Guy Fieri’s Flavortown – Donkey Sauce

I first heard of Donkey Sauce in the NY Times scathing review of Guy Fieri’s (now defunct) Times Square restaurant. Needless to say it didn’t make me want to run out and try the sauce, or stop by the restaurant the next time I was in NYC.

I don’t have a problem with Guy Fieri. Despite his on-screen persona being a little bit too “in your face” for my tastes, by all reports he’s actually a very stand-up guy who does a lot for the community, raises quite a bit of money for charity, and does do a good job of shining a spotlight on smaller local places that deserve the attention.

Because of that when I saw his line of signature sauces at Publix, I decided I had to check them out, and why not start with the most famous one, the Donkey Sauce.

At its heart this is a garlic aioli sauce, or a fancy mayonnaise, with a little bit of a kick. I can enjoy aioli or mayonnaise in the right context, but jarred shelf-stable ones are very hit and miss. I personally only buy Duke’s when it comes to mayonnaise, and I’ve never had a pre-made aioli that tasted remotely as nice as freshly made.

The ingredients list on this product aren’t as bad as some shelf-stable creamy dressings or sauces. There are some artificial preservatives, but the majority of the ingredients are relatively wholesome. The biggest sticking points to me is that the oil used is Canola (which is fine, it’s a great neutral tasting oil) or Soybean (which I’m not a fan of at all due to its fishy unpleasant taste) whereas a true aioli you’d make at home would use extra virgin olive oil, and the fact that the second ingredient is water – water doesn’t have a plan in an aioli. The amount of garlic used is also quite low.

Flavor-wise, this does have that artificial shelf-stable aioli or mayonnaise taste, and to me it was a little bit too off-putting to use it straight as a dip for french fries or fried fish. It works well as a sandwich spread where you might use regular mayonnaise otherwise, but it also doesn’t bring a whole lot else to the table in terms of flavor and taste – for something that’s purported to come from Flavortown, the garlic flavor doesn’t come close to what you get with a fresh made garlic aioli at home. While this also mentions the use of pepper extract, there’s no heat at all here, neither the capsaicin variety nor that hot bit fresh garlic can have.

All in all this one is miss for me. It’s inoffensive in the right context, but it doesn’t make me crave it or do a lot to enhance the flavor of foods used with it. I realize this is a mass produced sauce, however Guy Fieri should take a good look at this product and taste it to see if this is the quality he wants associated with his name.

Ingredients: Vegetable Oil (Canola and/or Soybean Oil), Water, Egg Yolks, Dijon Mustard (Distilled Vinegar, Water, Mustard Seed, Salt, White Wine, Citric Acid, Turmeric, Tartaric Acid, Spices), Worcestershire Sauce (Distilled Vinegar, Molasses, Sugar, Water, Salt, Anchovy, Onion, Garlic Clove, Tamarind Extract, Natural Flavor, Chile Pepper Extract), Distilled Vinegar, Less than 2% of Roasted Garlic Puree (Garlic, Water), Salt, Sugar, Dried Garlic, Sodium Citrate, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Spice, Xanthan Gum, Ground Mustard, Natural Flavor, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, and Calcium Disodium EDTA (to protect quality)

Heat Level: 0/10.