Chapter 9

Crafting Barbecue Sauces Traditional and Unusual

In This Chapter

Touring the sauce regions

Mixing sauces of various styles

Finding that perfect balance of sweet and heat

Recipes in This Chapter

Beale Street Memphis Sauce

Texas Steer Ranch Sauce

Alabama White Sauce

Kansas City BBQ Sauce

Carolina “East” Raleigh Sauce

Carolina “West” Piedmont Sauce

Original BBQ Sauce

Chipotle-Maple Barbeque Sauce

Rib Runner Sauce

Pork Sauce

Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Big R’s BBQ Sauce

Bootheel BBQ Sauce

Paradise BBQ Sauce

Maple Syrup Barbeque Sauce

Spiced Mustard Sauce

Honey-Orange BBQ Sauce

Apple Barbecue Sauce

Harvest Apricot Sauce

B arbecue sauce can cement friendships or end them. Feelings about what makes a great sauce run deep, and there’s no sense trying to convince anyone of your own preferences.

In this chapter, no side is taken, but the wealth of recipes gives you plenty of room to decide for yourself.

Tom Schneider kicks off the chapter with a slew of recipes that give you the flavor of the major barbecue regions of the United States. And then he jumps out of the way to give the floor to his esteemed fellow competition cooks.

Touring American Barbecue Regions

Engineer by weekday, barbecue caterer and competition barbecue cook by weekend, Tom Schnieder has been an avid student of barbecue since he first tried out a smoker more than a decade ago.

In this section, Tom leads a tour of the American barbecue regional sauce styles. As you see from the recipes in this section, not everyone agrees about what makes good barbecue sauce.

In the competitive world of barbecue, one man’s sauce is another man’s punch line. For anyone whose sense of curiosity overpowers her competitive spirit, the range of sauces add up to a grand journey, and this section is a wild first leg.

Beale Street Memphis Sauce

Mustard, tomato, and vinegar are common characteristics of Tennessee sauces. Schneider says his Beale Street Memphis sauce is ideal for pulled pork, Memphis-style — drizzled on top of coleslaw piled atop the pork in a sandwich.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 3 cups

2 cups ketchup

1/2 cup cider vinegar

8-ounce can tomato puree

1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne chili powder

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and stir well.

2 Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low.

3 Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Tip: Make sure that the pan is cool when you add the mustard. The mustard distributes most effectively when it’s cool.

Originally, Memphis barbecue meant dry-rubbed ribs without sauce of any kind, and you still find many of the Memphis pit masters making their ribs that way. Sauce eventually trickled into the Memphis barbecue profile, and maybe because the area is closer to the Carolinas than it is to Kansas City, the sauce typically served there is heavy on vinegar and mustard — the hallmarks of Carolina sauces. When you do find sauce served with barbecue in Memphis, it’s more likely to be on the side than it is to be drenched over the meat.

Texas sauces run the gamut; you’re as likely to fine a sweet, thick sauce in Texas as you are to find a vinegary and spicy version. One thing you can count on is finding brisket (c’mon — this is cattle country) and hot links, spicy smoked sausages that are a product of German influence in the state.

Texas Steer Ranch Sauce

Schneider points out that Texas sauces can range from thick, tomato-based versions to the more commonly found thinner, peppery, and coffee-accented sauce with Tex-Mex-influenced seasonings. This one more closely follows the latter lines.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Yield: About 3 1/2 cups

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups ketchup

8-ounce can tomato puree

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup black coffee

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 tablespoon molasses

1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne chili powder

1 In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.

2 Add the remaining ingredients. Stir well. Increase heat to medium and bring to a simmer.

3 Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Note: Instant coffee will work just fine for this recipe; add a teaspoon or two extra coffee crystals so the flavor will come through in the sauce.

Hyping coffee for cooking

Given its traditional place as a with-dessert beverage, finding coffee in recipes for cakes and other sweets is no surprise. It’s less common in savory recipes, but the same things that make it interesting in desserts make it a natural for sauces and dry rubs.

Within each puny bean you find a range of intense flavors — tastes that range from earthy to chocolaty and spicy to buttery. That complexity means that coffee complements pretty much anything and can bring out unexpected flavors in whatever you’re cooking.

