BBQ sauce pros

[notherhalo]

the bottled stuff is very thick, like ketchup

the restaurant stuff is a little more runny, but seems to always taste better

Is the best BBQ sauce home made?  whats a good recipe?

[mrwicked]

buy this.

you're welcome.

https://saltlickbbq.com/product-category/sauces-rubs/

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Lick-Original-Sauce-Ounce/dp/B0046WD4YW

[Blarg]

It sound like you are looking for something like a North Carolina vinegar sauce with no tomatoe base which is much thinner or a Texas mop sauce which starts with a beef stock. Most of what you find in stores are Kansas City style which is thick and has a plentiful supply of ketchup, molasses and brown sugar as the base then spices for flavor.

My wife likes what many call pig candy which is baby back ribs coated in a cooked on sweet Kansas City style sauce like Sweet Baby Ray's. If you are serving beef then a thinner Texas sauce with more spicy overtones is going to be better and not as much cooked on as poured over on the plate. There you may want to try mrwicked's suggestion, the Salt Lick is a well respected Texas outfit.

The best sauce is what you like. That may be buying it store made or finding a recipe and expirament with it to create what you like. Different meat cuts taste better with sauces that enhance that texture or base flavor of beef, pork or chicken, maybe start store brand then modify it to serve with what's on the bbq that day.

 

 

[AngelsLongBall]

Here’s the recipe I love. It’s not as thick, has great flavor

1-3/4 cup Ketchup 

1/2 cup plus 2 T water

1/4 cup plus 1 T cider vinegar

1/4 cup plus 1 T white vinegar

1/4 cup plus 1.5 t brown sugar

2 T plus 1.5 t Worchester

1 T chili powder 

1 T ground cumin

1-1/2 t kosher salt

1-1/2 t coarse black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Warm gently over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Do not boil, just heat to combine. Cool and put in a mason jar or ketchup bottle. Will keep for up to a month in the fridge

[Blarg]

Solid looking recipe. With all of the vinegar and brown sugar you're looking sweet instead of savory. 

Here is a recipe for Texas style brisket sauce. This is a pour over after the meat is plated. Thinner and spicier than most.

1/2 cup onions (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup tomato sauce

1 cup ketchup

1 cup vinegar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/3 cup  chili sauce

3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons maple syrup

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon paprika

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon chili powder

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon allspice

Pretty simple, cook down the onion in butter until it's translucent then add the garlic for just about 15 seconds to release the flavor then start adding the rest of the ingredients, liquid and dry and bring to a boil then lower to a simmer for 15 minutes. 

What I've been doing lately is after the onions and garlic are ready I add the dry spice to them to blend them in and then add the vinegar first to deglaze the pot then work in the rest of the wet and sugars. Not sure it makes a difference but I feel more like a master chef doing it this way. 

Edited February 24, 2018 by Blarg

[Tank]

hey blargy, i hope it's tofurkey friendly.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 2/23/2018 at 2:18 PM, mrwicked said:

buy this.

you're welcome.

https://saltlickbbq.com/product-category/sauces-rubs/

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Lick-Original-Sauce-Ounce/dp/B0046WD4YW

We had a Salt Lick Barbecue placed here for a while, didn't last long. I thought that their sauce was one of the reasons. I wasn't impressed at all.

Sauces from Famous Dave's are available in many grocery stores. Their Devil's Spit is great.

[Blarg]

And that is why The Salt Lick didn't last near you. Famous Dave's is one step above Dickey's as the Denny's of bbq.

[Adam]

Salt Lick has a few interesting sauces. There's a ton of oil in it, which makes it different. I'm definitely sick of the thick, uber sweet sauces. I like thinner, mop sauces. For home, I'll generally buy a big jug of Chris & Pitts original from Smart and Final. I throw it in a pot, add some garlic powder, chili powder and a generous amount of balsamic vinegar and let it simmer. Goes great with pork and chicken, not so much beef. 

[Blarg]

I don't think beef and anything resembling a sweet sauce ever works that well. Maybe it's the idea that this is manly food and if the wife and kids don't like like then it's more for us, they can suck on the pig candy. 

Briskets seem to go better with Au Juice while bones deserve something a little more spiced with a salt, pepper and red chili sauce cooked on. Trip tip is sort of in it's own category where you could go sweater or spicier but not at tobasco level. 

USA Ribs in Burbank used to have Louisiana red hot beef ribs that were simply inedible because of how raging hot that sauce was and they were not shy about pouring over and letting them sit in a pool of it. I draw the line on when I can't taste the meat over the sauce, whether sweet or savory.

[Make Angels Great Again]

Phil's BBQ sauce is the best i've ever had, personally. Of course i've never been to Texas, so take that for what it's worth. But I literally could eat that sauce with anything.

 

[Tank]

2 hours ago, Adam said:

Salt Lick has a few interesting sauces. 

i was in whole foods market on sunday and saw that they're selling bottled sauce from The Salt Lick, for those who may be interested.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

6 hours ago, Blarg said:

And that is why The Salt Lick didn't last near you. Famous Dave's is one step above Dickey's as the Denny's of bbq.

