The Sauce Is Boss!

[Zuljin]

It is! :rockin:

My favorites, in no particular order, because I suck at favorites are,

Austin's Own, Original Mild- Sweet, tangy and just a little smokey. I also think it's funny to put a vegan product on meat.
Juinors, June Heat- Another sweet one, with just a touch of heat.
American Stockyards, KC Pitmaster- The sweetest one on the list. All burnt brown sugary and delicious. Like a candy coating for meat.

But we'd like to make BBQ sauce. We tried, and it was, well, at first we thought it was unique. Then, we realized it was crap. So, what's the secret recipe? What's the tips and tricks?

 

[DrunkleJon]

I go for the vinegar based sauces. NC style (I prefer a fusion of the NC styles myself). So in my opinion Vinegar is the secret ingredient. The vinegar/pepper (beit red or black) bite paired with a touch of tomato and/or mustard is pure gold in my book.

Not often do I go for the sweeter almost spreadable sauces, I would like to get a good recipe for a good one of those myself.

 

[Zuljin]

I go for the vinegar based sauces. NC style (I prefer a fusion of the NC styles myself). So in my opinion Vinegar is the secret ingredient. The vinegar/pepper (beit red or black) bite paired with a touch of tomato and/or mustard is pure gold in my book.

Not often do I go for the sweeter almost spreadable sauces, I would like to get a good recipe for a good one of those myself.

See, I'm the opposite. Sweet first with mustardy second. Vinegary is third, though I do like the black pepper. Sweet and peppery is a good combo.

 

[headbanger]

I usually make sauce for every cook, I used to start out with tomato base but now I use plain old Craft original.. It's cheap ($1 per bottle if you catch them on sale at the grocery), nice and thick and has pretty good flavor already, kind of gives you a head start and makes for an easy canvas to manipulate.

From there I'll add vinegar, worch, soy, brown sugar and/or honey and chili powder depending on what I'm trying to do. I usually like to compliment a sweet rub with spicy sauce but sometimes for beef I'll double up on the spicy.

 

[Zuljin]

Maybe I'll stew up some tomatoes, peppers, garlic, onion, salt and black pepper with vinegar. Maybe some of the tomatoes and peppers will be roasted. Not too many, though. I don't want the taste of roastiness to dominate all the other flavors. Just barely caramelize some brown sugar. Add some honey.

I'm tempted to try picapepper sauce, but not right off in the whole batch.

 

[unionrdr]

I like Sweet Baby Ray's honey barbecue sauce so far as commercial goes. Great on ribs, chuck roast, chicken, etc in the pit. My wife likes this Italian style BBQ sauce I originally made some 25 years ago & thought it was a mistake. She had me make it again around the beginning of summer. Everyone loved it. Great on chicken. Use large roasting chicken parts though. The sauce;
1) large can plain tomato sauce
1-2) small cans tomato paste
Sea salt & black pepper to taste
2tsp onion powder
1tsp garlic powder
1/4C corn syrup or honey
1/4-1/3C extra virgin olive oil
1-2TBSP Italian herbs
1/4-1/3C apple cider vinegar
Mix it all together & cover in the fridge the night before. Try not to burn the sauce when brushing it on. Just get it thickened on the skin of the chicken nicely. We like this one with corn bread & some kind of Obrian-style taters.

 

[Lgaddy44]

When I smoke pork butts, I usually make more of a glaze type sauce, loosely based on TGI Friday's Jack Daniel's Glaze. My wife is a fan of their glaze and found a copycat recipe online. We tweaked it a bit, adding this or that to our tastes, but finally settled on something we liked. (Hint...bacon fat is your friend!). I prefer my butts to be complimented by a light sauce, not swimming in it.

I will use commercial sauces here and there, mainly for grilling chicken and such. Sweet Baby Ray's Sweet and Spicy is always a go to. I've also picked up some of Cowtown Night of the Living Barbeque Sauce, which I think is fantastic. A bit more spicy than my wife likes, but it's currently my fave, as far as commercial sauces go.

http://www.thekansascitybbqstore.com/products/cowtown-night-of-the-living-barbeque-sauce-1

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

For bottled sauce, I like Head Country. To me it has the right balance.

For homemade, it's usually some combination of Heinze, sugar (palm, brown, beet, honey, etc..), mustard, worch, Hoisin, vinegar, and Sriracha or Sambal Olek for heat.

 

[j1n]

Sweet baby rays sweet and spicy is my go to bbq sauce.