Barbecue Sauce

[jrshaul]

One of the better tips I have picked up over the years is to take the water pan water after the end of the smoke and use a gravy/fat seperator to skim the fat off .. The liquid underneath will have lots of flavour from the drippings and will carry a deep smoke flavour. Think homemade liquid smoke that doesn't have that funky aftertaste. You can use it straight up or even concentrate it down in a saucepan. A touch or more of this will give your homemade BBQ sauce a deep flavour

Oh mah gawd. I never even thought of that.

Version II of the barbecue sauce is still more or less recipe-less, but it looks something like this:

1.5 cups water

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup vinegar

6 large dried ancho chilis

1/4 cup butter

3 cloves garlic

1/2t cloves (whole)

1/2t allspice (lightly crushed)

1/2t cinnamon

2t black pepper

Worchestershire sauce (to taste)

Salt (about a teaspoon?)

Simmer cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and peppers in water until peppers reconstitute. Remove peppers; continue to simmer until water is aromatic. Continue to simmer while blending de-seeded and stemmed peppers with vinegar. Add garlic, salt, and water, sieved to remove whole spices. Blend to a homogenous paste; warm and add butter shortly before cooking.

I might add some cayenne - the heat diffuses pretty heavily during baking. Can anyone suggest other options for adding some flavorful heat?

[Charcuterer]

How about adding heat with chillies in adobo. The canned product is quite nice. I would remove most of the sauce as it might overpower the subtleties of your seasoning.

[jrshaul]

I have a bit of a conundrum: My "anchos" (as labelled) look an awful lot like anaheim chiles. Any easy way to tell the difference, or do I call the horticulturalist? (He introduces himself as Pepper, I kid you not.)

On a related note, a specialty pepper vendor at the Farmers' Market has some neat stuff, including Cascabel peppers. I actually ate one of the darned things raw when the vendor dared me to - not the best decision, but he gave me quite a deal afterwards.

[Norm Matthews]

This is the best BBQ sauce I have ever had and it can only be got through mail order

 

http://www.horizonbbqsmokersstore.com/servlet/the-300/Horizon-Original-BBQ-Sauce/Detail

 

Some history:  When Oklahoma Joe sold his renowned smoker company to CharBroil, they closed the company and put it out of business and OK Joe moved to Texas.  A few years later his brother who was also in the original company opened Horizon Smokers and offers the same commercial, competition and back yard smokers and the same sauce also sold by the company but now it is called Horizon  BBQ sauce.  When it had beed sold under the Oklahoma Joe name, it had won Jack Daniels World Championship BBQ contest: Best Sauce in the World, American Royal International Sauce Contest: Best Sauce on the Planet, and Memphis in May BBQ World Championship: Best Sauce in the World.

 

The original rib rub recipe is also excellent and can be found on the web in several places. Here is one link 

 

http://www.food.com/recipe/oklahoma-joes-rib-rub-118966

[Thanks for the Crepes]

NC Masonic Lodge BBQ Sauce

 

1 c white vinegar

1/4 c catsup

1 t salt

4-1/2 t sugar

1 T crushed red pepper

1/8 t black pepper

2 T water

 

T means tablespoon; t means teaspoon. Pay attention, or you'll go astray! Proportions and balance are everything with this recipe. They are humble, inexpensive ingredients, but create a gestalt a bunch of folks find very appealing. Of course adjust to your own taste after the first endeavor if you want.

 

If you're going to use this as a basting sauce for smoked or grilled raw meat, you need to combine all the ingredients in a pot and simmer very slowly for 30 minutes. In this case, separate your basting sauce from that you're going to use at the table for food safety.

 

When I make ribs or a relatively small piece of pork shoulder in a covered casserole in the oven, I just mix all the ingredients right in the casserole and stir until the salt, sugar and catsup are dissolved. Then add meat, and turn in the sauce til coated, and cook in a very slow oven for several hours until tender. You want the collagen to succumb, but don't overcook; you don't want meat mush. Ribs should be easy to separate from the bone, but not fall off on their own. The oven does the simmering step for the sauce. Turn the meat a few times for even cooking and moisture/sauce distribution. After the sauce has been cooked in the oven, it's safe to use at the table, if you wish.

