Ah, yes – your jar of BBQ sauce is only half full and it’s time to make some more. Summer’s comin’ and you can’t let yourself run out of BBQ sauce!
I love a good bar-be-que with a bold sauce slathered all over chicken or ribs and cooked just right! And you know what “just right” is – it’s bubbly and slightly blackened on the outside with the meat cooked to the perfect doneness… It brings to mind summer days with backyard grill sessions – the men standing around the fire, making their manly grunts while the ladies chatter around the kitchen counter making all the fixin’s and listening to the kids squealing as they play and run through the lawn sprinkler. Ah, good times!
I recently bought some BBQ sauce at the grocery store and decided I like my own better, so here’s my go-to recipe. I’ll mix it up, throw the pot on the stove and just walk away for a few hours.
And since I’ve made this myself, I know just what’s in it. Okay, the ketchup is store bought, but I have my favorite brand I use that I trust. If you make your own ketchup, awesome!
Talk about great “gifts from the kitchen”! I filled pint jars for Christmas gifts one year. I didn’t “can” them, just filled the jars and told my friends to keep it refrigerated. My creative wrapping was simply colored cellophane tied with some jute twine.
So here are a few suggestions to make this BBQ sauce your own:
Vinegar
Who says you have to use cider vinegar? I once made a bbq sauce that was bold enough to call the cattle home from Texas! I used balsamic vinegar, of all things, and adjusted a few of the other ingredients to match the bold flavor. Bold doesn’t necessarily mean “hot”. Go – experiment!
Add a little heat…
Just because it isn’t listed in the ingredients doesn’t mean you can’t add it. To make your BBQ hotter, increase the Tabasco. Or use “hot” chili powder. Or add some cayenne pepper or cumin. You can make a BBQ sauce that’ll singe the hair off your toes, if you want.
Or make it milder…
Maybe your friends and family like to keep their toe hair. Maybe they prefer to savor the flavor… use a lighter vinegar (white wine vinegar or rice vinegar), eliminate the Tabasco entirely, use a mild chili powder. Or any combination thereof. It’s YOUR sauce.
Sweetners
Every marinade contains four components: Sweet, Salt, Seasoning and Vinegar. BBQ Sauce is a specific type of marinade, but a marinade nonetheless. We’ve already talked about vinegar, and touched on seasonings, salt is in the garlic salt and worcestershire… now for the sweet! The sweet component balances out the rest for a fully rounded flavor profile.
I call for brown sugar because it dissolves well and has a particular flavor. But I recognize that many of you are limiting your processed sugar. So use your favorite go-to sugar alternative. Honey is fabulous in BBQ sauce!! I have not experimented with other sweetners, but keep in mind that you are going to simmer this thing for several hours. Be careful that the sweetner you choose can take the heat.
Go Forth and BBQ
I hope you see what I’m trying to do here. I attended culinary school and the entire time our chef instructors were telling us to put away our books and recipes and just GO MAKE IT! I love this sauce because it doesn’t need tending. You can mix it up and let it simmer all day, if you want. And after you’ve made it a few times, and tweaked it to your own personal satisfaction, then it becomes YOUR sauce, YOUR flavor, YOUR signature! No one else will have a BBQ sauce quite like yours.
I am searching for the other side of the next hill where I am certain I will find new recipes, new sights and new fabric.
- Route 66: Navigating New Mexico - November 22, 2016
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- 44 oz bottle ketchup
- 2 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup yellow mustard **see notes
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 1 cup chili powder
- 2 Tbsp black pepper
- 2 Tbsp worcestershire
- 1/2 cup garlic salt or to taste
- 2 tsp tabasco more for spicier/hotter; optional
- 1 tsp celery salt optional
- 1 Tbsp onion powder optional
- Mix all ingredients in a large pot and simmer on low for 3-4 hours, until the sauce reaches your desired consistency. (I happen to like a very thick bbq sauce.) Stir occasionally.
I use mustard so rarely that I will "make my own" for this recipe. 1 cup of yellow mustard can be made by mixing 3 Tbsp of powdered mustard with 1 cup of cider vinegar.