What the hell is mumbo sauce?
No, really. What the hell is it? I know that it’s that almost florescent red-colored stuff that they give you at the carry out resturant to put on chicken and french fries. What I really NEED to know is, what’s in it? What ingredients come together to create the goodness that we call mumbo sauce(or mambo sauce, however you choose to say it).
I’m not particularly concerned for health purposes. I just want to make my own, so I can create Leon’s Special Blend and become a billionaire selling it. My theory is that mambo sauce is one part ketchup, two parts hot sauce, a pinch of sugar and a sprinkle of Smurf dust.
Oh yeah. Smurfs do exist. They’re magical! How else can you explain the way that mumbo sauce makes those raggedy carryout chicken wings and soggy, crinkled french fries taste so good? If you pick a Smurf up and shake it hard enough, the little blue srpinkles that float in the air…That’s Smurf dust. Until one of you tells me EXACTLY what goes into mumbo sauce, I’m just going to assume that Smurf dust is, in fact, the secret ingredient.
For real, I know you probably don’t believe me, but it’s true. You have to shake the Smurf until you hear the sound of chimes. That’s when the dust will appear. Be careful though…Sniffing uncut Smurf dust can cause temporary paralysis and in some cases, instant death.
Readers out there, I beg you to please tell me what goes into mambo sauce. Don’t make me walk around looking for Smurfs to shake. If you know the answer to my question, please leave it in the comments section.
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I dont know whats in it but what I do know is that its good as hell especially after leaving the club and you got the munchies. I order EXTRA mumbo sauce on my wings….oh yeah I forgot my passcode Leon this is Anthony…lmao!!!!
I told you…It’s gotta be magic! Those carryout folks have Smurf villages in the back of the resturants! They make the Smurfs put on rat costumes when they want to go outside in the alley. That way, the secret is safe!
My best friend in DC has been telling me about mumbo sauce forever…When you find out, let me get half the profits *wink*
I lived in DC from birth until the week before college orientation. I’ve never known what’s in mambo sauce. But I’ve always loved it – but only on carry out wings. It doesn’t taste right on wings made outside of a suspect looking carryout.
Leon, isn’t it weird that no one has the answer to this question yet? When u find out tell me too, because Mumbo sauce is good as Hell.
Smooches
Bre a.k.a Bee :)
As your cooking guide….let me tell you…Mumbo sauce is made with Sweet and Sour Sauce (the red kind), hot sauce, a little ketchup and worcestshire sauce.
I want 50% of the rightsto that BBQ Sauce recipe. We could call it the “Uncle Leon and Aunt Sixy’s Smack Yo Mama Secret Sauce”
I also have a DC friend that makes it without the sweet and sour sauce base…
He uses :
1 cup ketchup
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
3 tablespoons hot sauce
3 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons white vinegar
Ok – I have to ask…are you from the hood? LOL – because I am…and sometimes, not all the time, but sometimes – I can’t eat a good chicken box without a container of MUMBO SAUCE to dip my fried chicken (w/hormones-lol) in.
Now – 1969 has it right…that’s what they put in it.
@ It is what it is, I’m from the mean streets of Fredericksburg VA! LOL. But for real, I’ve lived all over DC, and mambo sauce is a must!
@ 1969, you mean to tell me there is no Smurf Dust in the recipie?! Well I’ll be damned! We’ll have to work on a better name for the stuff, but we might have to go into business together!
@ Bre, it is funny how long it took to find someone who knew the answer!
@ Gene, I’m going to test your theory out by trying it on some wings from Popeyes in Montgomery County
@ Jubulance, I can’t help you with that one. I’m poor.
Leon…it doesn’t mean we can’t put smurf dust in our version….
that’s what will set ours apart from the masses….LOL
I’m pretty sure there’s red koolaid in it.
I always wondered what was in the stuff…I got my mumbo sauce initiation on my first trip to DC. You can’t find the stuff anywhere else.
I use it on my shrimp. I’m pretty sure as well that you can obtain the sauce by mixing hot sauce and ketchup lol. although it might need a little more to it, like trying to make Serge with Sprite, Mt Dew and Sierra Mist.
I have to disagree with the masses, I don’t think there is hot sauce in Mambo sauce. See, you are chasing a rainbow Leon, because every carry outs Mambo sauce is different. My favorite is the thick red stuff, like you get from Yums. But, I have had mambo sauce that ranges in colors of neon orange to a dusty pink color. Good luck on your quest for knowledge!
lmao. i’d never even heard of it until i went to hampton… i feel like i had it on a trip to dc once… but i can’t remember so maybe not… hmmm…. but there’s a pretty good go-go band by that name.
