Homemade BBQ Sauce and Bottled?

(I have no doubt that this topic has been posted before, but when I searched, I got 122 pages of responses, so if you find something to link this to, by all means do so!)

Do you make your own sauce? Care to share the recipe or is it "secret"?

Do you like commercial sauce? Which do you prefer and why?

Thanks

Liz in Norwood Park wrote:Do you make your own sauce? Care to share the recipe or is it "secret"?

Do you like commercial sauce? Which do you prefer and why?

Liz,

How about you, do you make your own BBQ sauce? What commercial sauce do you like, sweet, tangy, thick, thin?

Me, commercial sauce wise, I like the tangy vinegar zip of Original Open Pit BBQ sauce, in fact I had some just today.

5.1.08


Enjoy,
Gary

WOW.

I cannot STAND Open Pit Original. Maybe because I grew up on it. Honestly though, I just cannot STAND it at ALL. Way to sweet, even though the bq sauces I like are probably just as sweet. Too much tang, I just really, really...ick. I'm sure my responses will evoke some of the same emotions, but to each his own.

1.Sweet Baby Ray's - any flavor, really, but the Chipotle one, or maybe it's the regular "spicy" one has a sneaky kick to it. Dig it. A LOT.
2. Bullseye Original
3. Plain old Kraft. (I'll reach for plain old Kraft over Open Pit EVERY time.)

Never made my own. I'd imagine I'd model it after something with a heavy molasses flavor, but not too sweet - more savory, with a citrus kick (lime juice probably,) maybe even a tiny, tiny bit of keffir lime leaf, and a sneaky heat a la ancho, or aleppo chile.

My favorite commercial sauce is Bilardo Brothers Southern Style Vinegar Barbeque Sauce

It's a bit thicker than a pure vinegar sauce, but quite a bit looser than most grocery store varieties. Very tangy, a little spicy.

Original Juan's makes a lot of other great sauces. I'm a fan of their Texas Longhorn Chipotle sauce and the Pain is Good series.

I like making my own, if I have the time. Just like a brine, they're great to make because you can basically use any ol' thing you have laying around.

G Wiv wrote:Me, commercial sauce wise, I like the tangy vinegar zip of Original Open Pit BBQ sauce, in fact I had some just today.

I'm also a fan of the Original Open Pit, probably because that's what we always had growing up and it evoked the greatest memories.

I think my favorite is the recipe in Weber's Big Book of Grilling.

If I'm in a hurry, I'll take Sweet Baby Ray's spicy sauce and thin it out with apple cider vinegar spiked with hot pepper flakes, and some freshly ground allspice and/or cloves.

If I make my own, it's basically ketchup, onion, cider vinegar, pepper flakes, brown sugar, pepper, allspice and/or cloves (for a pork sauce), salt, pepper, perhaps a dash of Worcestershire. I really, really, really like the way the "sweet" spices like allspice or cloves (and even fennel seed) go with pork. I like my sauces on the thinner side, and I like them with a healthy dose of vinegar tang (with a little bit of sugar to take the edge off). I like to hit the taste buds with sweet, sour, salt, spice, and some distinctive aromatics. I'm not a fan of thicker, sweeter, KC-style sauces.

I also very much enjoy a mustard-based central South Carolina sauce.

My fave is a version of Lexington dipping sauce that I got off the web years and years ago. I don't know whom to credit, but, whoever it is, pls be credited!

8 pts ketchup
8 pts vinegar
2.5 pts sugar
2 pts salt
1 pt pepper
1 pt crushed red pepper flakes
pinch cayenne
32 pts water

Combine all ingedients into a 1.5 gallon stock pot along with 1
gallon of water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Spoon the
piping hot dip onto the prepared meat just prior to serving.
This is a very thin sauce, but it is the same formula that has been used
around here for generations.
+++++++++++++

I use a modified version of an Owensboro black dip for bbq lamb. Again, can't remember where I got it, but it's pretty standard:

Ingredients

6 c water
2/3 c worcestershire sauce
2/3 c white vinegar
1 tb black pepper
1 tb salt
1 tb lemon juice
2 ts brown sugar
1/8 ts allspice
1/8 ts garlic powder
1/8 ts onion powder
1/8 ts msg

Instructions

In a large saucepan, combine water, worcestershire sauce, vinegar,
pepper, salt, lemon juice, brown sugar, allspice, garlic powder, onion salt
and MSG; mix well. Bring to a boil over high heat. turn off heat; let
cool. Use to baste meat while cooking or as a dipping sauce.

+++++++++++++++++

Pretty much I don't use any other sauces.

