Homemade BBQ sauce

[PitBully]

Anyone have a basic recipe of how BBQ sauce is made? Plus ideas on how to tweak it to get certain flavors?

[allsmokenofire]

There are lots of different BBQ sauces out there, made lots of different ways, with quite a few variations based on regions.

If your looking for a starter recipe, here's one I came up with for a charity cook I was doing at our local food bank. It was just put together with stuff that was on hand. It's sweet, with a little vinegar finish, with no heat. They still use the recipe for some of their meals.

Food Bank BBQ Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup dark Karo
1/4 cup molasses
2 T dehydrated onion(if using fresh, grate, and add 4 T)
1 T prepared yellow mustard
1 T Worchestershire
1 t granulated garlic(if using fresh, use 2 t pressed or grated)
1/2 t ground black pepper
1/4 t ground cumin
1/4 t ground allspice
1/4 t liquid smoke

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and barely simmer for 30 mins., stirring often. Mixture will thicken as it cools. If you need to thin it out a little, add a tablespoon or 2 of water or apple juice.
_________________
Mike
Team Enoserv

[MarkBall2]

add a bit of red pepper flakes to give it a bit of heat if you are so inclined.

This recipe does sound good by itself.
_________________
Mark

Got's ta have good food, that's why I'm here.

[mhoodnc]

first two ingredients in all smoke's recipe is exactly my proportions, I use different "other stuff". That ratio will get you in the ballpark.

[roxy]

[Jarhead]

[GeorgeH]

If you want to add some complexity to the hot flavor, use Tiger Sauce instead of pepper flakes. You can usually find it in most grocery stores but the following is a link to a source I found on the internet:

http://www.redbagcollection.com/tigersauce.html

If you add it to your BBQ sauce, you have got to let the BBQ sauce sit in the refrigerator overnight in order for the hot to mellow. Otherwise, the BBQ sauce will be way too spicy hot.

George