I ate there one time, never went back. One runny, bland sauce over barely warm meat - and I wasn't there at a busy time. Their restaurants in Texas have to be better, otherwise they wouldn't be in business.

[Thomas]

This is the recipe from what is now Joe's KC BBQ which was printed in the Kansas tourist book.

Ingredients
3 cups ketchup
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon-style
mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground black
pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the ketchup, sugars, vinegar,
water, molasses, mustard Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, black
pepper, salt, onion powder, and liquid smoke. Bring to boiling, reduce
heat. Simmer, uncovered, for one hour, stirring often.
2. Remove from heat. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and
chill in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

[Brandon]

1 hour ago, Thomas said:

This is the recipe from what is now Joe's KC BBQ which was printed in the Kansas tourist book.

Ingredients
3 cups ketchup
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon-style
mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground black
pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the ketchup, sugars, vinegar,
water, molasses, mustard Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, black
pepper, salt, onion powder, and liquid smoke. Bring to boiling, reduce
heat. Simmer, uncovered, for one hour, stirring often.
2. Remove from heat. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and
chill in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Man, Oklahoma Joe’s gets a ton of accolades in the KC area, even over Arthur Bryant’s and Gates, but it’s very “chainy”. I tried it and wasn’t that impressed with either the bbq or the sauces. Maybe it was just overly hyped.

[Thomas]

9 minutes ago, Brandon said:

Man, Oklahoma Joe’s gets a ton of accolades in the KC area, even over Arthur Bryant’s and Gates, but it’s very “chainy”. I tried it and wasn’t that impressed with either the bbq or the sauces. Maybe it was just overly hyped.

It's tricky because there used to be two guys who ran Oklahoma Joe's. One of them seem to really want to cash in and he kept the name and opened some other restaurants and likely wants to make that a national chain. Also sold the name for use on grills and smokers. The other dude changed the name of the existing restaurants to Joe's Kansas City BBQ but seems content on keeping those few locations in KC. 

[Brandon]

30 minutes ago, Thomas said:

It's tricky because there used to be two guys who ran Oklahoma Joe's. One of them seem to really want to cash in and he kept the name and opened some other restaurants and likely wants to make that a national chain. Also sold the name for use on grills and smokers. The other dude changed the name of the existing restaurants to Joe's Kansas City BBQ but seems content on keeping those few locations in KC. 

Makes sense, I never really delved in when I heard the name change. I always thought it was weird a KC based spot was called Oklahoma.

Ironically, the only time I had OK Joes was in Tulsa, OK.

[wopphil]

Woodranch makes good sauces.

[Brandon]

For chains, I think their meat is terrible, but their sauces are actually pretty good....Lucille’s 

[red321]

On 2/27/2018 at 3:58 PM, Thomas said:

This is the recipe from what is now Joe's KC BBQ which was printed in the Kansas tourist book.

Ingredients
3 cups ketchup
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon Dijon-style
mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire
sauce
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons ground black
pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke

Directions
1. In a medium saucepan, stir together the ketchup, sugars, vinegar,
water, molasses, mustard Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, black
pepper, salt, onion powder, and liquid smoke. Bring to boiling, reduce
heat. Simmer, uncovered, for one hour, stirring often.
2. Remove from heat. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and
chill in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Hmmm...that is pretty similar to a sauce I make that came from Paul Kirk's Championship bbq. 

major difference is mine uses a lot less sugar, just 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of molasses instead of 2 tblsp.

I also put Crystal to taste

 

The recipe above seems like it would be pretty sweet between the ketchup and all the sugar.

 

[Tank]

3 hours ago, red321 said:

Hmmm...that is pretty similar to a sauce I make that came from Paul Kirk's Championship bbq. 

major difference is mine uses a lot less sugar, just 1/2 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of molasses instead of 2 tblsp.

I also put in plenty of Crystal Meth, but to taste.

dude! i didn't know you were in lancaster.

[Thomas]

1 hour ago, Tank said:

dude! i didn't know you were in lancaster.

[RallyMo]

We need to have an AW BBQ fanfest here in Austin. Then we go to a game in Houston.

The logistics should be easy enough for me.

Make it happen, people.

Also, we can have @Thomas eat TexMex at a separate table since he loves it so and @nate can skip one BBQ place if he wants some In-N-Out.

[Tank]

2 hours ago, RallyMo said:

We need to have an AW BBQ fanfest here in Austin. Then we go to a game in Houston.

The logistics should be easy enough for me.

Make it happen, people.

Also, we can have @Thomas eat TexMex at a separate table since he loves it so and @nate can skip one BBQ place if he wants some In-N-Out.

I'm in.

[nate]

2 hours ago, RallyMo said:

We need to have an AW BBQ fanfest here in Austin. Then we go to a game in Houston.

The logistics should be easy enough for me.

Make it happen, people.

Also, we can have @Thomas eat TexMex at a separate table since he loves it so and @nate can skip one BBQ place if he wants some In-N-Out.

I’ve been in Dallas a couple times recently and didn’t get a chance for INO.  Some great BBQ though.