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Battle of the Bottles VII™- Steak Sauce
By Buddah | May 4, 2009 |
Steak Sauce in the Battle of the Bottles™? Yes, the Cage of Condiments™ is exactly what is it, and the doors will once again open for two fearless competitors looking to steak a claim at being the better product. Stand back folks, it might get as bloody as one’s plate of grisly meat cooked just enough to be eaten. Will these new competitors have what it takes or will they evaporate under the hot lights? Let us meat the combatants so we can get the Battle of the Bottles- Steak Sauce under way!
Tony Legner asked for this battle and we at TTF aim to please. To see to it he would get exactly what he wanted, we told him to send us his award winning Habanero Premium Steak Sauce and we would find his suitable competition. The steak sauce won a 2009 first place scovie in the condiment steak sauce division, so the Texan was more than happy to put his product into the Cage of Condiments™.
In the opposite corner, the competition has garnered much praise in the hot sauce community for their Ring of Fire line of products. Hearing good things about M & D’s steak sauce, I reached out to speak to Mike and Diane, (the “M” & “D” in M & D’s Ring of Fire), and they were enthused to participate and put their steak sauce up for the challenge. With nothing else to add, we had a challenger for Tony Legner’s steak sauce.
Without further adieu, let us bring out our two brave steak sauces. Taste The Fear is proud to present Battle of Bottles VII™- Steak Sauce!
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Round 1 – Hudd
Well, here’s another Battle of the Bottles with a twist. This time around we have a couple steak sauces going head to head.
Tony Legner’s Habanero Premium Steak Sauce against M&D Ring of Fire Original Steak Sauce. I’m not going to list the ingredients for these two sauces. I’m afraid that would be longer than the review. Hopefully someone will list them and you’ll see what I mean.
The two look nothing alike, Tony Legner’s you can see quite abit of the small chunks of pepper and garlic suspended in the sauce. M&D’s sauce doesn’t have near the chunks in it and the dark brown color makes it hard to see any that is in it.
So on to the sniff and taste. Tony Legner’s reminds me of a hot sauce. Nice hab aroma and flavor. M&D’s has a sweet aroma and taste and just a bit of heat from the chipotle peppers. Well these two are steak sauces so just plain and simple I threw some steaks on the grill. A couple nice rib eyes and a piece of round steak we had in the freezer. Tony’s went first, poured out a little and soaked a hunk of round steak in it while I cut some of the steak. From the thin looking sauce I figured a little soak would be in order. So I give it a try and I liked what I was tasting. There was a nice flavor and I enjoyed the habanero heat that was building up. After two or three other pieces of round steak with Tony’s sauce on it I had some peas and potato salad and drank down a glass of water to cleanse the palate.
I still have a few pieces of round steak on my plate, so I pour the Ring of Fire out to sample. I really liked this sauce. I’m kind of partial to sweet tasting sauces. Not much tongue numbing going on with M&D’s but there is a slight tongue tingle that comes along.
By this time the rib eyes had slow cooked theirselves to perfection. Brought them in and what a difference over the round steak. I tried both sauces again and still come to the same conclusion. I’m sure if I used them in other ways I would get the same results.
I liked the M&D Ring of Fire Steak Sauce the best. Tony has a good product, but my preference likes the sweetness of Ring of Fire.
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Round 2 – Justin
Ring of fire
My first thought about this sauce was that it tasted like barbeque sauce. I had it on steak to start with since that was its intended purpose and it was decent, its a mix between your typical steak sauce and BBQ, with a little heat. Its bold yet sweet and the heat level was just barely noticeable which is fine for steak sauce. There are also bits of black pepper in it which was my favorite part. The sauce comes in the same 16 0z bottle that there hot sauces come in, for the hot sauce it’s a huge bottle but steak sauce usually comes in a larger size than hot sauce and the 16 oz is about normal, possibly a little larger. The only thing that matters in the end though is the price which is also the same as there hot sauce in the same size bottles, 8.75 from there website.
The second thing I did with this sauce was make meatloaf with it, because it reminded me of a barbeque sauce it just seemed like a good idea and it was. The meatloaf was excellent and really worked out in a way that all the hot BBQ sauces I have tried to make it with didn’t. the reasoning was the heat level, most things I like as hot as possible but BBQ and steak sauce are not one of them and most hot BBQ sauces I have tried overdo the heat. This one has just enough to notice it and came out perfectly. All in all though I would still have to give it a rating of somewhere between 4 – 5 out of ten and probably wont ever buy it again.
Tony Legner’s premium steak sauce food polish
Earlier in the first part of the review I said that the reason I liked the ring of fire sauce was because It didn’t have to much heat and that more heat never seemed to work out very well in steak sauces and BBQ’s. I take that back, this sauce isn’t super hot but its got quit a bit more than the ring of fire and its absolutely delicious. The first thing I think of when I tried this sauce is the juice that comes with a Philly steak sandwich which I believe is just the steak juice. This sauce doesn’t have a really bold flavor that takes over the flavor of the steak and that’s a good thing. Half the time I don’t use sauce on my steak because I want to be able to taste the meat so instead I like to use rubs and seasonings that give it flavor but don’t change the flavor, This is the first sauce I have had that does that. The consistence of the sauce is a little thinner than your typical steak sauce but i had no problem with it sticking to my food. There are also little chunks of seasoning in it that are soft and bursting with flavor. I couldn’t tell you what seasoning are in it because the flavor of the sauce is well blended and unlike any iv had before, also because the ingredient list is long and other than a couple things it might as well be written in another language. My A.D.D. kicks in half way through reading it and I zone out anyway, have fun typing this one up Buddha. I’m not the type of person that refuses to eat a sauce if it has ingredients I can’t pronounce but I do try to stay away from them if there are natural choices. This sauce is an exception though, and will from now on be my go to steak sauce. For me there’s no question on who the winner is because this is the most delicious steak sauce I have ever had and is good enough that I probably wont even experiment with any others unless it’s for a review.
