Skip to content
Food
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

BBQ sauce from South Philly

Two South Philadelphia cousins teamed up to bottle a family recipe.

Product shot of Philadelphia Barbecue Company’s Original Recipe sauce for Market Basket July 27. CLEM MURRAY / Staff Photographer
Product shot of Philadelphia Barbecue Company’s Original Recipe sauce for Market Basket July 27. CLEM MURRAY / Staff PhotographerRead moreClem Murray

After the homemade BBQ sauce at a family cookout drew rave reviews last year, two South Philly cousins decided to bottle it for the rest of the city. The result, launched in January under the name Philadelphia Barbecue Co., is a sweet-tart sauce with a smooth texture that works with pork, chicken, even salmon.

No. 1682, the original recipe, is made from a base of tomato paste and seasoned with yellow mustard, honey, vinegar, spices, brown sugar, and pineapple juice.

"We wanted something that was sweet, but tangy at the end," said 24-year-old Kamal Bloodsaw — a born-and-raised South Philadelphian who owns and operates the company with his cousin, Nathaniel Swint — "something that, once you taste it, you want more."

The sauce, based on Swint's recipe and brewed in West Philly's Enterprise Center, also comes in peach bourbon (No. 1790), honey chipotle (No. 1824), and raspberry (No. 1732).

Philadelphia Barbecue Co. sauce, $7 a bottle at Green Aisle Grocery stores (greenaislegrocery.com), Pennsylvania General Store in Reading Terminal Market, Tela's Market in Fairmount, or direct from the company at philabbqco.com.