 

When I do it in the oven I usually cool it in the sauce, then refrigerate still in the sauce overnight. Ribs should be placed in the sauce meat side down in the fridge. The next day I take the meat out and cook it either on the grill or a moderate oven for ribs or a slower one for the small butt, turning several times. Baste every time you turn with your reserved sauce. I include the rendered pork fat in the baste, but if you're a fat phobe you can skim that off when it's cold from the fridge. If the cook is done right, the fat is mostly rendered out and burned off in the last cook to brown.

 

When it's reheated turn the grill or oven up to high, broil for the oven. Watch like a hawk. The sugar from the ketchup and (duh) sugar are meant to balance the salty, sour, hot flavors, but can lead to burning before you can say, "Jack Robinson".

 

I hope you enjoy this.

[Ann_T]

I've never been a fan of BBQ sauces because I don't like sweet with meat.    The exception is the TBQ sauce from the Tunnel BBQ restaurant that had been around for 73 years in Windsor, Ontario and just recently closed.  They are still going to be selling their sauce. 

 

I have a copy cat recipe for TBQ sauce  that was published in the Windsor newspaper years ago. 

 

I use this sauce on ribs, wings, pulled pork, etc..

TBQ Sauce

Source: Windsor Newspaper

1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 cup prepared mustard
1/2 cup vinegar white
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons chile powder
1/4 cup white sugar.

Place all ingredients in a blender and mix. 


MY NOTES:

The original recipe did not require refrigeration.     I stored mine in the refrigerator. And it lasts for months.

I used less  sugar than was called for, because I really do prefer a more savory then sweet sauce.

[Smithy]

I used to think I didn't like any form of barbecue sauce, because I also usually find them too sweet.  My darling finally converted me enough to allow certain tangy not-too-sweet barbecue sauces to be painted onto, oh, slow-cooked ribs during the last half hour.  So far we've settled on Jack Daniels Bourbon Sauce as the favorite, but I think I'll have to give the recipes in this topic a try.  Some of these look like real winners.

 

Thanks, Ann_T and Thanks for the Crepes, for adding recipes to this set.

[Norm Matthews]

The BBQ sauces I like are more like tangy steak sauces than the sweet sauces most people attribute to BBQ.  Many serious BBQ smokers only use sauce as a light finishing baste or as a table sauce if at all.  What gives BBQ sauces a bad name are the kind that you find in places like McD's and other places that think dousing anything in tomatoey sticky sweet stuff qualifies it as BBQ. 

Edited October 13, 2014 by Norm Matthews (log)

[HungryChris]

I like to hickory smoke pork ribs that have been rubbed with a pretty basic dry rub (brown sugar, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin) the day before smoking. The BBQ sauce I have come to really enjoy on the side is a vinegar based version that goes like this:

1 1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2    cup catsup

1/2    cup water

1 tbs  salt

1 tbs  red pepper flakes

1/2   cup of A1 Steak sauce (I use the imitation from Aldi's )

 

It is best made a day or 2 before so the heat spreads out and permeates the sauce. It keeps in the fridge until it is used up.

 

HC

[AlaMoi]

so....we've all seen the recipes for award winning bbq sauces - the forty hour cooking with 1/4 tsp this and 1/8 tsp that plus 30 other spices/seasonings.....

 

this ain't that.  simple - clean tasting veddy refreshing sauce.  I don't dislike the billion spice stuff - but sometimes clean&simple is a nice change.

 

my favorite use for this is poured over fast&heavy browned boneless skinless chicken thighs (+/- 1 lb / 450 g.) 

 

brown the chick nicely - but do not cook it through - who needs tough chicken?  it gets 'finished' in the oven. 

used for oven bake 325'F post pan browned chicken.

 

in 2 T / 30 ml oil
saute until soft - medium onion, diced medium to fine per personal preference
add:
1 cup / 240 g  ketchup
2 Tbsp / 30 ml Dijon mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 c / 100 g (dark)brown sugar
2 Tbsp / 30 ml apple cider vinegar  
simmer about 30-50 minutes

 

that's it, that's all there is.  there is not a hint of blue tinged pink Himalayan salt with just a nuiance of east African googoo pink hot pepper as passed by a civet but only in August....  etc.  plain, simple, really dang taste bud refreshing.

