10 Best Bbq Rubs On Amazon

Best Bbq Rubs On Amazon in 2023

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What Makes a Classic Barbecue Sauce?

If you're trying to come up with your own BBQ sauce, this article will help by describing sauces from different parts of the U.S.

Now don't let this confuse you. The only real rule to cooking is to relax. As long as your sauce tastes good, you've done your job. Having said that, I'm going to deconstruct classic barbecue sauce for you. By the end of this article you'll better understand what makes a classic sauce and should be able to start turning out your own recipes.

First, all sauces are composed of four basic elements: a base, sweetness or sourness, liquid, and seasoning. The base will usually be something thick like ketchup, mustard or mayonnaise. Sweetness or sourness will provide balance to the base. If you start your sauce with ketchup or tomato sauce, you might want cider vinegar to counter the ketchup's sweetness. If you start with mustard, you might use brown sugar to cut through the mustard's tang. Liquids like broth, liquid smoke or Worcestershire sauce will help make your sauce more pourable. Finally, seasoning, which should be self explanatory. They make your sauce tasty.

Once you've made some barbecue sauces of your own, you might want to expand your technique. Heat, aromatics, enrichers and personal touches will add personality. For heat, add anything with a little spice. If you want aromatics, add something with a strong aroma. Onions, garlic and celery, for instance. Enrichers like meat drippings and butter will give your sauce extra richness. Finally, personal touches will distinguish your sauces from everyone else's.

Before we go further, here's a list of common ingredients to help you come up with your own sauce. Bases are commonly something thick like ketchup, tomato sauce, mustard or mayonnaise. Common sweeteners are brown sugar, honey, corn syrup or turbinado sugar. For sourness, add vinegar, lemon or lime juice, beer or wine. For liquids add broth, liquid smoke or Worcestershire sauce. Seasonings can include salt, chilli powder, garlic or onion powder, herbs or celery seed. Finally, the wild cards. My favorites are coffee, bourbon and malty ale.

To sum up, a classic barbecue sauce is made up of a thick base. To the base add something sweet or sour to counteract the base's sweetness or sourness. Then add some tasty liquid to make it more pourable, seasonings to make it tasty and something to make it smell good. From there, we add a bit of heat, something rich tasting and your own secret ingredient to make it unique. These basic elements make for a classic barbecue sauce.

Use the following basic barbecue sauce as a template to build your own sauce from.

1 cup ketchup

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp iced tea

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

Combine ingredients in a saucepan and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for a half hour, stirring occasionally.

Whenever you make this sauce add small amounts of something new and experiment. As you do, you'll come up with a killer sauce all your own.