Flavor, Fire, Faith: Connie Jo’s All Purpose Sauces

Sauce for a Cause

Words by Jessi Devenyns Photos by Baptiste Despois

After five years of working to perfect her home sauce recipe in hopes of creating a revenue source for a non-profit, a miracle happened to Connie Jo Kirk.

Seeking the answer to the unsolvable riddle of a perfect sauce, Connie Jo remembers she was standing, hands over her sauce pot, when she heard her grandmother’s voice suggesting a secret ingredient which Connie Jo will not divulge. But it worked. “It was delicious,” she smiles. Now she sells her sauce to restaurants and supermarkets all over Austin.

Over the years, Connie Jo has pursued many passions, from supporting humanitarian projects to professionally singing jazz and blues. But at the end of the day, she always comes back to the kitchen. While most people know how to turn on a stove and wield a spatula, early on, Connie Jo presented a particular talent for melding flavors into compelling combinations. One of her best-known creations was her barbecue sauce, which for a long time was simply a doctored store-bought bottle– a trick she learned from her mother. “My mother would buy a cheap bottle of barbecue sauce, and it was bland…and then she would add stuff to it to make it taste homemade. It was so good. And I got in the habit of doing that,” she admits. She remembers her friends encouraging her, “Well damn, ifyou could make bad sauce taste this good, you could make your own.” The idea haunted her. For months after that, Connie Jo visited stores to check the basic ingredients on labels for barbecue sauces before she started mixing her own.

It took five years, but Connie Jo finally perfected her sauce into six bottled flavors that can complement a wide array of dishes– not just backyard barbecue. And each purchase, she assures, goes to support African children in need.

For decades, the needs of the African peoples have guided Connie Jo’s efforts, and it all began in the mid-1970s when Connie served in the Peace Corps. In a small African village, Connie Jo endured the tragic experience of watching an 18-month-old pass away in the mother’s arms. “This is what led me to the barbecue sauce,” she says quietly. “It was like I held myself responsible for that baby dying.”

That day she decided that her bond to Africa and desire to serve its people would be for life. “I fell in love with them then and there,” she remembers. However, she explains that it took 36 years before she had an idea that could help them. After nearly four decades, Connie Jo’s ‘ah-ha’ moment came in the form of asauce. Now, after perfecting the recipe, she uses the commercial proceeds from her sauces’ sales to support her nonprofit Nasaru Inc., an organization that aims to build boarding schools in Uganda and Kenya for impoverished children.

Taste Test
The search for the perfect flavor lit a fire under Connie Jo who spent years working to craft a flavor that could be used for a variety of occasions– not just barbecue. Try using her sauces on tacos, eggs, and as dips. The sauces are available at Royal Blue Grocery, Cherrywood Coffeehouse, and Counter Cafe. They come in six flavors including spicy ginger and original diabetic-friendly option called Faboo BBQ Sauce. Later, Connie says she would like to develop an apple and habanero version.

Contact:
conniejosauces.com