As you travel the country you\’ll find many different opinions about what makes a good barbecue sauce, if you\’re in the Carolina\’s for example they\’ll probably be voting for a vinegar bbq sauce and if you\’re in the South there\’s bound to be something hot and spicy about the sauce. So how can we truly determine and agree what\’s the best recipe?

There\’s also a whole host of bottled barbecue sauces on the market that offer all sorts of promises and many try to differentiate themselves by blowing your head off. All these types of sauce are fashion so when it comes down to the best barbecue sauce recipe my feeling is to go back to basics and to tradition.

It\’s that sweet and sour taste that we love together with a tomato base a delicate piquancy st to bring a smack to your taste buds. To that end let\’s go through the ingredients:

Tomatoes
We could argue all night whether the best sauces originate from fresh tomatoes or from ketchup and to be honest I don\’t think that it matters much, after all, ketchup is made from tomatoes, the only thing we are unnecessarily adding is the stabilizers and preservatives that are required to stop any bottle sauce from going off.

I prefer to use a tin of chopped tomatoes for a couple of reasons. Firstly the I like the substance of the tomato to be evident and secondly from a preparation point of view I think that it\’s easier to mix a sauce from a thin liquid. If I use ketchup with any other thin liquid (such as the vinegar that comes next) I find that it separates and I spend a lot of time and effort stirring to get rid of any lumps. Starting with all liquids thin eliminates this problem, admittedly it takes longer to thicken up but I think that this helps the sauce flavors come together.

Vinegar
Well there\’s not much to say here other than I use white vinegar because it helps to keep the color of the sauce light and vibrant. Vinegar can when first introduced to the sauce and heated up give off a very pungent smell but as the sauce is simmered this will settle down. For me this is another reason for using tinned tomatoes rather than ketchup.

Sugar
Together with the vinegar this is what completes the sweet and sour. Brown sugar is the order of the day because brown has that extra caramelized flavor.

Worcestershire Sauce
The final of the four absolute must have ingredients and it\’s a distinctive flavor. There\’s a myriad of herbs and spices in Worcestershire sauce and all top secret but the most significant flavoring is tamarind, a spice largely used in Indian cooking to give a sour taste.
Other ingredients
Here\’s where you can go on and one but for me the thing that turns a basic barbecue sauce into something that can be the best is a little bit of heat and that means a little English mustard and some chili flakes.

The complete list of ingerients and full recipe:-
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic crushed
4 tablespoons finely chopped onion

Fry gently for 2-3 minutes until the onions go clear, then add:-

1 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 tube tomato puree (between 150g – 200g)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry English mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
ground black pepper to taste

Throw all the ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to the boil then simmer for about 45 minutes

Author Bio: Paul Yates has written many homemade barbecue sauce recipes including a sugar free barbecue sauce recipe and a Memphis barbecue sauce recipe to name just two.

Category: Cooking
Keywords: best barbecue sauce,vinegar bbq sauce,barbecue sauce,chopped tomatoes,worcestershire sauce