Pictou County Brown Sauce

[ogdred]

Has anyone heard of this pizza sauce, apparently unique to Pictou County, Nova Scotia? People from the region obsess about it, and even have pizzas sent by UPS across Canada.

A friend procured a sample of it, so I had to give it a try. It looks a little bit like it has ground beef in it, but I could mainly taste the oil and onions, perhaps celery as well. Not bad, but nothing to write home about from my point of view. They have a distinct type of pepperoni out east, which I was unable to find, but I did try cooking one of my pizzas with the pepperoni under the cheese, which is how they do it out there.

(The dough pictured is a 350g 62% hydration unbleached bread flour with 2% oil, 2% salt and 3% sugar, stretched to 13", and cooked about 6 minutes on a 530 stone.)

[Bill/SFNM]

About 10 years ago I received from an acquaintance a bottle of what I was told was the best sauce on the planet, real  brown sauce from Pictou County from one of the pizzerias there that is famous for it. Frankly, I was not impressed.


Through the years I have met people from that area who rave about their unique brown sauce. One insisted that the best version is a closely held secret and that the bottle I had received must have been an inferior facsimile if I didn't think it was awesome.


If someone happens to find a recipe for the real deal, I'd love to give it a try. These people are insane about about their pizzas.