@ Kofro, I agree, there must be some red kool-aid in it because that shit stains like red kool-aid does!!! I know because LEON dropped a mambo sauce coated chicken wing on my couch about 6 months ago and despite all the cleaning i have done, that stain is still there.
Leon, you’re a fuckin’ retard. So the smurfs turn into rats when they go in the alley. At least you know there are indeed rats at the chinese spot you frequent.
Leon, I promise you. The wang – yes, wang with an A – has to be from a carryout. They fry them in a way to bring out the mambosity of the sauce.
Popeyes wings got to much going on by themselves which will likely make them oil to the mumbo’s water.
I also don’t think there’s hot sauce in mambo sauce, but who knows.
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The Washington City Paper had an article on mumbo sauce a few years back. Its a special sauce thats only manufactured and sold here in the DC Metro area. I dont know why we like it so much, and I dont know why it hasnt caught on elsewhere, but hey, it is what it is.
FYI, Ive never had it, as I dont eat chicken wings, LOL.
L
Well Leon, you COULD probably become a millionaire just selling the Smurf dust…
OK, I can’t tell you what’s in it, but I can tell you where some of the best mumbo sauce is made:
Wings and More Wings – Benning Rd NE (This is the spot to go to when you just want some good azz wings)
New Gardens Carryout – Minnesota Ave NE – (These are the wings you need after partcipating in or instigating a good azz fight.)
Wonderful Carryout – Sheriff Rd – Maryland (Bomb as hell – especially after watching some good ole strippers at the Ebony Inn)
I may just not frequent the same fine eating establishments that you do…’cause I have never even heard of Mambo/Mumbo sauce.
Smurfs…Yes! Mambo Sauce…No!
So in my world…
Smurfs…real!
mambo Sauce…not!
3 parts tabasco
2 parts sweet+sour sauce
3 parts ketchup
ther is surely hot sauce in mumbo sauce… thats one of the few constant ingrdients in all mumbo sauce…it kida gets balanced out by all the sugar and ketcup… i dont kno the speifics but i do kno that its mostly sugar ketchup and hot sauce… and some kinda adictive somthin cus for real… its like cocaine for me
hi leon i am a native of D.C. bu t currently live in durham nc; suprising enough the chinese restaurants donot carry mumbo sauce here damn if only i had some it is definitely a D.C. thing big ups to the metro city
I know they were selling mambo sauce back in the early 70′s in Buffalo, New York at John Young’s Wing & Things. Then his brother & family had several other resturants selling all chicken parts dipped in the sauce. I live in the Seattle Area and now I crave for the Mambo sauce.
i want to correct my earlier comment it was the sixties…John Young, Wing n Things, Buffalo, NY
You know I’m thirty one years old, and I too grew up in S.E. Washington D.C., my father was military and we moved around, I currently reside in NC AND WHAT I MISS THE ABSOLUTE MOST ABOUT D.C., BESIDES THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS, IS THE FRICKING MAMBO SAUCE !!! I USED TO KILL IT ON FRECH FRIES & RIBS! No one has ever heard of it down here. Sure do miss the endulgent flavor!
Jayda B.,
The real Mambo Sauce was made at Wings n Things at 1832? 14th St., Jimmie would not give me the recipe no matter how many times I asked. He left/sold/died?. There’s a Wings N. Things on Georgia Ave, said to be the same, but I never tried. Had nuthin, ever, to do with Chinese carryout, back then–1970s. So, a guy I knew, whose folks had an eatery on M Street, had a cook who used to work for Jimmie at the 14th street place, and I got the ingredients for Jimmie’s Mambo from him. It’s nothing like any of the combos given over on the net. Trust me.
JayCee
JayCee,
Is there anyway you can at least give us the ingredients? I’m also from DC and my father would bring wings home from Wings and Things in the 60s. I now live in Michigan and I’ve been trying to figure out what goes in the Mambo Sauce.
I visited DC and went to the one on GA Avenue and it was nothing like the Mambo Sauce I had growing up.
Thanks for any feedback you can give.
Cass
There is no other sauce better than mumbo sauce. Wings and Things needs to bottle the sauce up. Benning Road has the best!!!!!!
