You may talk about your barbecue. You may even brag that your barbecue is world-famous.
But knowing how to cook meat at just the right temperature is only a small part of the barbecue experience. Making a rub is merely the first step.
If you are going to claim credit for world-beating barbecue, you can’t cover it with something that comes out of a jar. Real masters of the barbecue make their own sauce.
To be sure, plenty of great, commercially available barbecue sauces are out there. And buying one at the store is easier than making it yourself. But when you get right down to it, it’s not that much easier.
Most barbecue sauces are a mixture of sweet tastes and tart, of rich flavors and acid, of spiciness and salt. The key lies in selecting the appropriate ingredients and using them to create a breathless balance among the competing flavors.
To get an idea of where to start, I turned first to Steven Raichlen. Of course, I turned to Steven Raichlen. Raichlen has written more than 25 books, many of them about barbecue, including the irreplaceable “The Barbecue! Bible.” I took a couple of his books down from the bookcase and eagerly paged through them.
That’s when I saw that most of his barbecue sauce recipes contain liquid smoke. I’ll still swear by “The Barbecue! Bible” as an unimpeachable source for recipes about international methods for grilling meat, but I have always held that using liquid smoke is cheating.
So instead I pulled out a recipe I have been making for 15 years. It’s from Texas, and therefore meant to go with barbecued beef brisket. But this is such an all-purpose sauce that it would go just as well with pork ribs, chicken and even lamb. It is the ultimate expression of a perfectly balanced barbecue sauce.
It begins with a base of ketchup and tomatoes. For sweetness, it calls for equal measures of molasses and brown sugar. Aromatic notes are provided by onions, garlic and Worcestershire sauce. An unexpected depth comes from a half-cup of coffee. And the required heat comes courtesy of Dijon mustard and a couple of chipotle peppers — which also create the smokiness (but not the liquid smokiness) that is so desirable in barbecue.
Texas chipotle barbecue sauce
2tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2onion, diced
3cloves garlic, smashed
1cup chopped tomatoes
1cup ketchup
1/2cup coffee
3tablespoons molasses
2tablespoons Dijon mustard
3tablespoons brown sugar
1tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2chipotle peppers, see note
Note: Chipotle peppers are sold in small cans in the Hispanic section of most grocery stores
Put oil in a small saucepan over medium heat and add onions and garlic. Cook until the onion becomes translucent, about 3 minutes, while occasionally stirring. Add tomatoes and simmer 8 minutes. Add ketchup, coffee, molasses, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and chipotle peppers, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
Puree in a food processor. Store in a refrigerator.
Per (2 tablespoon) serving: 39 calories; 1g fat; no saturated fat; no cholesterol; no protein; 7g carbohydrate; 7g sugar; no fiber; 177mg sodium; 9mg calcium.
Recipe by Jack McDavid, via Food Network
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