You find coffee in Tom Schneider’s Texas Steer Ranch Sauce in this section.

Alabama White Sauce

Schneider notes that this sauce isn’t one you’re going to run into unless you’re within the Alabama state lines, but it’s a phenomenon in that area, popularized by one of the big names of Alabama barbecue — Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q, a longstanding restaurant.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: None

Yield: About 2 cups

1 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1/2 cup white vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon prepared horseradish

1 teaspoon salt

Whisk all ingredients together until smooth.

Note: Baste chicken and ribs in the final minutes of grilling and serve as a dipping sauce. Store this sauce in the fridge for a night or so, and the horseradish flavor becomes more apparent.

White sauce is a wild card of barbecue sauces. It somehow has earned legendary status without significantly venturing out of its home area.

You need to use care when you cook with it, because mayonnaise doesn’t handle heat well. Your best bet is to baste it on during the last few minutes of cooking and serve more of it on the side. If you put on the white sauce too early, the mayonnaise separates and the sauce becomes less effective and much less appealing.

White sauce makes a good condiment for many different foods. You find another mayo recipe — for Anthony Hanslits’s Wasabi Mayo — in Chapter 11.

Kansas City BBQ Sauce

The sweet, thick tomato sauces of the region have taken hold far outside Kansas city. “Kansas City is considered by some as the heart of the U.S. barbecue world,” Schneider says, “but don’t tell that to a Texan or a Carolinian.”

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 3 cups

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups tomato puree

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon ground celery seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.

2 Add the remaining ingredients, gently stir, and then simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Kansas City–style barbecue sauce is kind of like reality TV: It has completely permeated American culture, and not for any good reason. Nothing about it makes it better for barbecue than, say, a vinegar or mustard sauce — even a mayonnaise sauce. In the democracy of sales figures, though, Kansas City barbecue sauce is elected by a landslide.

You find further versions of this thick, tomatoey, sweet sauce in the upcoming section, “Cooking Up More Classic Barbecue Sauces.”

Carolina “East” Raleigh Sauce

This style of sauce meets the original standards for barbecue sauce — to simply tenderize and flavor the meat. Schneider’s version sticks with Eastern Carolina traditions.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Yield: About 1 cup

1 cup cider vinegar

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar (optional)

1 In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients and mix.

2 Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Note: Use this sauce as a baste over pork during smoking and as a dipping sauce.

Carolina “West” Piedmont Sauce

This type of sauce starts off the same as its cousin out east, Schneider says, but may bring ketchup and molasses into the mix.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon dry ground mustard

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and mix.

2 Simmer over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Cooking Up More Classic Barbecue Sauces

Given the prevalence of thick, tomato-based sauces on grocery shelves and in barbecue joints around the country, it’s no surprise that the recipes in this section contain several versions that fit in that category.

Little tweaks may have a ripple effect in a sauce, pulling out flavors you never knew were there, so within the tomato-based category lies a great deal of room for variation. And you’re always welcome to modify at will. Think bourbon belongs in every sauce? I wouldn’t argue. Like it heavy on mustard? Fire at will.

Original BBQ Sauce

You can’t beat a classic. Or so says John Webb of the Up-in-Smoke team, who confesses that no matter how much he experiments, he always comes back to this basic sauce, which he uses with the Up in Smoke mop sauce you find in Chapter 10.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 to 30 minutes

Yield: About 2 cups

2 teaspoons chili powder

4 heaping tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon molasses

1 tablespoon dried onions

1 cup apple cider

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 small red onion, chopped fine

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a slow boil over medium heat.

2 Continue boiling 15 minutes, or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat; cool.

Note: The sauce thickens further when you store it overnight in the fridge.

Variation: Sauté 3 minced garlic cloves in 1 tablespoon butter until caramelized. Add 1/2 cup red wine and simmer to reduce the wine to a couple tablespoons. Follow instructions for original sauce, reducing vinegar by 1/3 cup.

