Recipe: BBQ Sauce

[runpunkrun]

This BBQ sauce is sweet and smoky with a nice vinegar tang. I adapted it from Sharon Lachendro's The Best Homemade BBQ Sauce You'll Ever Have at What The Fork.

Ingredients:

Wet:

• 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar, unpacked (134 grams)
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (3 fluid oz)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 Tbsp worcestershire sauce

Dry:

• 2 1/2 tsp ground mustard
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Non-Newtonian:

• 1 Tbsp cornstarch + 1 Tbsp water

Time: This comes together quickly and doesn't require any special tools. It only takes a few minutes at the stove and doesn't need much stirring, just enough to get everything incorporated, and a little whisking at the end while it bubbles so it won't stick or burn.

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. The ground mustard and garlic powder are probably going to be clumpy, so use this opportunity to smash up any lumps with the back of your spoon. When you're done it'll have the consistency of spicy sand.

2. In a medium pot over medium heat, stir together the wet ingredients until incorporated. Yes, I know brown sugar isn't technically a liquid, but bakers often treat it like one.

3. Dump the spice mix into the sauce, stir it in, and bring sauce to a low boil while whisking to make sure it doesn't stick. Give it a little taste and add more vinegar or sugar if necessary. Continue to simmer for about 5 minutes, whisking occasionally.

4. In another bowl, possibly the same small bowl as from before, stir together the cornstarch and water until it's a thin liquid. Slowly pour it into the sauce while whisking to avoid lumps. Let the sauce simmer a bit more until it's thickened.

5. Store in a jar in the refrigerator where it'll last...until it's gone? A couple of months at least. I freeze half because this makes a lot of sauce, and it survives the freezer okay, though the texture's a bit lumpy after it defrosts. I think a quick heat-up on the stove (or microwave?) would warm up those cornstarch curdles and smooth it out again, but it's not a big deal. It still tastes great.

6. You can use this cold, but I prefer it at room temperature, or even poured on top of leftovers and microwaved. It's good at the table with any kind of protein, on top of rice or fries, or cook with it: baste it on grilled food or use it to make that super lazy pulled pork where you just drown the meat in BBQ sauce and a Coke and let it slow cook. I also feel like you could make some awesome baked beans with it.

Notes:

The original recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups ketchup, which would make this sauce too sweet even for me, a person who loves sugar. So I swapped out the ketchup with canned tomato sauce, and since I already had the can open, I put in the whole thing. According to Google, 15 oz is 1.875 cups (or 4.436 deciliters), so I put in that much tomato sauce.

I also added a splash of extra vinegar, the additional 2 Tbsp, as the sauce was still pretty sweet. I've been slowly cutting down on the amount of brown sugar I put in as well. Right now I still put in a cup, but I don't pack it down. If you want your sauce sweeter, put in the full cup, packed down, and maybe drop that extra vinegar as well.

You can leave out the cornstarch entirely—the sauce is already pretty thick without it—or start with half of the cornstarch/water mixture and see where you are. It thickens up really fast, so you can tell right away what's up. If you want your sauce very thick, you can use up to 2 Tbsp of cornstarch stirred into 2 Tbsp of water.

Questions? Ask 'em!

This recipe appeared on my journal in a slightly different form.

Comments

[lunabee34]

This is really similar to the bbq sauce my husband makes. I think the only real difference is he puts some soy sauce and some mirin in his as well.

[runpunkrun]

Yep, most BBQ sauces have the same basic ingredients, with a few grace notes thrown in like coffee, cola, soy sauce, or pickle juice. I just had to find one that was soy free, and rice free.

[unicornduke]

ooooh this looks good! Do you just put it on things or do you ever use it to like, marinade things or brush a roast? So I guess, used in progress or finishing or both? I've never really explored using bbq sauce much. The bottle I bought once had to be chucked when our fridge stopped working slowly.

[runpunkrun]

We use it in progress and finishing both. We've brushed it on chicken or pork before grilling, with a little extra sauce at the end, and also thinned it down with a little broth and slow cooked pork chops in it. And of course you can pour it on at the table.

You could easily use it as a marinade. I bet you could add buttermilk to it and throw some chicken pieces in and it'd be amazing.