Eat them.

Thank god the bag is small.