Chipotle-Maple Barbeque Sauce

Maple syrup and minced chipotle peppers give Paul Kirk’s recipe a smoky-sweet punch.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: About 2 1/2 cups

1 tablespoon canola oil

1 cup minced onion

2 large garlic cloves, pressed

1 cup canned chicken broth

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup real maple syrup

1 tablespoon minced chipotle pepper (canned in adobo sauce)

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 In a large saucepan, heat the oil and sauté the onion over medium heat for 5 minutes.

2 Stir in garlic and sauté 2 minutes.

3 Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

4 Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes, or until thickened.

5 Remove from heat and let cool.

6 Optional: Pour into food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Chipotle peppers are a natural fit for barbecue because they have a similar provenance. Because jalepeño peppers rot quickly, they were smoked as a preservation method. The result is called a chipotle pepper.

You can buy whole chipotle peppers; a chipotle powder also is available. (It shows up in some of the recipes in this book.) The kind of chipotle you want for Paul Kirk’s Chipotle-Maple Barbeque Sauce is the kind you find in cans with adobo sauce. These chipotles have been stewed in adobo, a sauce made from tomatoes, garlic, vinegar, a bunch of other chiles, and cinnamon, among other seasonings.

Chipotle peppers in adobo will keep in your refrigerator for a good long time (at least three months), but if you get antsy to use up what you have left over, you can easily puree the peppers with the adobo sauce and butter or mayo to create a nice topper for fish, especially shrimp.

If you’re intense like that, you also can smoke jalapeños yourself to make your own chipotles. Instructions are at www.recipesource.com.

Rib Runner Sauce

The Rib Runners team uses this sauce on chicken and pork. They say plenty of trial and error brought them to the recipe.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Yield: About 3 1/2 cups

1/4 cup minced onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon margarine

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup chili sauce

1/2 cup Kraft honey barbecue sauce

1/2 cup Kraft original barbecue sauce

1 cup beef broth

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

A few dashes red hot sauce

1 In a heavy stock pot, sauté the onion and garlic in margarine over medium heat.

2 Stir in the remaining ingredients.

3 Simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Pork Sauce

As the name indicates, this sauce is a winner on pork, and the Pirates of the Grill team particularly advises that you use it for pulled pork.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Yield: About 2 1/2 cups

1 cup ketchup

1 cup water

1/3 cup cider vinegar

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon molasses

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/2 teaspoon salt or seasoned salt

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a slow boil.

2 Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Kentucky Bourbon BBQ Sauce

Tom Schneider says the bourbon and butter in his sauce give it a smooth, unique flavor, while the Worcestershire sauce (always part of the “Owensboro black” sauces in Kentucky) leaves a decided tang.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 3 cups

2 tablespoons butter

2 cups ketchup

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup bourbon

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1 In a medium saucepan, melt the butter.

2 Add the remaining ingredients.

3 Stir well, and then bring to a light simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

In northwestern Kentucky, the black sauce that originated in Owensboro sits on restaurant tables in bottles and is poured over meat, especially mutton (which has a strong flavor about it to begin with, coming as it does from older sheep, and can use a douse of strong flavor).

Big R’s BBQ Sauce

Rick Soliman is the “Big R” of this sauce and the leader of the Smoke Hunters’ team. He uses this sauce on chicken, pork, and beef.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

1 cup ketchup

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon hot sauce

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1/2 cup water

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring just to a boil.

2 Reduce heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

Bootheel BBQ Sauce

The Shigs-in-Pit team provides this recipe for a thinner, vinegar-style sauce that they recommend serving over hickory-smoked ribs.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: About 5 minutes

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup ketchup

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons granulated garlic

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients.

2 Over medium heat, whisk until completely dissolved and combined.

3 When mixture comes to a boil, remove pan from heat; cool.

Paradise BBQ Sauce

Brown sugar and molasses give the Pig Smokers in Paradise team’s sauce an overt sweetness; jerk rub and chili powder keep it interesting.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: 3 1/2 cups

