Hickory BBQ Sauces for Hamburgers

I was raised in Oklahoma City and was weened on the hamburgers from Split T (now gone), Charcoal Oven and Johnny's, and have been trying for years, now that I live in California, to replicate the wonderful Hickory Sauces that they put on their hamburgers.

In this, I have been unsuccessful, and was wondering if anyone has:

1. Had the hamburgers from any of these places, and know what I am talking about, or

2. Has some homemade recipes for this type of sauce, which is a sweet tasting, hickory smoked sauce, and not too spicy, and is really not a true BBQ sauce.

I have even called a couple of these places, and asked about franchising out here in California, but to no avail.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Homesick for OKC hamburgers in California!!!

Split T

Hello, Split T!
Have you tried BULL'S EYE Smokehouse Hickory BBQ Sauce?! It's got that real great BBQ taste you're looking for.

RB0012Hero

quote:

Originally posted by RB0012Hero

Hello, Split T!
Have you tried BULL'S EYE Smokehouse Hickory BBQ Sauce?! It's got that real great BBQ taste you're looking for.

RB0012Hero

I use that Bullseye sauce alot... But also have an abundance of hickory trees in my backyard! Today I did some steaks and brats up with the green hickory nuts gathered from the trees. There's tons of hickory smelling oil on the skins of the the nuts that you have to double wash your hands, then some to get the smell off.. But talk about some decent smoked flavor!!!

UncleVic,

I'm glad you didn't eat your hands!

Lynne

quote:

Originally posted by Route 11

UncleVic,

I'm glad you didn't eat your hands!

Lynne

Ditto... I like medium rare vs. rare..

Try the Pappy's XXX White Lightnin' barbeque sauce. It has hickory and is sweet and not too spicy as in "hot" spicy. Also, if you can find Woody's Cooking Sauce BBQ it's excellent but they don't sell it around here anymore.

Andrea

quote:

Originally posted by Split T

I was raised in Oklahoma City and was weened on the hamburgers from Split T (now gone), Charcoal Oven and Johnny's, and have been trying for years, now that I live in California, to replicate the wonderful Hickory Sauces that they put on their hamburgers.

In this, I have been unsuccessful, and was wondering if anyone has:

1. Had the hamburgers from any of these places, and know what I am talking about, or

2. Has some homemade recipes for this type of sauce, which is a sweet tasting, hickory smoked sauce, and not too spicy, and is really not a true BBQ sauce.

I have even called a couple of these places, and asked about franchising out here in California, but to no avail.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Homesick for OKC hamburgers in California!!!

Split T

Hey Split,

Next time you're in LA, check out the Apple Pan, perhaps LA's best old-fashioned burger counter. You go in, and grab (or wait for, then grab) one of 19(?) seats at the horseshoe-shaped counter. These guys are serious about the burger, and have been doing it for years and years.

They have what they call a hickory burger. I usually got the regular steakburger, but I tried the hickory burger once, and remember thinking it tasted sweeter than I expected, so maybe it'll come close to your expectations...

...I never have seen Tillamook cheddar on any other burger outside the Northeast...

...and their unsweetened apple pie with Carnation super-premium ice cream (unavailable retail, if I recall) is damn fine....

Either way, I don't think you'd regret a visit.

Good luck.

http://losangeles.citysearch.com/profile/92490/los_angeles_ca/apple_pan.html

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/99/02/roundabout-gold.php

http://66.70.64.17/ink/02/11/counter-gold.php

Of course, it's too bad you had to wait more than a year to start getting these responses... :-)

Hope you're still around!

How funny that I found your post looking for a recipe for Split T sauce. It is still my favorite. I thought you might want to know that Johnnies now sells their hickory sauce and ceasar sauce at the Britton location. It needs to be refridgerated, but I have sent it to my Godmother in Florida and also to my cousin in Dallas using dry ice. Good luck!
Beth

I used to go to the Apple Pan in West Los Angeles and get the Hickory Burger. I believe the hickory sauce is very simple at least to me it tasts the same - get heinz chilli sauce and add a couple of teaspoons of liquid smoke.

I feel like Satan is tempting me and I must give in. I've been posting on this site for close to a year now and lurking for a couple more prior to my first post. I've always tried to respect the rules and the ethics of this site regarding shameless plugs and self-promotion. But now, twice in one week, there have been threads started by other people (I swear on my life, I had nothing to do with the initial postings) that scream out for a response that unfortunately breaks the rules. Forgive me Jane and Michael for I am about to sin:

If you're looking for an excellent hickory flavor Barbecue Sauce please try Roadhouse Bar-B-Que Sauce. Our sauces won the People's Choice Award three years in a row at the American Royal International Barbecue Cook-off in Kansas City. Our "Hot & Spicy" recipe was named one of America's 10 best barbecue sauces in a July, 2002 Family Circle article. In May, 2004, Reader's Digest's "America's 100 Best Products" issue, named our "Hot & Spicy" recipe as THE best barbecue sauce in the country. We've got four different varieties available at most "upscale" stores throughout the Midwest. If you can't find it at a store near you, try www.olbro.com, one of our mail order distributors (although you should type it in yourself on the address line. For some reason it doesn't seem to work if you click on it here in this post).

