I STOPPED Buying Barbecue Sauce — This $3 Recipe Beats Every Bottle

STOPPED Buying Barbecue Sauce — This $3 Recipe Beats Every Bottle. You know that sauce that tastes like burnt candy, with a crust underneath that's hard, bitter and sealed up like plastic. It's not your technique. The problem is sugar, fire and timing, and what everyone tells you to do and when. After thirty years standing in front of a fire, here's the sauce I make from scratch: about $3 a batch against about $7.50 a bottle, and it sets on the meat instead of burning. Three tricks: tomato paste, not ketchup. One tablespoon of sugar. And sauce only on clean smoke. Every measurement is below. THE SAUCE (small pot on the stove) 2 tbsp tomato paste ½ cup apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce Stir over MEDIUM heat to loosen it up. Too hot and the paste scorches and goes bitter 1 tbsp brown sugar. One level tablespoon for the whole batch 1 tsp mustard powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, ½ tsp salt, 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper, ½ tsp cayenne pepper (more or less to taste) Turn the heat to LOW and simmer 12-15 minutes. Barely moving, a few bubbles every couple of seconds. Don't boil it hard or the vinegar evaporates and the sauce goes flat. It's ready when it clings to the spoon Off the heat, stir in 1 tbsp butter until it turns glossy Let it cool before you taste it, and taste it on the meat, not hot off the spoon. I let mine sit about 10 minutes, then dip a piece of pork or chicken in it THE 3 TRICKS 1. Tomato paste, not ketchup: body without added sugar and water. The sauce sets thanks to tomato solids, fat and time 2. One tablespoon of sugar: sugar burns on the grill before the meat is done, vinegar doesn't 3. Sauce only on clean smoke: white smoke deposits bitter compounds on a wet surface and the sauce locks them in ON THE GRILL Feed fresh wood into the firebox and wait 15-20 minutes for the smoke to go from thick white to thin blue, almost transparent. Open the lid only then Open the lid ONE time and brush ONE thin coat of sauce in the last 20 minutes of the cook (up to 30). Not thick, not dripping. Close the lid and leave it alone 15 minutes at about 250°F (121°C) and the sauce dries and looks like it grew there. A second thin coat is optional, I usually skip it Chicken: brush the sauce on in the last 15 minutes. Done at 165°F (74°C) in the thickest part of the thigh, check with a thermometer, not a timer WHAT WENT WRONG? Sauce tastes flat: you boiled it too hard. Make it again and keep it low Crust black and bitter: sauce went on too early, or while the smoke was still thick and white Sauce never set: too thick a coat, or you opened the lid three times instead of once Too sharp hot off the stove: don't add sugar. Heat amplifies acid, it balances out at room temperature, especially on fat and char STORAGE AND COST Clean jar in the refrigerator: two weeks, maybe a little longer if you don't stick a dirty spoon in it $3 a batch at home, $7.50 a bottle at the store CHAPTERS 0:00 Why store-bought sauce tastes like burnt candy 1:03 Thirty years in front of the fire 1:44 Trick 1: tomato paste, not ketchup 2:07 Building the base in the pot 3:06 Trick 2: one tablespoon of sugar 3:39 The spices 4:25 Trick 3: sauce only on clean smoke 4:49 Simmer low, never boil 5:31 Butter off the heat 5:52 Taste it on the meat, not off the spoon 6:15 Wait for thin blue smoke 6:54 One thin coat in the last 20 minutes 7:43 Chicken and the 165°F rule 8:07 How long it keeps 9:24 What goes wrong 10:18 $3 a batch vs $7.50 a bottle If you enjoy barbecue sauce, Texas barbecue, ribs and old-school pitmaster cooking, you're in the right place. Subscribe for weekly pitmaster tips, and tell me in the comments which store-bought sauce you're done buying. #BBQ #BBQSauce #Pitmaster #BBQTips #Grilling #Barbecue #GrillingTips #BigJoeCarter