1/2 green bell pepper, diced

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 medium white onion, diced

1 tablespoon oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon molasses

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup prepared yellow mustard

2 teaspoons chili powder

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons Caribbean jerk rub

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce

3 cups ketchup

1 In a large saucepan or pot, sauté the bell pepper and onion in the oil for about 5 to 7 minutes.

2 Add the garlic and sauté 2 minutes more.

3 Add all the remaining ingredients except the ketchup, and allow the spices to dissolve.

4 Add the ketchup and simmer 30 to 45 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; cool.

5 Optional: For a smoother sauce, pour mixture into food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

The jazz on jerk

The jerk seasoning you need for the Paradise BBQ Sauce is easy enough to find on the shelves of any grocery store; the story behind the style of cooking that relies on it has a lot in common with barbecue. Jerk cooking is the Jamaican version of slow smoking, often done over a pit or a halved steel drum and using pimento wood. Rubs and marinades are a big part of the process, and the flavors that most commonly show up in jerk cooking include Scotch Bonnet chilies, allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and thyme. Like barbecue, the origin of the term jerk is up for debate, with some theories attributing it to a Spanish word for dried meat or from the practice of jerking cooked meat from a pig carcass.

Maple Syrup Barbeque Sauce

Maple syrup and brown sugar provide the sweetness in this well-balanced sauce from Paul Kirk.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 3 cups

1 cup pure maple syrup

1 cup ketchup

1 cup minced onion

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon hot sauce

2 teaspoons lemon zest

1 In a large saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.

2 Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat; cool.

3 Pour into food processor or blender and puree until smooth.

Spiced Mustard Sauce

When you’re ready for something other than the common red barbecue sauce, give this mustard version from Rich Allen of Dick’s Bodacious Bar-B-Q, Inc., a whirl.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Yield: About 1 cup

1/2 cup Dijon mustard

1/2 cup apple juice

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon crushed red pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

1 In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients.

2 Simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently with a whisk. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

Bringing Fruit Flavor to Sauces with Juices and Jams

Fruit offers a fuller-bodied kind of sweetness than does white sugar, which has nothing but sucrose in its flavor profile. The extra depth makes using fruit juices and jellies a fantastic way to sweeten your sauces.

Honey-Orange BBQ Sauce

Roger Mogg of the Smoky River BBQ Team cooked by feel until his wife explained the error of his ways. This recipe, which he says he uses just like ketchup, is the first one he committed to paper.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Yield: About 2 cups

1 1/2 cups ketchup

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup brown sugar

6 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons orange juice

2 tablespoons pineapple juice

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tablespoon liquid smoke

1/2 tablespoon onion powder

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon red pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and bring to a boil.

2 Bring sauce to boil.

3 Reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat; cool.

Variation: Try grapefruit or other citrus juices in place of the orange or pineapple juice. Add a teaspoon or two of cayenne or habanero powder to spice things up.

Apple Barbecue Sauce

Paul Kirk gives his apple barbecue sauce a unique, savory edge with fresh minced ginger.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups

1/2 cup apple jelly

8-ounce can tomato sauce

1/4 cup sweet rice wine vinegar

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons apple juice

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon Louisiana hot sauce

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients and mix.

2 Bring to a boil, stirring until smooth.

3 Reduce heat, and simmer about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; cool.

Tip: Freeze ginger root before you use it. Frozen ginger is easier to handle and slice or grate than warmer ginger. And you can store the root in your freezer for a few months without harming it.

Louisiana hot sauce is any thin, bottled hot sauce that’s made from red chiles and vinegar. Several hot pepper sauces, Tabasco included, fit into this category. The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce is a milder version of the form.

You can find hot sauces that reach into high end of the Scoville scale that measures capsaicin to indicate the “heat” of a pepper. The hottest pepper on record measures up to 1 million Scoville units, but some sauces claim to reach more than 10 million Scoville units. (You find out more about measuring the heat of peppers in Chapter 11.)

Harvest Apricot Sauce

Ginger and jalapeño bite through the sweetness of the apricots, giving this sauce a perfect balance of sweet and hot. Rich Allen, founder of Dick’s Bodacious Bar-B-Q, Inc., created this recipe.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Yield: About 1 1/2 cups sauce

10-ounce can apricot preserves

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 tablespoon prepared mustard

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 fresh jalapeño, seeded and minced

1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

1 In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients.

2 Simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring frequently with a whisk. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.