Barbecue Sauce

juggerbot

I've been trying to perfect a sweet barbecue sauce recipe I saw once.

1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar (or Splenda)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/8 teaspoon pepper

This is the recipe I base mine off of, although I tweak the amounts and added a few more spices, like garlic and onion powder and soy sauce, etc. Trouble is, it always ends up too thin. I try to make it thicker by adding more molasses and brown sugar, but it becomes way too sweet. I've tried flour, but it just makes clumps. Any suggestions?

Also, feel free to make this a post-your-own-recipe thread.

Underdog

juggerbot wrote: »

I've been trying to perfect a sweet barbecue sauce recipe I saw once.

1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar (or Splenda)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/8 teaspoon pepper

This is the recipe I base mine off of, although I tweak the amounts and added a few more spices, like garlic and onion powder and soy sauce, etc. Trouble is, it always ends up too thin. I try to make it thicker by adding more molasses and brown sugar, but it becomes way too sweet. I've tried flour, but it just makes clumps. Any suggestions?

Also, feel free to make this a post-your-own-recipe thread.

If you're using flour as a thickening agent, you gotta mix it with a bit of water BEFORE you put it in, otherwise you get clumps. And you do this addition with the heat still on. Add a little and let it simmer a bit before adding more to avoid making your sauce too thick.

What you could do if you don't want to mix with water first is when you're done with the sauce, spoon some out into a bowl. Then add a bit of flour to this and mix thoroughly until it's been integrated fully and then add that back to the pot. It's harder to control the thickness level like this though so I still say mix with some water first.

Edit: Otherwise, you can just set the sauce on simmer for a while and let it thicken naturally through evaporation of any water content.

CrossBuster

Adding some strong, flavorful beer to the sauce, and then letting it simmer down gives it a really nice flavor, at least in my opinion.

Newton

How long do you cook it for? If you let that simmer for a while, it will reduce. That will make the flavors stronger and the sauce thicker. You could also substitute tomato paste for some of the ketchup. Maybe start with 3/4 cup ketchup and 1/4 cup paste and then tweak it from there.

citric

Well, if you're adding soy sauce that'll thin it out.

The suggestion to boil it down is good.

Otherwise, I'd cut a tablespoon or two of ketchup.

juggerbot

I didn't think about simmering. I usually just cook it just below boiling until the sugar is fully dissolved. I'll also have to try the flour/water combo.

Blake T

juggerbot wrote: »

I didn't think about simmering. I usually just cook it just below boiling until the sugar is fully dissolved. I'll also have to try the flour/water combo.

Cornstarch works far better than flour as well.

If you keep the soy in there, add about two teaspoons to about 50mls of soy and go from there.

liquidlogan

Be careful with the salt, especially if you're adding soy sauce.

bsjezz

Jamie Oliver's latest show had a wicked barbecue sauce on it that I tried out at home and it was amazing - lots of ingredients:

4-5 cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon black pepper
2-3 teaspoons of salt
(grind in mortar & pestle, put in pan)

handful of rosemary
10 fresh bay leaves
handful of thyme
1 whole bulb garlic
zest of one orange
(chop it all up roughly and combine with ground spices in pan)

4 heaped teaspoons of smoked paprika
half a bottle of cheap balsamic vinegar
juice of one squeezed orange
whole bottle of ketchup
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive
(combine and mix with ground spices and chopped herbs)

CrossBuster

juggerbot wrote: »

I didn't think about simmering. I usually just cook it just below boiling until the sugar is fully dissolved. I'll also have to try the flour/water combo.

If you're adding flour, you'll also have to let it cook for a while to get rid of that mealy texture that flour leaves in sauces.

juggerbot

bsjezz wrote: »

Jamie Oliver's latest show had a wicked barbecue sauce on it that I tried out at home and it was amazing - lots of ingredients:

4-5 cloves
1 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon black pepper
2-3 teaspoons of salt
(grind in mortar & pestle, put in pan)

handful of rosemary
10 fresh bay leaves
handful of thyme
1 whole bulb garlic
zest of one orange
(chop it all up roughly and combine with ground spices in pan)

4 heaped teaspoons of smoked paprika
half a bottle of cheap balsamic vinegar
juice of one squeezed orange
whole bottle of ketchup
8 tablespoons extra virgin olive
(combine and mix with ground spices and chopped herbs)

Good God. Is that going to make my burgers taste better, or give me +15 stamina for 1 hour?