"Dana Myers" > wrote in message
>
> Boiling baby backs in beef broth and then soaking in
> sweet sauce... over-salting, over-sweetening, completely
> replacing the flavor of the ribs with strong flavors from
> other ingredients. People eat it and they think "wow!
> this sure has a lot of flavor!".

I took some ribs for lunch one day and shared some with a co-worker as we
often eat together. Later, she asked me about making ribs that taste so
good. Another co-worker chimed in with "it's not the ribs, its the sauce
that is important". Funny thing is, Sue snapped back, "these were good and
had no sauce, just good flavor and really tender."


>
> It's the same tendency I see in people to immediately reach
> for the salt and pepper and douse their food without first
> tasting it. The same tendency to shake Tabasco sauce all
> over a meal without trying it first. Pouring steak sauce,
> or, worse yet, ketchup on a nicely grilled steak. On and on.


I go away from using salt a long time ago. For a couple of weeks, some foods
tasted bland. Afer my taste bud recovered, I found t hat real food with
really good flavor does not need salt, or very little at best. Most of us
became addicted to it. I have no steak sauce in my house. Ketchup is for
French fries though.

>
> I'm always pleased when I serve Q naked, and offer sauce on
> the side, and people *try the Q* first... invariably, they
> eschew the sauce completely or use it sparingly.

Yes, they surprise even themselves. I took a brisket to the company picnic
last year. No sauce was offered, but they sure finished off the meat.
Ed