 

pour hot sauce over browned / cooled chicken chunks
into oven at 325'F / 165'C for 30-40 minutes
holds well.
reheats well.

 

I serve it over rice with a twangy side such as brussel sprouts.

 

the sugar amount does result in a distinctively sweet sauce - bit like sweet/sour oriental preps - makes for a crusting sauce.  sugar can be cut in half if you're not a sweet sauce fan; just as good.

 

[Deryn]

Sounds delicious but a bottle of ketchup mixed with a jar of grape jelly is simpler still. Throw it over a bunch of meatballs and, at least in Texas where I learned that trick, a party magically happens.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I like this simple BBQ sauce a lot. I got it from the Masonic Lodge from the guy who was responsible for making it for their pig pickin' fundraisers. I had to use my mad math skills to cut it down from many gallons to home kitchen size.  It is not as sweet as either of the other sauces mentioned here, but it does contain ketchup and a little sugar. This is offset by the vinegar base, and a kick of crushed red pepper.

 

Eastern North Carolina BBQ Sauce

 

1 c vinegar

1/4 c catsup

3/4 t salt

4 t sugar

1 T crushed red pepper

1/8 t black pepper

2 T water

 

The original instructions call for combining all the ingredients and simmering for 30 minutes.

 

They cook whole hogs low and slow in covered pig cookers from raw over wood coals and charcoal, and baste it with the sauce throughout the long cook. The simmer step is necessary if you are grilling meat from raw and basting with the sauce.

 

When I am baking spareribs in the oven in covered Pyrex dishes, I mix up the sauce in the casserole without the simmer, just until the sugar and salt dissolve. Then turn and flip raw ribs until they are coated, and bake in a low oven. When they're tender, I take them out and either grill or broil while basting with the sauce from the casserole which is redolent with meat juices and fat at this point.

 

It's a light, refreshing sauce, and not as hot as you'd think. The fat, vinegar, and other elements balance out the crushed pepper. Even my capsaicin sensitive husband loves it, and it is used on a large scale in the Mason's fundraisers for sale to the general public. If you're cooking for chili heads, I'd advise upping the crushed red pepper.

[FeChef]

Lost me at Ketchup/Catsup. Neither of those words should ever be used along with "refreshing" or "clean tasting"

[Toliver]

On 5/21/2016 at 7:44 AM, FeChef said:

Lost me at Ketchup/Catsup. Neither of those words should ever be used along with "refreshing" or "clean tasting"

Even if you make your own (click and scroll down)?

[AlaMoi]

'lost me'...

 

well, yes and no.  I've seen people make (horrible) homemade pizza using catsup/tomato sauce/paste/what not.

 

I have personally cooked down garden fresh tomatoes 'like Aunt so&so did' in some mis-guided attempt - and it was so bad I tossed it - overdone tomato gravy is overdone and not very tasty.

 

first keep in mind, there is no accounting for taste.  second keep in mind before the first - what variety of bbq sauce are we talking about?

various regions have different tastes - sweet , sour, tomato, vinegar, you name it.

 

I cited one plain & simple approach.  some people will like it, some people will hate it.  questions on that?

[FeChef]

On 5/23/2016 at 1:59 PM, Toliver said:

Even if you make your own (click and scroll down)?

If you are making your own, you would not add "ketchup/catsup" in the recipe. You would add the ingredients to make ketchup/catsup. Even a simple tomato paste, sugar in the raw, vinegar, and spices like mace, nutmeg..ect..ect make a "cleaner" better/fresher ketchup then any premade store bought crap.

Edited May 24, 2016 by FeChef (log)

[Okanagancook]

I am dealing with a plethora of peaches.  Two kinds of peach chutney are done.  Searched for a peach-chili based BBQ sauce and found this one online which I just finished making.  It is very nice indeed.  One recipe makes four 250 ml jars which I processed for 25 minutes so it will keep in the cupboard.  I would add some habenaro also.  Either 1/2 chopped or one split open and cooked with the sauce for the first half hour and then fished out.  This will impart a nice fragrance to the sauce as well as some different kind of heat.  I also used canned Romas because I had no fresh ones. It is quite sweet so would best be used as a finishing sauce.