Obviously, there are tons of recipes a Google away from me, so I’m not asking for just recipes, especially the secret ones you may have vowed to take to your grave. I’m more interested in what should go in, to bring out the flavor of your grilled food.
I’ve always made mine pretty simply: it was ketchup, or lately, my mom’s tomato sauce reduced a bit, and half as much maple syrup. The maple syrup I use is smoked maple syrup, and that always insures that the sauce goes over well. When I was a kid, the bottled versions were OK, but now, I like the purer flavor of my homemade.
So one day, I was eating at a local burger place, and the barbeque sauce was awesome, much better than any store bought, and a more tangy flavor.
I talked to my neighbor about it, and he mentions his barbeque sauce is:
ketchup – I’d rather use tomato sauce, a cleaner flavor, I feel. fried onions – this may be important, I see that a lot in recipes, and I used to put it in mine, it probably belongs there. I will probably color some minced garlic to add as well. white sugar, brown sugar and a touch of honey – he says people really want sweet barbeque sauce, I disagree, they just don’t yet know how a moderate sweetness better complements food. vinegar – this is something I’ve left out which is compromising the tangyness the barbeque sauce needs. I will probably add a citrus juice instead, probably lime.
I don’t put ketchup or tomato sauce in my favorite BBQ sauce recipe; the base is soaked-and-pureed dried ancho chiles.
Other stuff that comes to mind for BBQ Sauce:
Soy Sauce, to add salt & umami
I like lime juice for the acidic component
If I want smoke, I use some chipotles, either dried or canned or powdered
garlic
I use shallots instead of onions
Molasses adds a sugary depth that I like better than sugar/brown sugar
sometimes mustard and/or mustard powder
I’m pretty much a vinegar-and-heat kinda girl when it comes to my BBQ sauce. In fact, I pretty much despise the overly sugary stuff most people seem to like. Blech.
The sauce I usually make is definitely on the sweeter end of the spectrum, with plenty of ketchup and sugar plus mustard, lemon juice, salt, minced onion, Worcestershire sauce and maybe red pepper flakes. I’ve been meaning to vary it up, but I don’t make barbeque sauce very often so I haven’t had a chance lately. Using soy sauce and molasses for the saltiness and sweetness sounds like it could be a good place to start.
White sugar—no way! Only natural dark brown Muscovado sugar, or molasses, or real maple syrup (NOT that hideous artificially-flavored sugary crap they market nowadays under famous labels).
Western blasphemy! BBQ sauce is vinegar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. Maybe some honey or brown sugar. My dad would melt butter into that for basting chicken but he was from the hills of Virginia, so what can you expect.
With a tomato paste base I add lemon juice, browned onion and garlic, a drop or two of dark sesame oil, a splash of worceteshire (SP?!?), molassas, and a splash of basalmic vinegar. I also put a combination of celery salt, black pepper, dried basil, tiny touches of bitter herbs (thyme, marjoram etc) into the mortar and pestle, grind it up and add it in. There is also usually some fresh lemon thyme from the garden. this needs to sit in the fridge for a day at least.
I had an old friend who used grape jelly in his! It was actually quite good. . .
Eastern style - just cider vinegar, pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and a bit of sugar.
Western - above with ketchup, and I add a few spices, usually at least cloves, and maybe some celery salt or cumin. For pork, I tend to go more for cloves, and maybe nutmeg or mace, possibly fennel; for beef, I go more in the cumin, Mexican oregano, and thyme direction.
Southern - Like Eastern style, cut with a lot of yellow mustard and balanced with a good deal of sugar.
ETA: Oh, and I should add, when I’m feeling a little bit different, I’ll add various fruits to my sauces. I like pureed apples for pork; tamarind for beef; perhaps a hit of citrus (especially for chicken). It’s all over the map, but it all comes down to one of those three bases for me.
I typically cook down 2 parts Coke to 1 part Siracha and then top it of with a bunch of red pepper flake. I’ve been meaning to work on a vinager based sause and I think I’ll steal some ideas from this thread. I’m definitly going to steal the soy sause idea for salt to flesh out my current sause.
Ketchup, mustard, worchestershestershire sauce, liquid smoke, soy sauce, lemon juice, onions, tabasco sauce, salsa, salt, pepper, cumin, brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic, and probably a few things I’m not remembering.
If knowing how to make barbecue sauce right is weird, then fine. But without mustard you’ve just got a weak facsimile of barbecue sauce.
And I seriously hope all of you have meat drippings in your sauce, because you don’t make it until the meat is done, because it doesn’t go on the meat while you’re cooking it! That’s what dry rubs are for!