We like to concoct our own condiments. We’ve made ketchup. We’ve made hot sauce. Never have we ever tried making scratch barbecue sauce.

Why? Frankly, we’ve never been so inclined. We live in Kansas City. Entire aisles of grocery stores are dedicated to barbecue sauce. It resembles the library from Beauty and the Beast, but instead of books, the shelves are filled with tangy, sticky, tomatoey, molassesy deliciousness. We don’t create; we purchase. No shame in that game.

Our favorite variety is Kansas City Cowtown Bar-B-Q Sauce, which is manufactured locally. It won the 2001 American Royal Barbecue Contest. That means that other people who also know barbecue, like really know barbecue, deemed it to be as fantastic as we believe it to be. When feeling spicy, we turn to the Kansas City’s Cowtown Night of the Living Bar-B-Q Sauce. It packs some heat.

This isn’t an ad. We just were thinking about barbecue and wanted to tell you about our preferred sauce. That seemed like the gentlemanly thing to do.

Here are some recipes for which we have incorporated Kansas City Cowtown Bar-B-Q Sauce.

1. Smoked Brisket Sous Vide

2. Smoked Pork Spare Ribs

3. Pressure Cooker Pulled Pork

4. Chunky Smoked Pork Shoulder

5. Smoked Beef Brisket