Hot/Sweet BBQ sauce

Yesterday I decided to do barbecued ribs for Sunday dinner. I had everything I needed on hand, except the barbecue sauce. Now those who know me, know that I purely despise shopping, and if there is any way to avoid it, I'll try to do it - so I decided to try my hand at a homemade barbecue sauce. I started out as I always do, searching the internet for the perfect recipé, and as usual, I didn't find it.

What I did find was that nearly every available recipé for barbecue sauce starts out with ketchup (or catsup, if you prefer)! After watching so many hours of Good Eats™, I felt a little cheated. Alton would never have taken such a plebeian path. On reflection though, this approach fits better with my cooking style than his does, anyway, so what the heck? I'll go with what works for people who don't cook on TV!

Raiding tons of other recipés for hints about kinds and amounts of additives, I finally came up with what I think is a pretty good sauce. If you ever run out of your store-bought favorite, give this one a whirl. You might like it.

Print Recipe

Suggested Equipment:

• Sauce pan, minimum 1 quart
  
• Common kitchen tools and measures
  

Ingredients:

1. Use whatever kind of hot sauce you like - my favorite is Texas Pete® original. Be careful though: some people don't like hot sauce at all, and would probably be just as happy adding a little more vinegar, or perhaps some fruit juice instead
   
   

Item		Amount
Ketchup	Tomato	½	cup
Sauce	Worcestershire	¼	cup
Sauce	Teriyaki	¼	cup
Sauce	Hot pepper1	1	Tbs
Vinegar	Apple cider	¼	cup
Oil	Vegetable	1	Tbs
Water		½	cup
Sugar	Brown, packed	¼	cup
Garlic	Dry, granulated	2	Tbs
Mustard	Dry, powdered	1	tsp
Cayenne	Dry, powdered	1	tsp
Cumin	Dry, ground	1	tsp
Celery salt		1	tsp

Directions:

1. Combine catsup, Worcestershire sauce, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce, Cider vinegar, vegetable oil, and water in a saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil.

2. Add the brown sugar. When the sugar has completely dissolved, reduce heat to a simmer

3. Add the garlic, mustard, cumin, cayenne, and celery salt. Continue simmering for 10-15 minutes, then allow the sauce to cool.

This sauce may be used immediately, as a marinade, basting sauce, or meat dressing, just as you would use any commercially available BBQ sauce. I used it today on pork short ribs. It gives a nice glaze to broiled meat when used as a basting sauce, and tastes great as a meat dressing.

You can play with this recipé in many ways: i.e., add, delete or change out ingredients, and it probably won't hurt it too much. For instance, you could leave out the Teriyaki sauce altogether, and double up on the Worcestershire. Or, you could leave them both out, and substitute a half-cup of soy sauce.

Try substituting fresh garlic or prepared mustard, or leave out the cayenne and cumin, substituting two teaspoons of chili powder, instead. Changing the kinds and amounts of ingredients will surely change the character of the final product, but who says it has to be bad?