BBQ Sauce
BBQ sauce probably had its roots in Africa where cooks traditionally used spices, lemon and lime juice to season their BBQs. According to some historians, the use of sauces with a flavor profile similar to modern-day BBQ sauce can be traced back to the Caribbean, where indigenous people utilized a combination of spices, fruits, and peppers to flavor their meat. In 1698, a Dominican missionary visited the French West Indies and witnessed cooks using lime juice and hot peppers to season barbecued meat.
In southern US vinegar was more readily available than limes or lemons, so vinegar-based sauces predominated during the 1800s. Today southern United States is synonymous with BBQ sauces, where slow-cooked meat over open pits or in smokers has deep cultural roots. As BBQ became more popular, many regions developed their distinct varieties of the sauce, each with its distinctive blend of ingredients and flavors. This rich and diverse culinary tradition has spawned several adaptations and interpretations. In this blog, I will share my style to craft this amazing sauce as I always say that recipe is nothing, it’s the concept.
Things We Need
BBQ sauce is very simple, or I must say the easiest sauce to make so its ingredients are also simple. I like to use my own homemade hot sauce, brown sugar, and homemade vinegar to create this masterpiece. I love to add different spices to enhance the complexity of flavor.
Tomato puree: 13 FL Oz can
Distilled Vinegar: 13 FL Oz
Apple cider vinegar: 13 FL Oz (homemade or store-bought)
Water: 13 FL Oz
Hot sauce: 5 tbsp. (I am using my own. Its method is also available in another blog)
Paprika (regular or smoked): 1/2 tsp
Worcestershire sauce: 4-5 tbsp
Brown sugar/jaggery: a cup or as per your preference
Small eggplant: 2-3
Onion: 1 medium
Pectin/Corn starch/Any other thickening agent: 3 tbsp (if thickening is required, I prefer corn starch)
Black pepper: 1 tsp
Mustard powder: 1 tsp
Salt (kosher or pure rock): 1 tsp
Garlic: 4-6 cloves
Hot chili powder (I used ghost pepper powder): 1/2 tsp
Liquid smoke: optional
Step by Step
Making of BBQ sauce is easy. You can add or remove above mentioned ingredients as per your choice. I follow these steps:
1. Add all the liquid ingredients in a pot (other than hot sauce)
2. Let it cook on medium flame
3. Add chopped onion, garlic and eggplant
4. After 5-8 minutes add all the dry spices (other than hot chili powder) in the mixture and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes
5. Turn the flame off and let the mixture cool down a bit
6. Blend the mixture
7. At this point you can create different flavors in your base sauce, like I prefer a bit spicier while people around me like milder flavor. So, at this point I would divide this base into two and add hot sauce and hot chili powder in one portion and keep the other as-is
8. This is the time to check the consistency of the sauce. If thickening is required, I like to thicken it with corn starch even though you can use pectin or any other thickening agent
9. Cook for another minute or two (Keep in mind that the sauce will thicken as it cools down)
10. As the sauce cools down pour it in bottles and close the lids tightly.
Enjoy! Your sauce is ready to make your BBQ and other meals more flavorful.
Note: Any cooked sauce is NOT room temperature stable. In the case of this BBQ sauce, I will keep the bottles at room temperature for a few days before storing them in the fridge. This is done to give depth to the flavors. Your BBQ sauce should stay fresh and flavorful for more than six months.
