Barbecue Best

Developing Your Signature Barbecue Sauce

First it was ketchup and mustard, then came the steak sauce and we mixed the three at the table as we ate, then we ran the gambit of bottled barbecue sauces, and finally we began experimenting on our own. When it comes to barbecuing basics, you have to have the barbecue sauce. Not a new item, of course, but essential for waking up the flavor of your meat and complementing your menu.Making your own barbecue sauces also provides you the opportunity of being creative and improvising with what you have. If you look over the internet recipes, you will find some amazing ingredients to barbecue sauces-blueberries, peaches, rhubarb, cherry cola, coffees, liquors, liquors, even peanut butter and marmalades. People are using every kind of heat, from chili powder to habaneras-whatever brings the flavor they are looking for.Of course, there are several considerations when choosing the kind of barbecue sauce you want:
Your choice of meat;
The other items on your menu-grilled vegetables, kabobs, grilled fruit;
The flavor you are looking for-how hot, how sweet;
How you are going to use it-as a marinade, or for dipping or mopping;
The time and effort you want to spend on your barbecue sauce, especially if the game is moved up or delayed.
Ultimately, you want to develop your own special one that will become your signature sauce among your friends and family. You want one that is easy to make, has ingredients that are easy to find in the area where you live, and one that is easily storable so you can make it in advance.Your choice of barbecue sauce might depend on the area of the country where you reside, since every region has its own favorites, ever since the pioneers began developing the sauces as they moved across the plains. You can find barbecue sauces named for Nebraska, Canada, and almost every country in the world. But historically, the "fab four" have survived as the most popular:
Carolina Barbecue Sauceis notorious for its distinctive mustard and vinegar base, made especially for grilled and smoked pork and chicken. In North and East Carolina areas, the barbecue sauces vary slightly with some tomato flavor added.
Memphis Style Barbecue Sauce, a thinner sauce, is often served on the side or on special request, and is a mixture of sweet and vinegar with a hint of heat.
Kansas City Style Barbecue Saucehas a rich, thick, dark tomato-base that is sweetened with sugar or molasses, with a touch of heat also.
Texas Style Barbecue Sauceis thinner than KC style with some tomato and is not as sweet. It is often used as a mop applied as the beef brisket is barbecuing, or poured over shredded pork. It is used often to moisten and flavor and is often passed around the table for dipping and pouring.
Regardless of the choice, you can usually find similar ingredients and prep methods for the Carolina sauces, and for the others. Carolina sauces usually have vinegar, cayenne, black pepper, salt and sugar, most often brown sugar. Incidentally, you can use a brown sugar substitute and still get the same result. You find the mustard added to the ingredients in mid and southern Carolina. Some of these are not cooked, but are mixed with shakers, and can be preserved for a couple weeks in the refrigerator.For the Memphis, Texas and Kansas City sauces, you find oil, usually olive oil, onions, garlic, a tomato base, and some hint of heat. These start with caramelizing the onions and often the garlic in oil, before adding the other ingredients, and then simmering slowly until you have the thickness you want. Then you bring it to room temperature before refrigerating, and bring it back to room temperature before serving. These can be stored for a couple weeks in the refrigerator and can be frozen for up to four months.To make it simple, this is what you do to make the barbecue sauce of your choice:
Carolina barbecue sauce: Shake or cook ingredients together and store.
Tomato-based sauces: Sauté, simmer, bring to room temperature, and store.
It's fun to just experiment and develop your signature sauce, regardless of the kind and the kick. Some of the information I knew from my own efforts, and I have come to favor a Nebraska version of Kansas City style, and I also found some useful information from About.com in the "Grilling and Barbecuing" category. Mostly I perused my pile of cookbooks and cooking magazines to find my preferences. I was amazed to find that some of the same barbecuing recipes and methods were listed in my 1965 Farm Journal Pie Cookbook. Things don't change; they just get better!Don't get caught without the sauce!