I remember back in the 60s a restaurant named “Wings and Tings” on 14th Street, NW, that served mambo sauce (the original) over their wings. If any of you have the recipe, pls share. It was absolutely delicious. Thank you
WHAT IS SWEET AND SOUR SAUCE? IS THERE A BRAND NAME? WHERE CAN i BUY IT
I think that Leon is the biggest prick ever to set foot on the planet. As a matter of fact, ALL LEON’S are dry pieces of shit!!!
@ JOHNSON, this is going on my testimonials page! Hilarious!!!
P.S., Fuck you too, bitch.
wats craccin yall… bet i kno where tha best mumbo sauce is at langley park in sechuan delight. im a mumbo conasuer. i been through south east to north west and aint find none beating tha joint in langley park . while u at it smoke a jack while you wait for your order. also they got tha mumbo buffalo sause which is bangin so go get it my nig.
I just made my version and being fron nj I think I hit the jackpot!
I went to school for a brief time at Howard and I ca tell you Mabo sauce is great. If you go to visit Howard University, go to China wonder and get Chicken Wings and Fried rice and say YES! to mambo sauce. It tastes like sweet and sour sauce and ketcheup mixed together. It is so good.
The best Mumbo Sauce in the whole DC area is located at Hong Kong Delight on MLK Ave in SE. They have people comming in there just ordering their mumbo sauce. Its so good you have them put it on everything you order.
To: Just a girl looking for some skrippers and mumbo sauce!
I will reiterate and address what she said because it was the 300% TRUTH!!!:
“OK, I can’t tell you what’s in it, but I can tell you where some of the best mumbo sauce is made:
Wings and More Wings – Benning Rd NE (This is the spot to go to when you just want some good azz wings)
Wonderful Carryout – Sheriff Rd – Maryland (Bomb as hell – especially after watching some good ole strippers at the Ebony Inn)”
I’ll give a little more in detail though…
You get the TRUE mumbo sauce here, folks:
Wings N’ More Wings
1839 Benning Road, NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202) 397-7062
And at the next place, it’s not really mumbo sauce…
But they have invented somethin that’s on a whole ‘nother level!
The chicken wings AND the sauce = BOMB AS HELL!!!!
DO NOT CLOSE YOUR CASKET TIL YOU HAVE TRIED THEIR WINGS!!!:
Wonderful Carryout
5331 Sheriff Road
Fairmount Heights, MD 20743
(301) 322-4482
OMG!!!! Mambo Sauce made me gain a good 20lbs when I was younger!!! They don’t sell it down here either. I’ll be checkin for the recipe, but if not to any of the wing places ship it? Or is there a place that ships mambo sauce? Or do they sell in VA Beach? DAMMIT LEON NOW I WANT SOME MAMBO SAUCE!!!
YES THEY JIVE LIKE DONT SELL MUMBO SAUCE IN FREDERICKSBURG. HELL THEY DONT EVEN HAVE THE CHICKEN AND FRIES COMBO IN FREDERICKSBURG VA
I am a native Washingtonian, and I remember the Wings n Things on 14th Street. I been searchin long and hard for something even close to them wings, and have not come close. Jay Cee, drop that recipe you got from Jimmie’s cook on us. There is no way we can do what they did, but I would have a ball trying to duplicate the wings from the 70′s!
I last had some mambo sauce about 15 years ago. Today, I woke up and had to have some when I came across this article. I agree with the author about the ingredients except I think they use crack instead of smurf dust. Good luck in your search.
@ 58thSt, I’m glad I could inspire you to try mambo sauce again after 15 years!
i don’t know if this is right…i was told mambo sause was barbeque sauce(but what kind? theres so many)probably a spicy mix and grenadine…gotta have it with rib tips and french fries
I wound up at the Wings n Things on 14th (right by the Macombo Lounge, woohoo!) at 4 am on a Saturday after I got in a catfight with some coked out bitch at the Asylum. It was the perfect ending to the perfect night, and it was love at first taste with the mumbo sauce.
O.K.
I’m was raised in D.C. The best wings with Mumbo sauce was from Mr. Tee’s. Does anyone remember that corner restaurant near S street N.W.? My cousin has the exact receipe but won’t share it. If I get it, I’ll share it with you all. There’s only one Mumbo sauce. If you grew up in the late 50′s and early 60′s, it was the bomb.
Now see I got to put my 2cents in . I was raised in D.C. and The Best wings and mumbo sauce was Danny’s over there in the little shopping near greenway and second to that was Mike’s carry-out that closed down about 15 or so yrs ago. They had the huge steroid wings and they were Bomb as hell. I still haven’t quite found a place that could match either one. The only place that has come close is Danny’s on Branch Ave. in MD.