BBQ Sauce - Tomato Based

People take their barbecue recipes very seriously. People will swear to their own secret recipes, and travel the country on the BBQ circuit trying to show the world that it is worth shouting about. Different regions of the county will favor various ingredients - some focus on vinegar, or molasses, or honey. Tomato based sauces are very adaptable to different dishes. You can utilize this recipe for ribs, or chicken, or pulled pork or brisket. If you Google BBQ sauce recipes you will find a hundred variations on this theme. I encourage you to experiment with the recipe and play with your own variations. I tweak the ingredients depending upon who is showing up, and how it will be utilized. I"ll use more cayenne pepper in a sauce or a rub that will be blended with a pulled pork and less pepper for a spare rib. Every bite of a rib will bring a fresh mouthful of seasonings and too much pepper can be overwhelming. Don't follow this to the letter, but vary the proportions according to your own personal preferences, and your audience.

Basic recipe for a tomato based barbecue sauce:

Sauté one large chopped onion and four cloves of garlic in olive oil.
Off the flame add one cup bourbon and cook off alcohol for a minute.

Add:

1 cup tomato sauce

1 cup ketchup

1 cup cider vinegar

½ cup course grain mustard
Two tablespoons hoisin sauce (or molasses)
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
1 tablespoon Tabasco
1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon (each), pepper, thyme, oregano

This sauce, and most barbecue sauces, will contain lots of sugar, which means they can burn easily. In addition to the brown sugar, molasses or hoisin and ketchup all contain more sugar. If the sauce is used directly over an open flame, you will burn the meat. You cannot use any sauce like this directly over the flame. Cook indirectly by placing the wood or charcoal on the opposite side of your grill, or in a gas grill, place the meat over unlit burners, and light the burners on the opposite side of the grill. When grilling chicken or ribs, the sauce should only be applied at the very end of the cooking process - literally the last five or ten minutes .