There, I've done it. I'm not proud but sometimes you just gotta go for it. Thanks for not censoring me. This won't happen again. Unless somebody else brings it up first.

Thanks,

Buddy

I was raised and lived in OKC many years. I also miss Split T and the others. The responses you are getting to try BBQ sauce shows that they don't understand the taste you are looking for. Not complex, simple smokey and just slightly sweet. I have tried to get the recipe out of the new owners at Charcoal Oven, but they wouldn't share. I think I will try to find an old Split T employee and pry it out of them.

Nothing was better than a Split T Hickory burger and that mound of cheddar they piled on.

WOW!

No BBQ sauce will come close to the taste we are talking about. It is not a BBQ sauce but a true hickory sauce. Totally different taste. Stop plugging your favorite BBQ sauce. Once you have tasted these sauces, you will never call them BBQ again. I am a big fan of BBQ and the accompanying sauce. This is just different.

I have tried to duplicate the flavors and have come close, but haven't gotten them exactly right. I do know that one difference between the Charcoal oven and Split T is that the T used to cook over live coals and I believe Charcoal Oven uses gas coals. I could be wrong about that, but there is a slight flavor difference in the charred tasted.

The sauces are slightly different also, but very close.

There was a chain of burger places in Dallas that were famous for their hickory burgers. It was the sauce that made them. A former customer started things up again. Just as good I hear, Goff's. They sell their sauce.

Buddy's BBQ sauce is great!

The Goff's sauce is not what I would call a BBQ sauce. It's a hickory burger sauce. You can google it and learn more.
Joe

Split T


I was raised in Oklahoma City and was weened on the hamburgers from Split T (now gone), Charcoal Oven and Johnny's, and have been trying for years, now that I live in California, to replicate the wonderful Hickory Sauces that they put on their hamburgers.

In this, I have been unsuccessful, and was wondering if anyone has:

1. Had the hamburgers from any of these places, and know what I am talking about, or

2. Has some homemade recipes for this type of sauce, which is a sweet tasting, hickory smoked sauce, and not too spicy, and is really not a true BBQ sauce.

I have even called a couple of these places, and asked about franchising out here in California, but to no avail.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Homesick for OKC hamburgers in California!!!

Split T

YES!!!!!  I feel your pain and miss them as well!!!!!
  I am an Okie as well and raised on first the Split T, then Johnnies and Charcoal Oven!!  I CRAVE the burgers and am so sad to hear Johnnies and Split T are no longer open.  It is hard to believe....anyway I may be able to help you with a recipe for the hickory sauce.  Its as close as I have been able to come to the real thing:
 
Tomato paste
Hickory Smoke flavor (look in the ketchup section at the grocery store)
Olive oil
 
Mix some tomato sauce to thin it if necessary........
 
Heat the paste and olive oil and add enough flavoring  till you get it to the point it tastes right.
 
You have to get the right dill pickles and shred the cheese just right....and of course plenty of mayo!
 
I have come close to the Ceasar Burger as well!!  Its easier and I have hooked my Yankee husband on it as well.  Just slather some chopped lettuce with a good quality Ceasar dressing and charcoal the burger, remember to toast the bun or it will fall apart.
 
Hope this helps!!

Make that Liquid Smoke...it comes in a small bottle and a little goes a long way!

samib46

Split T


I was raised in Oklahoma City and was weened on the hamburgers from Split T (now gone), Charcoal Oven and Johnny's, and have been trying for years, now that I live in California, to replicate the wonderful Hickory Sauces that they put on their hamburgers.

In this, I have been unsuccessful, and was wondering if anyone has:

1. Had the hamburgers from any of these places, and know what I am talking about, or

2. Has some homemade recipes for this type of sauce, which is a sweet tasting, hickory smoked sauce, and not too spicy, and is really not a true BBQ sauce.

I have even called a couple of these places, and asked about franchising out here in California, but to no avail.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

Homesick for OKC hamburgers in California!!!

Split T

YES!!!!!  I feel your pain and miss them as well!!!!!
  I am an Okie as well and raised on first the Split T, then Johnnies and Charcoal Oven!!  I CRAVE the burgers and am so sad to hear Johnnies and Split T are no longer open.

Yes, the Split T is long gone, but Johnny's is still going strong. They have several metro locations including a new "Johnny's Express" in Edmond which I patronize often.
 