Geo

rlr wrote:I think my favorite is the recipe in Weber's Big Book of Grilling.

Which BBQ sauce from the Weber Book?

Enjoy,
Gary

Darren72 wrote:I'm also a fan of the Original Open Pit, probably because that's what we always had growing up and it evoked the greatest memories.

Darren,

Same here, I like Open Pit as that is what I grew up with, my dad would coat the hell out of some type of animal flesh with Open Pit, burn the living daylights out of it on a grill and, Bob's yer Uncle, BBQ for dinner. Funny thing is I liked it then and still like it, once in a very (very) great while now.

Sweet Baby Ray's gives me the shivers, way, and I mean way, too sweet. The most foul of the commercial BBQ sauces are the ones laced with l*quid sm*ke.

Enjoy,
Gary

Johnson's Southern Style Barbecue Sauce

http://www.johnsonsbbq.com/index.htm

It's a small outfit in southern Illinois. In the last staff meeting we had before I retired, instead of ordering out lunch, one of the guys from central Illinois brought in a smoked pork shoulder and some bottles of this sauce. I was instantly hooked. It's kind of thin, vinegary with a nice kick. I recently ordered a case for the spring/summer/fall grilling season. It's really nice stuff.

G Wiv wrote:
Sweet Baby Ray's gives me the shivers, way, and I mean way, too sweet.

Mixed one to one with cider vinegar and it's pretty palatable, IMHO.

I just remembered, Bone Sucking Sauce is also a pretty decent commercial sauce, but it does contain "natural hickory smoke." Personally, I don't mind Liquid Smoke in small doses, but I can see where the aversion comes from (what's the point of dressing a nicely smoked piece of meat with more smoke flavor)? It's too bad that's it's so difficult to find a commercial barbecue sauce that doesn't contain it. I thought Open Pit had it, too, but I must be thinking of their hickory flavored sauce.

G Wiv wrote:Same here, I like Open Pit as that is what I grew up with, my dad would coat the hell out of some type of animal flesh with Open Pit, burn the living daylights out of it on a grill and, Bob's yer Uncle, BBQ for dinner. Funny thing is I liked it then and still like it, once in a very (very) great while now.

I love Open Pit! I grew up with similiar Bbq experiences courtesy of my dad, a large Weber kettle, a big pile of Kingsford and charred animal flesh bathed in Open Pit. When I lived in New Orleans I sometimes had trouble finding Open Pit, it was available, just not as prevalent as it is in Chicago.

Turns out Open Pit is a midwestern thing according to the corporate gobbledygook on the Open Pit website. http://www.pinnaclefoodscorp.com/public ... en-pit.htm

You learn something new everyday

iblock9 wrote:I love Open Pit! I grew up with similiar Bbq experiences courtesy of my dad, a large Weber kettle, a big pile of Kingsford and charred animal flesh bathed in Open Pit. When I lived in New Orleans I sometimes had trouble finding Open Pit, it was available, just not as prevalent as it is in Chicago.

Turns out Open Pit is a midwestern thing according to the corporate gobbledygook on the Open Pit website. http://www.pinnaclefoodscorp.com/public ... en-pit.htm

You learn something new everyday

I'm in the same group as the rest of you for the childhood memories of Open Pit. Enough sauce to drown the poor chicken and then cooked until it was dry.

Iblock9, I had some family move to California 25 years ago and whenever they came to Chicago, they bought as many bottles of Open Pit as they could fit into their suitcases!

Today, I still haven't settled on a favorite sauce. We bought some Sweet Baby Ray's the last time we were out of sauce, but I think I'll try something different once we run out of that.

Kim

I like sauces to be on the tangy rather than sweet side. I grew up with Open Pit original which, while tangy out of the bottle, sweetens up as it cooks on the meat. I also grew up with Brooks ketchup which was never the same after they "tweaked" the recipe to make it sweeter. Then again, growing up BBQ was really grilling with sauce (on chops, steaks, par-boiled ribs, etc.)

Nowadays, I usually make my own sauces and rubs.

For pork shoulder, I'm partial to a mustard/vinegar sauce. I don't have the recipe handy but did find the basis for it online somewhere. It's just a basic Carolina mustard sauce with some tweaks so nothing too fancy.

For a tomato (Texas or KC style) sauce, I start with ketchup, worcestershire, dry rub and maybe some type of commercial sauce (Baby Ray's or Famous Dave's) and go from there. I rarely make the same thing twice.

I grew up on Open Pit Hickory, and after disregarding it as an adult and trying most of the other commerical brands over the years, I've decided it's probably the best bottled sauce from the major brands.

