Looking for Bar-B-Que Sauce

[Athenaeus]

I am looking for an authentic Bar -B-Que sauce!

Ok I am joking. I am looking for a typical Bar-b-que sauce that I can prepare with Greek Ingredients.

I wouldn't like to be very spicy.

I want the sauce for spare ribs

PS I boil the spare ribs for some minutes before bar-b queing them. Is this a sacrilage? My husband says yes.

[cape chef]

Dry rub my friend, Dry Rub!!!
Only use the sauce at the end of cooking for a nice caremal glaze.

I don't have time right now, But later I will share with you my dry rub and sauce recipe....Never ever boils Aaaarrrggg
cc

[roon]

To boil, or not to boil? That is the question...

Seriously though. I do boil ribs when they have the bone in. Boneless, and I just leave them be.

Are these for pork ribs? If so, here is the most wonderful recipe- not very spicy, very very nice flavor. Mmmmm. All the ingredients are fairly normal, but I don't know if you can get chili sauce and worcestershire sauce where you are...I would think so, but I've never been to greece, so I don't know!

4 lbs. boneless pork ribs
1 med. onion, chopped
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 cup chili sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. white vinegar
2 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. worcestershire sauce
dash salt and pepper

Place ribs on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Cover and bake at 325 F for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in a skillet, saute onion in oil until tender. Add the chili sauce, water, lemon juice, brown sugar, vinegar, ketchup, W. sauce, salt and pepper. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Drain ribs; brush with some of the sauce. Bake, uncovered, for 1 to 1-1/2 hours, brushing occasionally with sauce. Serve over a bed of hot rice.

I got this recipe from "Taste of Home" magazine. Just to give credit where credit is due.

[marmalady]

A. - What do you mean by Greek ingredients? Do you want to make the sauce using Greek spices/herbs/etc., or are you looking for a 'typical' (that's loaded!) American BBQ sauce that can be made with ingredients available to you in Greece?

BBQ sauce in America is so regionally different - there are red sauces, brown sauces, vinegar/chile sauces, yellow sauces, citrus sauces, southwestern sauces, Jamaican jerk type sauces, Asian type sauces - I would be happy to elaborate if you like!

But - Dry rub first, definitely - The only sauces you can put on the meat as it's on the grill that won't burn are ones without sugar in them; the vinegar sauces, and citrus sauces.

I don't like to boil mine first before grilling, but sometimes I do put the dry rubbed ribs on a rack over a pan filled with water, onion, and liquid smoke, cover the whole thing with foil, and roast for about an hour at 300. Serves the same purpose as boiling in order to get rid of some of the fat, but doesn't give that boiled texture to the ribs; also infuses some flavor! Then brush them with oil and put on the grill to finish off, and the last 10 minutes or so, brush with the sauce of your choice.

You may have opened a mean kettle of worms here, A. - Americans have been known to fight to the death over their BBQ sauces and the 'correct' method of cooking the ribs! Hope so, could be a fun discussion!!!!

[cape chef]

When cooking ribs or beef briskets at home I follow almost to the letter what you said.

<A> are you thinking of lamb? maybe grape vines in your smoke?

When I cook out doors I use my weber smoker, I macirate the meat for 24 hours in a dry rub then smoke ribs for 6/7 hours (domestic spare ribs,not denmark baby backs) brisket I will smoke for 8/12 hours. I make a vinegar mop for these meats and serve BBQ sauce on the side when there finished.
Unbelievible stuff. As marmalady said, this country is saturated with a million ways to BBQ....But there all so good!!!makes grilling that much more fun
cc

[Suzanne]

Dang, CC, ain't there nothin' you don't know?? Even the dangerous b-b-q!?!?!

Seriously, though -- if one can be serious about as tickling a concept as barbecue -- Athenaeus, you really are getting into tricky territory here. I mean, Panini, being from Texas, probably will defend one recipe to the death, while 'Shroom must defend her region's version, as everyone else must defend theirs (if they have one). I feel blessed to come from a non-bbq area, so I can try them all!!!!

