Bob-BQ Sauce ¶

There are seemingly jillions of commercial barbecue sauce products on the market and another jillion and a half barbecue sauce recipes that may be found online. They come in a variety flavors, colors, and types, from the thick, tomato-based sweet sauces made in the Kansas City style, to thinner, vinegary sauces, to those that are mustard based, and to those that have fruit in them. In all, there exists a favorite barbecue sauce for everyone. Except me. I need for the sauce to be Lower G. I. and low sodium. I can find some commercial products online that advertise these qualities, but they are not in my local supermarkets. I thus find it more convenient and less costly* just to make my own.

I haven’t achieved a really low sugar-sodium sauce yet, but the following recipe makes one that is one that really tastes fantastic (to me) and has very nearly the sugar and sodium content that I want. It perhaps does not caramelize as nicely as those containing sugar, but it does thicken well on the meat when barbecued.

  • 1 (13-oz) bottle reduced sugar tomato ketchup*
  • 1 (14-oz) unsalted tomato ketchup*
  • 2 oz vinegar
  • 6 oz your favorite commercial hickory smoked barbecue sauce
  • 2 oz liquid smoke
  • 3 oz sugar-free maple-flavored syrup

Pour the bottled ingredients into the bowl of a blender or food processor and slouch* the vinegar around in each bottle to wash any residue also into the bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and mix at medium speed until everything is uniformly constituted. Because all ingredients, except maybe the maple syrup, are commercial products, they contain preservatives that will allow this sauce to keep practically forever in the refrigerator.

Makes about 5 cups.

Bob’s B. S. (Barbecue Sauce) ☆

This is yet another barbecue sauce recipe, in addition to others that I have previously put before you. However, this one may actually predate the others, as I have just rediscovered it scribbled on a 3”×5” card in a box tucked away on a kitchen shelf, written well before I started putting my recipes into electronic form.

  • 5 oz lemon juice
  • 3½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tbsp bacon drippings
  • ½ large onion chopped
  • 1 large clove garlic, cut up
  • 1 cup low-salt tomato sauce
  • 3 tbsp <brown sugar>
  • ½ tsp dried red pepper flakes
  • ½ tsp poultry seasoning
  • 1 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 stalks celery, chopped
  • ½ tsp <salt>

Place all ingredients into a blender and buzz at high speed until the mixture is smooth and uniform.

Pour the blender contents into a sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Turn the burner to its lowest setting and continue to simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool down.

Pour into an empty rinsed ketchup bottle or similar container and refrigerate until ready for use.

Use as you would any other barbecue sauce.

Makes about 20 oz of barbecue sauce.