How to make BBQ sauce

Barbecue sauce is a popular and versatile table sauce and is widely available to buy in supermarkets. Many different varieties are available but there is nothing quite as satisfying as making your own. The benefit to doing this is that you can adapt the recipe slightly to suit your own tastes. This article contains more information about BBQ sauce and a basic barbecue sauce recipe.

Uses

Homemade BBQ sauce can be used as a marinade or as a dipping sauce. The flavours in it are very versatile and go with all sorts of meats, making it popular at barbecues and grills. The meat can be marinaded in the sauce before cooking, or the sauce might be spread on when the meat is partially cooked, leaving the meat with a tasty caramelised crust. Besides with meats such as chicken and ribs, barbecue sauce is also great with chips and onion rings and in hamburgers and on the side of many other dishes.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, crushed 80g brown sugar 400g can chopped tomatoes 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 3 tablespoons vinegar (malt, cider or wine) 1 tablespoon tomato purée Cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper to taste

Method

Start off by heating a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat. Heat the oil and then add the onions and garlic. Cook these until they are softened and the onions have turned translucent. The onions shouldn't brown and so, turn the heat down if they look as if they are starting to catch. Add the brown sugar, chopped tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar and tomato purée and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for around 20-30 minutes by which point the sauce will have thickened. Taste the sauce and add cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper as necessary. You may decide to leave the sauce as it is, but some people prefer to blend the sauce in a food processor until smooth.

Variations

There are many ways to vary the recipe for barbecue sauce. For example, you could subsitute the brown sugar for honey to make a honey barbecue sauce. A popular version of the standard BBQ sauce includes a dash of whiskey or bourbon in place of or as well as the vinegar. The alcohol burns off while the sauce is cooking but the wonderful taste stays in the sauce. Or for a bit of intense spice, you could add chopped fresh chillis right at the beginning when sweating the onions and garlic.