Nothing compares, though, to the sauce from Fat Matt's Rib Shack in Atlanta. Since moving back to Chicago about 6 years ago, I've gone to great lengths to get my hands on some. I've had friends coming in from ATL bring it for me and I've lugged bottles of it back in my luggage when I passed through town. Last year, I broke down and ordered a half case on the web. Best $40 I spent! I think I've still got 2 or 3 bottles left for this year's BBQ season...

The BEST sauce I ever, ever had was made by the boyfriend of a former co-worker when I was living in Atlanta. I spent an hour at his side by the grill trying to learn what he put into it... with no success. She told me a few of the ingredients he'd bought for it. One day I will get around to trying to recreate it -- I can still taste it 6 years later!

iblock9 wrote:Turns out Open Pit is a midwestern thing according to the corporate gobbledygook on the Open Pit website. http://www.pinnaclefoodscorp.com/public ... en-pit.htm

You learn something new everyday

Not only is it midwestern, but it's Chicago-born. My grandfather was one of the three men who created the sauce from their foodservice company they started after WWII. He didn't live long enough to see it succeed, but I have an LP of him doing radio commercials for the sauce (and a few other pieces of "Open Pit" materials like hats and flyers).

It was the only BBQ sauce allowed in our house, and really one of the only commercial ones that I care for.

Best,
Michael

That's cool, Michael. You could probably confirm the following. I could swear Open Pit was a General Foods brand when I was growing up. (I also think it was available in Baltimore, where I grew up, so not limited to midwest distribution, but I'm not as sure about that.) General Foods, as we know, then got subsumed within Kraft. Since Open Pit is now a brand of "Pinnacle Foods," it must be one of those things where a giant corporation sells off an unprofitable part of its portfolio (or needs to raise cash). Often in these cases, the value to the new company is not in the recipe but purely in the brand name, such that the current product marketed as "Aunt Blabby's Molasses" (or whatever) resembles the old Aunt Blabby's Molasses in name and logo only. So if the current Open Pit is still the same as the old one, it must be a happy exception.

I see from their website that Pinnacle Foods has also acquired some other formerly-GF brands, like Aunt Jemima and Log Cabin, as well as non-GF brands like Mrs. Paul's and Mrs. Butterworth's.

On another note: Is there a food product out there that has more different brands and varieties commonly available to consumers than BBQ sauce? I can't think of another that comes close.

OK- here's the family jewels....
This is not a sweet sauce; it's tangy and only a little spicy

MIKE'S FAMOUS, SECRET BARBECUE SAUCE
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp celery seed (this is the secret ingredient)
1 tsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp brown sugar (or 2 Tbsp molasses or sorghum)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup tomato catsup (could use chili sauce)
2 cups water (or use 1 cup beer or red wine, 1 cup water)
3 cloves garlic, pressed (put the pulp in after pressing)
4 quarters fresh ginger (also pressed to extract juice- add this pulp also)
1 Tbsp Tobasco sauce
-or-
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
or both, live dangerously

Mix all ingredients, simmer very slowly to reduce by one-third.
If you're smart you'll make a double recipe every time. Keeps very well frozen.

Believe it or not this started with a recipe in the Fanny Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook, in an edition printed about 45 years ago!. The celery seeds are the "secret" ingredient. Arthur Bryant's sauce uses them, too.
I added the garlic and ginger. If you add onions the sauce will get considerably sweeter
Enjoy

riddlemay wrote:That's cool, Michael. You could probably confirm the following. I could swear Open Pit was a General Foods brand when I was growing up. (I also think it was available in Baltimore, where I grew up, so not limited to midwest distribution, but I'm not as sure about that.)

I'm not sure who they sold the product to initially, I don't believe it was someone as large as General Foods, but more of a regional food distributor that did a full-scale launch of the brand in the early 50s (in Detroit, I believe). I could ask my mother, she may know more of the business details.

Best,
Michael

G Wiv wrote:Liz,

How about you, do you make your own BBQ sauce? What commercial sauce do you like, sweet, tangy, thick, thin?

I make my own sometimes, but I never make the same sauce twice, because I never measure, I just throw stuff in the pot & heat it up. I add the usual brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, tabasco, worchesteshire sauce, sometimes a little steak sauce, maybe a few red pepper flakes...depends on what I can find in the pantry & on the door of the fridge and what kind of meat its going on.

I like Sweet Baby Rays Spicy, KC Masterpiece, and Kraft Honey. Sometimes I will mix all 3 together & add some vinegar & salsa, that works really nicely on chicken or pork chops.