And speaking of the hickory burger, Sonic used to have one on their menu as well. I don't think they offer it anymore, though.

  Hadn't had a Theta w/cheese in 10 years, so went to Johnnies XPress in Norman today to ease The Craving.  blecccch.  The 'hickory sauce' was like ketchup and I'm pretty sure the cheese was Velveeta.  Generic Velveeta at that.  At least the craving is gone (probably forever). 

Hi All,
 
New to the forum.
 
I grew up in OKC, and have eaten at all the places mentioned in this thread. I remember going to the Split-T on Western at Grand Blvd, with my parents. Then, my girlfriend in high school worked at the Charcoal Oven, and she would come over to my house at around midnight, after work, (smelling both good and bad!) and bring me late dinner. (If I ate anything that late now I'd wake up in the middle of the night with quite a problem.) Johnnie's is still great. All the locations use the exact same sauce, which is only made at the Britton Road store. Whenever I go back to OK, I eat there as often as I can. I was just there for a week, over the Thanksgiving 2010 holiday, and I ate in Norman twice, and at the Main (Britton Road) location once. The ONLY difference was that the Norman location puts more cheese and sauce on the burgers than they do at the flagship store, and that's just fine with me! Also, it is shredded American Cheese, not cheddar, that is used on the burgers at Johnnie's. The Cheese Theta (#9) and the Ceasar Burger are the only burgers I've ever ordered.
 
Would LOVE to be able to make the sauce at home.
 
Anybody remember Dolores restaurant? How 'bout the "Special"? They are still open out in California. Apologies if this has been covered in another thread.

I love making my own hickory sauce. After making a small batch of my own "special sauce" I then simply add a teaspoon of (Figaro brand) liquid hickory smoke.
The easy peasy way to make "hickory sauce" for my cheeseburgers.

PapaJoe8


There was a chain of burger places in Dallas that were famous for their hickory burgers. It was the sauce that made them. A former customer started things up again. Just as good I hear, Goff's. They sell their sauce.

Buddy's BBQ sauce is great!

The Goff's sauce is not what I would call a BBQ sauce. It's a hickory burger sauce. You can google it and learn more.
Joe

 
Joe, the "new" Goff's is just across the street from SMU on Hillcrest Blvd.

malibumike


I used to go to the Apple Pan in West Los Angeles and get the Hickory Burger. I believe the hickory sauce is very simple at least to me it tasts the same - get heinz chilli sauce and add a couple of teaspoons of liquid smoke.

 
I lived in West Hollywood during the mid-late sixties. I was totally addicted to the Apple Pan and their terrific Hickory Burgers! Opened just after WWII, They're still there.

Twin, have you had the Hickory Sauce from Goff's? My memory is that it was great. I ate a Hickory Burger maybe once a week during for awhile during the 70s. There was a Goff's on Greenville Ave. just down from my pet store.
Joe
 

Is this just a BBQ Sauce. Have seen a KC Style BBQ Sauce mixed with Mayo and Spices.
this was in Oklahoma. Not just one spot but many.
 

No Curber, it is a hickory burger sauce.
 
BBQ mixed w/ mayo and?. I do that sometimes. Pickled Jalapenos mostly. But who knows...
Joe

PapaJoe8


No Curber, it is a hickory burger sauce.

BBQ mixed w/ mayo and?. I do that sometimes. Pickled Jalapenos mostly. But who knows...
Joe

Had to call someone:
7 Tbls Mayo
5 Tbls KC  BBQ Style Sauce or Ketchup
3Tbls Yellow Mustard
1Tbls Tabasco Chipotle
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
 
Put all in a bowl and mix. Let sit awhile, overnite best
 
Makes about a Cup of sauce
They put this on Hot Dogs, Hamburgers just about anything.
 
 
Me Get some Atomic Horseradish and Mix with favorite BBQ Sauce.
Start with a 1/2 C BBQ Sauce and add Horseradish to taste
A dollop on a good Ribeye Steak, Hamburgers anything
http://www.morehousefoods.com/products.html

PapaJoe8


Twin, have you had the Hickory Sauce from Goff's? My memory is that it was great. I ate a Hickory Burger maybe once a week during for awhile during the 70s. There was a Goff's on Greenville Ave. just down from my pet store.
Joe

 
Hi, Joe.
I used to eat Goff's hickory burgers all the time up until he sold the name and the Lovers Lane store. It was then that the new owner moved the store to Hillcrest Avenue across from SMU. But, I don't remember what the hickory sauce was composed of.

For all of you wanting the Split-T Hickory Sauce, try .  The sauce is being bottled and sold, however, if you are in OKC or know someone, look for the sauce at the grocery store, it's alot cheaper.

I am sorry, but I not very good at this.  I did not realize that web addresses cannot be included, so go to the web page, Split-T, then that dot com thing.