Please welcome our BBQ Sauces & Marinades Trio:
Preserved Lemon BBQ Sauce, Harissa BBQ Sauce, and Shawarma BBQ Sauce.
WHY BBQ SAUCES?
Here’s the thing, barbecue is a global affair, with each country/region having its own distinctive flavors, signature dishes, and grilling traditions.
Growing up in Israel, the art of mangal (barbecue in Hebrew) was an integral part of our families’ leisure time, remaining essential to our lifestyle up to this day. (what the heck is our backyard for if not for grilling?) For us, barbecue is a celebration, an opportunity to spend the day in the company of friends and family, and enjoy a ton of simple, yet delicious food - succulent kebabs, aromatic shawarma, flame-kissed grilled vegetables, fresh pitas, and mezze spreads.
We’ve had the idea of creating a BBQ Sauce for quite some time, as we’ve always felt like it’s time to change the barbecue scene. Quite frankly, we just found very little excitement in browsing through the monotonous supermarket shelves filled with the same tomato & vinegar-based sauces. Don’t get us wrong, most of them are pretty tasty, but we saw an opportunity to add newness & diversity to the aisles.
CREATED IN OUR HOME KITCHEN
The process of creating new products is a journey with many twists and turns - one minute you’re celebrating a major win and the next moment you’re ready to scrap the idea entirely.
It’s particularly nuanced when you’re a small team running the operation. When it came to the development of our BBQ sauces, it was an all-hands-on-deck situation every step of the way.
It won’t come as a surprise, but there was A LOT of taste testing. First off, the New York Shuk team gallantly withstood sampling and dissecting (not in a literal sense) a good number of store-bought BBQ sauces. Some of the condiments pleased our palettes, while a few were memorably inedible. (sorry team)
Then, once we knew what kind of flavors we wanted to create or steer clear of, it all simmered down (quite literally) to playing around with ingredients and finding the “sweet spots” in the ratios. There were moments when our kitchen resembled some type of chemistry lab - beakers, scales, and substances mixed & blended. There was also lots of cooking, and, of course, more & more taste testing. Once again, everyone was involved in the process, and we discovered that our children Lily & Sol are 1) apparently gourmands and 2) aren’t shy when it comes to feedback
(scroll down to see some photos of the production process)