And the winner is
Ok, even though I already have the clear winner I still spent a few days experimenting a little more and want to talk about the pros and cons of each sauce to explain my reasoning for why I chose what I did.
Consistency: tony Legner’s wins the round for consistency. Neither where bad but ring of fire was just a little thicker and both stuck to food very well. I like that tony legners sauce had chunks and seasonings in it and still stuck to your food even though it poured better.
Smell/taste: since both these sauces taste just like they smell I will group the second round judging together and the winner for both is tony legners. Ring of fire was good, and it worked great for BBQ sauce also but it just wasn’t anything that stood out to me from any other sauce that I would find sitting on the table at any steak house restaurant.
Price/value: tony legners sauce is $8.00 which is a little less than ring of fire but the bottle is also a couple ounces less so they are about the same price. If any of ring of fires hot sauces went into a battle they would win the round for value hands down but for steak sauce 8.75 for 16 oz is a typical price. I have to declare the winner of this tony legners also based on the fact that I will continually be willing to pay for more of this sauce and probably wont with ring of fire.
Presentation: by presentation I mean the label and bottle that the sauce is packaged in. tony legners has a wider opening on top to pour from so I enjoy that but there label is kind of plan. The ring of fire comes in the same bottle as there hot sauces do with the same basic label that go’s on all there bottles with the picture of the chili pepper guy spitting fire. This is a tough round to judge so I considered finding both these bottles in the store without knowing anything about them which would I buy and it would probably be ring of fire. Unfortunately there final win wasn’t enough to save them and win the fight but perhaps someday they will step into the ring again for a hot sauce battle and have a second chance.
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Round 3 – Buddah
Although, this was a steak sauce review. I went out and assembled me some raw meats for this contest. I got me some chicken, pork chops and of course a steak. Starting with the steak, I cooked it up in a pan with a lil’ butter and spices. Once it was ready, I poured myself a mini Dixie cup of each steak sauce and dipped away. I will have to tell you this was a slam dunk for me. I really liked the way the Ring of Fire blended together with my steak. Tony Legner’s steak sauce was completely different than anything I was used to. Maybe it is why I was not into it here. I have never had a steak sauce that was like this. It had more heat than the Ring of Fire product. Should I have cooked with it? I didn’t, so maybe it was made to cook with.
I next tried the chicken, but I decided to cook the sauce in a saute pan and see if the flavors of either product changed much. The Legner sauce was way better warmed up and absorbed into the chicken quite nicely. Yet, when I tried the Ring of Fire, it was just a smidge better this way on the chicken. I am imagining that the sweetness of it is more pleasing on my palette, hence my reaction.
Well, eventhough my review was over in my eyes, I still had some pork chops to cook. I microwaved the sauces and deciding dipping was the way I wanted to proceed with my p-chop. I feel bad for Tony because he and his wife have treated me like loyalty, but I really liked the Ring of Fire steak sauce better. Sorry bud, but reviews sometimes go the opposite way you expect them to go. I think I have a steak sauce prejudice and like it dark and sweet like the Ring of Fire one.
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Mike & Diane’s Gourmet Kitchen, Inc.™
1444 Pioneer Way, Ste #9
El Cajon, CA 92020
Tel:619-442-0412
www.mikeanddianes.com
Tony Legner’s Culinary Productions
Rockport, TX 78382
Tel:361-386-0084
www.tonylegner.com
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Topics: General, Hot Product Reviews, Reviews | 9 Comments »
I really do like these reviews. I never put steak sauce on a dinner steak, but I love it on a steak with breakfast, or if the steak is fried. Good one guys.
Congrats to M&D’s I may have to try there steak sauce, probably not on steak though. I do love hot and sweet, but on steak I like it terriyaki or savory, and of course always seared rare. It sounds like it would pair nicely with some pork ribs or deep fried wings!
Tony Legner’s and THT’s Toxic Tonic are about the only steak sauces I ever use. Most of the time I use no sauce at all. I like to saute mushrooms, onions and shallots in butter then add Tony’s sauce and simmer for a minute or so, pour out over the top of your seared rare ribeye….MMMMMMMMM so good!
Thanks for doing the review :nerd:, Hudd and Justin. Especially Justin. Just kidding! :nerd:, Maddie would like to talk to you about her treating you like loyalty? Is that even a word?
loyalty or royalty? Am I in trouble?
Sounds like you’re royally screwed.
nice
Lookin good. I will have toi order and try some of this. I warn in advance, this household is hooked on the Three Tamales Garlic Lovers, so I will try both of these with a vengance……..nothing like more of a selecton of HOT steak sauce
I have only had the plesasure of trying Tony’s steak sauce and it was excellent so if Ring of Fire can hang with Mr. Legner then they must have a great sauce also.