“He was in a bind ’cause he was way behind and willing to make a deal”. – CDB
Good Morning Folks!
Yup this is one of those oops, bad planning, recovery posts. We were having Michelle’s parents over for a early Sunday dinner, both the girl child and the boy child were home and I was doing what I like to do best on a Sunday afternoon, cooking on the smoker. I was about 1 hour out from having the meal ready when I realized that we did not have any BBQ sauce in the house. We had guests here and there was no way I was sending anyone to the store to get a bottle. I like most store bought BBQ sauce, I do have favorites, but over the past few years I have started “blending” sauces to complement what I am grilling, BBQ-ing or smoking. My mom started me in my interest of making BBQ sauce years back. Over the years it has become something I am trying to do more of by experimenting with different methods and ideas. I like both vinegar and ketchup based BBQ sauce and I have made mustard based BBQ sauce which was good, but I still need to work on that type. Michelle made a mayonnaise based “white” BBQ sauce a few years back, which was surprisingly good, that I want to revisit sometime later this summer. I have talked about doing series on how to make BBQ sauce so let’s pretend that this is the start of that and wing it throughout the summer.
This idea of microwave BBQ sauce was born out of necessity and bad planning/timing and to be honest it turned out very good. As with most things I decide to try doing I consulted the web to get some idea’s and pointer’s as to how to go about it. This is not an original idea and it has been done for years by others so I do not want to take credit away from those that preceded me in this endeavor. So in my search I found one site that was particularly suited for my circumstance, out of time “BBQ sauce ideas”. I had to use what I had on hand so to the pantry so I adjusted and modified the referenced sauce. This is a ketchup based sauce and takes about 10 minutes to put together, then about 10 minutes to cook
- 2 Tbsps. butter
- 1 tsp. canola oil
- 1 1/2 cups ketchup
- 1/4+ cup apple cider vinegar (You can use red wine vinegar if you wan.t)
- 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder (or 1 to 2 tbsps. chopped onion)
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Tbsps. honey
- 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
- 1 Tbsp. paprika
- salt and pepper to taste
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter with the garlic and onion powder for about 2 minutes. Stir at the 1 minute mark and again just before the 2 minute mark. If the garlic and Onion are not soft microwave in 30 second increments until this is achieved.
Stir in the remaining ingredients plus the salt and pepper and return to the microwave for 3 minutes then stir and microwave an additional 4 minutes. You are looking for the sauce to start to thicken, if it get too thick add in either a small amount (less than a tsp) vinegar (if it is not sour enough) or a small amount of canola oil (less than a tsp) if it too sour. Watch the process as it cooks in the microwave and stir when you think it needs it. Remove the bowl from the microwave (be careful it will be hot). Taste test the sauce to be sure it is to your liking and adjust as needed. Salt reduces the sour taste as does sugar. (Use brown if your going to add it.)
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