I also like the mustard/honey glaze for chicken. Especially good if I use tarragon mustard & add some fresh chopped tarragon into it. This one I don't cook, just mix & baste.

(When I'm grilling steak, its all about marinade, though. I really like soy sauce mixed with honey, gives a nice glaze to the meat & smells wonderful on the grill.)

One thing I have found about applying the sauce to the meat is that it really seems to make a difference if I apply it with a mop rather than spooning it on. Not sure why that is, but that's been my experience.

I too grew up with Open Pit. Not a big fan anymore, except I do like it on a barbequed beef sandwich ...BBQ beef used to be my fav sandwich that was usually available from most local pizza delivery places. Hardly see BBQ Beef anymore.

My few attempts at making sauce have always come up short. While Open Pit produces a wonderful '60's dear-ol-Dad's BBQ chicken cooked over lumber scraps on the Weber flashback for me, Open Pits strange off red color and overly chemical "smoke" flavor prohibit me from using it on anything that I have cooked.

For the last 5 years or so my favorite bottled sauce is Stubb's. A fairly thin red sauce with a big smack of vinegar and just the right amount of black pepper and chili.

JSM wrote: Open Pits strange off red color and overly chemical "smoke" flavor prohibit me from using it on anything that I have cooked.

John,

No "smoke" flavor in Original Open Pit and, I must admit, I like the color, odd as it may be.

When I speak of Open Pit I mean only the original, not one of the 'please every Buster' frankensauces they have on the grocery shelves.

The few other commercial sauces I like are the original Arthur Bryant's, Speed Queen (Milwaukee) mustard based sauce and Blues Hog, though I cut the Blues Hog sweetness with either cider vinegar, cranberry juice or both.

Enjoy,
Gary

GWiv wrote:No "smoke" flavor in Original Open Pit

Whatever it is Open Pit just has that "better living through chemistry" taste to me.
Kind of reminds me of Tang. As a young lad in the 60's I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. However once I was told that "the astronauts drink Tang" I abandoned all plans of joining the space program.

Regardless, I do like Honey 1's doctored up version of OP !

Gary Wiviott's Tangy 7-Pepper BBQ Sauce:

32 ounces ketchup
2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup lime juice
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons Bufalo Chipotle Sauce
2 tablespoons Louisiana-style hot sauce
2 tablespoons (total) fresh toasted and ground ancho, chipotle and/or guajillo chiles

Gently simmer 20 minutes, whisk intermittently.

Keeps for weeks in the refrigerator.

I grew up on KC Masterpiece but have switched to Sweet Baby Ray's as the "stock" bbq sauce at home. I prefer the spicy version. It's not that spicy but it balances out the sweet a little more.

But my favorite is Gates Original Sauce. I became a convert a few years back after a trip to KC. I've grown to like the less sweet, tangier type of sauce. I need to mail order some more but have been too lazy.

JSM wrote:

GWiv wrote:No "smoke" flavor in Original Open Pit

Whatever it is Open Pit just has that "better living through chemistry" taste to me.
Kind of reminds me of Tang. As a young lad in the 60's I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. However once I was told that "the astronauts drink Tang" I abandoned all plans of joining the space program.

Regardless, I do like Honey 1's doctored up version of OP !

I too, get a very chemically taste from it. Like Mr Wiv got the shivers from the SBR (that I really like) Open Pit Original nets me those same heebie jeebies. I just don't like the smell, taste, or odd color. Always extremely disappointed when I go to a place and they use it (but doctor it up, of course.) Usually the pizza joints that offer the bq chicken dinners, and meat jello ribs often use the open pit sauce. The newish Smokin M's uses something that tastes VERY SIMILAR to original open pit as well. I just can't eat it. Something about it tastes wrong - not like bad flavor, just like it's not food. Might just be a dna thing like some ppl with cilantro. It definitely does not work for me. But anyway, I'm happier with a good rub and only a tiny bit of sauce, so unlike the sweet baby ray's slogan, the sauce is NOT the boss in my house.

Has anyone tried Dreamland's sauce?

I love it. It's broadly similar to the Bilardo Brother's vinegar sauce that I wrote about above.

I often just mix cider vinegar with Sweet Baby Ray's Spicy for folks who want it. I actually enjoy a light glaze of it on ribs quite a bit.

I also keep a few assorted bottles in fridge, normally purchased from Hawgeye's BBQ (great site with a HUGE selection fo sauces and rubs).

Head Country is one of my fav rubs and sauces, and I remember The BBQ Shack being quite good as well. My fav rub had always been Robert's Dixie Dust but I don't see it on there anymore.

Jamie