The point is, there are as many "authentic" sauces and methods and even slabs of animal flesh used, as there are stars in the sky (almost). To my mind, or more important to my palate, paraphrasing Duke Ellingon: "If it tastes good, it IS good."

Just be sure NOT to slather on a sauce with high sugar content too early in the cooking process, whatever one you use. "Burnt ends" aren't really very yummy when they're carbonized sugar.

[Jim]

Be sure to check out Smokestack Lightning...

From the Publisher: As they investigate this nation's obsession with smoked meat, Lolis Elie and Frank Stewart introduce us to the men and women devoted to the demanding art of barbecuing, and, of course, to some good eating - with mouthwatering recipes for meat, sauces, and side dishes.

A great read on all that is barbecue. It is out of print, but eBay has it cheap!

[panini]

Suzanne, your right about personal recipes. BUT! I have tried new things this year, I always dry rub, but this year I went to extremely high temp and pastes.
Texas BarbQue is just like most but with a twaing. CC has spent some time in Texas smokin or he has stollen our method.

[Pete]

I have 101 different BBQ recipes that I use depending on what style of BBQ I am hungry for or what type of cut I have. Some of my favorite styles are Texas brisket, just rubbed down, with no sauce (who needs it with all that smoky goodness), Kansas City ribs, and North Carolina pulled pork with thin vinegary sauce splashed over it. But the most important thing to BBQ is not the sauce (that's not what makes something BBQ, though your average person thinks so), it's the long, slow cooking indirectly over fire (aka: smoke). That is the true definition of barbeque.

That said, living in the city, I don't have room on my small apt. deck for a full blown smoker, grill or BBQ, so I get stuck doing an end run around the slow cooking over fire. I usually rub down my ribs and let them sit overnight. I then wrap them in foil, with a little beer and bourbon (for flavor) and slow braise them in the oven. When they are 3/4 of the way done I finish them over a slow grill, until they fall off the bone. Sometimes I finish with sauce, sometimes not-all depends on my mood.

[Suzanne]

Pete, you're my kinda guy. Too bad (or good) I'm already married, and 1000 miles away.

A brief story: when I was doing my externship from culinary school, one night I made family meal for the staff of a 4-star NY restaurant: NC pulled pork bbq and cole slaw. Everyone thought, How great that the Chef de cuisine*, a guy from the Midwest, could make that. He was gracious enough to acknowledge that it was a female extern from Flushing, Queens, NY who did it. Hey, if a Cambodian can be the chef of one of most famous Italian/French restaurants in NY, why not? It's how much you love it, not where you came from, that matters.

*Chris, if you happen to see this, glad you're still there!

[Athenaeus]

My My My...

I have heard stories about fierce competitions about BBQ sauce amd secret recipes...

Well between us(...) this is is one of my top 5 favorite dishes.

I have been to Argentina that are Gods in bbqing but the American BBQ is by far the best , you know that.

I think that the world must forgive Americans for the MDonalds just for this reason.

It's a matter of taste I guess. I like the brown- sweet n'sour tastes.
Marmalade I can find almost everything here but not the tasty American meat I meant that I needed a recipe with not SO rare ingredients.
I would like a very hot and spicy version from you.

But you must admit that there is a lot pf prejudice involved here.

I told my husband that I asked you and you know what he replied " Don't tell me anything , I am interested in hearing only to recipes from the South, only THEM know how to make BBQ sauce..."

Ha! I am going to feed him sauces from all over the States.

I have to tell you this. As a foreigner I will learn to make the BEST BBQ sauces and BBQs in the States, for a foreigner ok.
Yes, this was a threat

Thanks for your responses it's very very interesting for me to read all this posts

[foodnfoto]

You will have to pardon my prejudice. Since I'm from North Carolina, I have a special love for down-home Pig Pickin's as Barbecue is referred to in my home state. Barbecue is a religion there, and always made with pork (NC is the 2nd largest pork porducing state in the nation.) People guard their sauce and technique recipes fiercely. As to the sauce style, this varies even within the state. Down east, in the coastal plain, barbecue sauce is hot and vinegary, sometimes made with only crushed red pepper, white vinegar and a little sugar. Toward the west, in the piedmont and mountainous regions, barbecue sauce is thicker (though still runny), darker, tomatoey and sweeter.

