BBQ Sauce Recipes

[TravPSU]

Anyone have a good recipe for BBQ sauce? I want to make my own. I'd really like to find a good bbq sauce that has some kick to it.

[DeeDubya]

There are exactly the same number of BBQ sauce recipes here in Texas as there are BBQ cooks, which is around 15 million.

The first question would be, are you going to use it for basting, a table condiment or both? The basting sauces are usually quite different than those you would serve for brisket or sausage on the table.

Brown sugar is a common ingredient but remember that it will carmalize on the grill.
Apple Cider Vinegar is a common ingredient and a small amount will "wake up" the recipe.
Chipotle has that smokey flavor and I like to use a good chipotle sauce for the heat.
Garlic, onion, black pepper, salt, chile powder, cumin, tabasco, molasses, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, paprika, mustard are all sometimes used. A pretty good "all around" sauce recipe is:

16 oz can tomato sauce
1/2 cup (4 oz) water
1/4 cup (2 oz) vinegar
2 tbs brown sugar
1/2 fresh onion - pureed, or 2 tbs onion powder
2-4 fresh garlic pods
or 1 tbs minced garlic-pureed,
or 1 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs coarse black pepper

1 tbs Paprika
1 tsp Tobasco or Chipotle sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp liquid smoke
1 tsp salt or cajun seasoning mix (homemade, Chachere's or Zatarain's)

Puree the fresh onion and garlic, if using fresh.
Add all ingredients to a thick walled pot.
Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add water or simmer longer to achieve the desired thickness; I do not like it too thick.
Makes a little over a pint , depending on how much you cook it down.
Keep refrigerated. The sauce is acid enough to store for several weeks in the refrigerator.

[BigMacFU]

One of my favorite ways to make a BBQ sauce is to apply a dry rub to the meat (pork, beef, whatever) 2 days before hand. Then once you've got the meat in the smoker, take all the liquid that is in the bag/tupperware you had your dry rub in and put it in a sauce pot. Add ketchup, mustard, molasses and sugar (or brown sugar with some extra molasses), apple cider vinegar, some of your favorite beer, then spices to taste (cumin, ground mustard, chili powder, paprika, chipotle pepper, cinnamon, garlic powder or salt, onion powder or salt, allspice, etc...). Make sure this comes to a boil because it has a lot of the animal juices in it. Once at a boil, you can either reduce it to a thick sauce, or leave it thin (think pulled pork).

The best way to learn is just trial and error and throwing crap in and tasting constantly. Alton Brown for his dry rub suggests that as long as you keep this ratio: 8 parts (sweet) + 3 parts (salt) + 1 part (spicy) + 1 part (other spices/flavors), you'll be okay.

You could take alton's ratio and then apply it straight to sauce, without doing the dry rub step. Then, if you like it spicy, make sure you alter the recipe slightly to do that. Also, in the sweet category you can do more than just brown sugar, you could use honey for part of it, or some kind of fruit. For the salt you could use garlic salt for part of it, or onion salt. For spicy, feel free to use your favorite chili mix. So long as 8,3,1,1 is kept though, you usually won't miss.

Good advice from D-Dub too. As he said, BBQ is personal, so take what you get from other recipes, then ad-lib.

[TravPSU]

Just got bombed with some BBQ sauces. Can't wait to try these out. Thanks again!