I've included here a recipe for the authentic NC barbecue that my husband and I make every year at our Labor Day BBQ party. The sauce is a lovely marriage of the eastern and western NC styles. I know it's long, but the true 'Cue experience requires a labor of Love. Enjoy!

Carolina Barbecue Sauce

Makes about 3 quarts

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup molasses
1 bulb garlic, unpeeled and broken into cloves
2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
3 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
1 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
8 dried New Mexico chilies
2 dried ancho chilies
2 bay leaves
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cans (26 oz.) whole peeled tomatoes, with juice
1 quart apple cider vinegar
4 cups water
1/4 cup salt

In a large stock pot combine the honey, molasses, garlic, cumin, coriander, peppercorns, chilies, and bay leaves. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything is caramelized, but not scorched.
Add the tomato paste and tomatoes and cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently to break up the tomatoes. Add the vinegar, water, and salt; the sauce will be thin.
Simmer, uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours (much better), stirring occasionally. Remove any large pieces of garlic skin and bay leaves. Puree sauce in a blender or food processor. (I like to use a food mill using the smallest sieve-plate.)

Note: This sauce will keep for at least 6 months in the refrigerator, but tends to loose its hot-kick, though the flavors are, otherwise, just fine. It's the perfect combination of the eastern and western North Carolina pork barbecue disciplines. It's great on chicken, turkey, stronger fishes (tuna, salmon, grouper) and beef, but just plain weird with lamb. Goat I have not tried, but who knows?

Scott Howell (the chef at Nana's restaurant) suggests you marinate pork shoulder in 1/3 of the sauce for 2 days, mop the pork as you smoke it with 1/3 and reserve the rest to drizzle over your pulled pork. I find all that is a lot of trouble. It wastes a lot of sauce during the marinating process and leads to tomatoey-tasting pork. If you try to mop the pork during the smoking process, you loose a lot of heat and smoke by constantly removing the lid lengthening the cooking time considerably.




Here's how to smoke Carolina-style barbecue on a Weber kettle grill:
Prepare a brine by dissolving 1 cup of kosher salt in 1 gallon water. Submerge 2 7-8 lb. pork shoulder picnics in the brine, cover with cheesecloth. Allow to soak for about 24 hours, turning occassionally.
Soak 2 cups of hickory chips in water for 30 minutes. Start a slow fire with natural chunk charcoal. Pile the chunks on top of several wads of newspaper, then light the paper and allow to burn for 15-20 minutes-never use lighter fluid! When coals are lit, push them to one side of the kettle. Drain and sprinkle half the wood chips on the coals. Place a drip pan with 1" of apple cider, beer, ginger ale or water next to the coals. Attach the grate and arrange the pork shoulder on the opposite side from the coals and above the drip pan. Cover with the lid, adjusting so the smoke hole is above the pork. Maintain the heat at about 200°F (you should be able to hold your hand about 2 inches above the grate for 10 seconds without becoming uncomfortable). You'll need to occasionally add more charcoal and wood chips as the fire burns low. This is the only reason to lift the lid! Smoke in this fashion for about 1-1 1/2 hours per pound of meat until internal temperature reaches 165°-170°F. We usually smoke 2 pork shoulders at a time for about 7-8 hours leaving lots of time for preparing side dishes and drinking long-neck Buds.
When the pork is cooked, tear it from the bone for delicious pulled pork. I also like to chop it gently with the back of a chef's knife to break and seperate the threads of meat. Drizzle with sauce, serve with ice-cold slaw and soft, fluffy buns for the true 'cue experience.

Hope you enjoy!

[cape chef]

OMG, FNF...I'm drooling!!!!
That sounds incredible.
When are we getting together for some NC cue?
cc

[Athenaeus]

" Hey buddy, can you spare a rib" ?

[foodnfoto]

Okay, Okay, you can probably do ribs the same way. Please, though, please bale on the liquid smoke! Take the time to smoke them slowly with love, patience and a beer or two. You'll thank yourself, believe me!