Table of Contents
Gene’s Barbecue Sauce
Gene Forsythe from Muldoon was a regular at the Czhilispiel in Flatonia. When he wasn’t making chili, he was making barbecue. “The most important thing after the meat is the sauce,” Gene told us one day after he appeared with us on a San Antonio TV station broadcast, talking as he demonstrated his sauce making. The chef said the secret to this recipe is the dry mustard.
3 tablespoons dry mustard
1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
2 cups catsup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup liquid smoke
1/2 cup Worcestershire or soy sauce
6 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
4 teaspoons celery seed
1 small onion, diced
In a saucepan, combine dry mustard and 1/2 cup melted butter. Stir in remaining ingredients except onion and begin simmering. In a sauté pan, sauté onion in remaining 2 tablespoons butter until translucent. Add onion to sauce and simmer for 30 minutes.
Makes 2 to 3 pints
This recipe first appeared in our Texas Barbecue book.
Granddad’s Barbecue Sauce
This easy-to-make barbecue sauce recipe was contributed by Linda Waggoner in the Travis County Extension Office. It originated with her husband’s grandfather, who operated a barbecue stand for many years. Linda says, “Dab it on the meat with a swab or other brush if you have one, turn often, and keep dabbing the other side and then back and forth. We never did measure much.”
2 cups (4 sticks) butter (no substitute)
1/2 large bottle catsup
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
Dash or two of red hot sauce
1/2 large bottle of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon chili powder
In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in remaining ingredients, varying quantities if desired to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Makes 2 to 3 pints
This recipe first appeared in our Texas Barbecue book.
Michael Conner’s “Black Magic” Barbecue Sauce
Michael Conner is a chef at the Lake Austin Spa Resort, an elegant health resort located on the shores of Lake Austin. This recipe, like other dishes served there, is low fat and low calorie (only 11 calories and 1/4 gram of fat per teaspoon).
1/2 small onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup Creole mustard
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup dark beer
1 1/4 cups catsup
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon liquid smoke
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Sauté onion in vegetable oil over high heat until soft. Add garlic and brown sugar and reduce heat, stirring until sugar melts and darkens.
Add all other ingredients and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes.
Serve as an accompaniment to smoked meats.
Makes 1 quart
This recipe first appeared in our Texas Barbecue book.
Smoke Signals Barbecue Sauce
This sauce is the creation of El Paso Chili Company owners Park and Norma Kerr, authors of the Texas Border Cookbook. The El Paso Chili Company itself is the creator of two tasty barbecue sauces (beer and tequila flavored), but if you want to try your hand at your own creation, here’s a spicy way to get you started.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup minced onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon mild chili powder blend
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes with liquid
1 (12-ounce) bottle amber beer (such as Dos Equis)
1 cup tomato-based bottled hot salsa
1/2 cup catsup
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 canned chipotles adobado, minced (reserve 3 tablespoons liquid)
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon salt
In a heavy, 3-quart saucepan over low heat, warm olive oil. Add onion and garlic, cover, and cook, stirring once or twice, for 10 minutes. Stir in chili powder blend and cook, covered, for 5 minutes more.
Stir in crushed tomatoes, beer, salsa, catsup, brown sugar, chipotles plus reserved liquid, vinegar, molasses, liquid smoke, and salt, and bring to a simmer. Cook, partially covered, stirring once or twice, until sauce has thickened slightly and is shiny (about 30 minutes).
Cool sauce to room temperature and, if you prefer a smooth texture, force it through the medium blade of a food mill or puree in a food processor. Transfer to a storage container and refrigerate. (Note: sauce can be refrigerated for several weeks or frozen up to 3 months.)
Makes about 2 quarts
This recipe first appeared in our Texas Barbecue book.
Bar-B-Q Sauce Villegas
If you travel to Fiesta Texas, San Antonio’s theme park that showcases the many cultures of the Lone Star State, you’ll have the chance to dine on barbecue by Oliver Villegas, 1991 Chef of the Year. Even if you don’t make it to the popular them park, though, you can try your hand at his sauce.
2 cups minced onion
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons Chinese chili oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
In a heavy saucepan, sauté onion in butter until translucent. Add garlic and sauté for 2 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer over low heat for 1 hour, stirring often.
Makes 3 cups
This recipe first appeared in our Texas Barbecue book.
Burnett’s Barbecue Sauce
Tibb Burnett, a cowboy poet based in the rugged breaks country of north Texas, recalls when local barbecue joints used to serve stewed apricots as a side dish, a throwback to the days when chuckwagon cooks had to rely on dried provisions. This is his recipe for cowboy-style barbecue sauce.
4 cups tomato sauce
3/4 cup prepared mustard
1 tablespoon dried mustard
1 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup water
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
Juice and peel of 1/2 lemon
Combine tomato sauce, mustards, pepper, vinegar, Worcestershire, sugar, and water in a saucepan. Stir in garlic and onion, followed by lemon juice and peel. Simmer, covered, for at least 45 minutes.
Cool and strain into jars.
Makes about three pints.
This recipe first appeared in our Texas Barbecue book.
Charlene Hahn’s Sweet ‘n Hot Barb-Be-Que Sauce
Charlene and Duane Hahn, better known to cook-off competitors around Texas as the “Old Farts” team, contributed this recipe. This Temple couple says, “We live, eat, sleep, and breathe barbecue. We make anywhere from 40 to 45 cook-offs a year.” These active members of the Central Texas Barbecue Association admit that they’ve won and lost a lot of cook-offs, but they’re having a great time. “We told our kids when we went to that barbecue cook-off in the sky to just go ahead and divide the trophies because we were spending the money now,” confesses Charlene.
4 cups Heinz Chili sauce
2 cups maple-flavored pancake syrup
2 to 4 tablespoons honey or apple jelly to taste
Hot pepper sauce to taste
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir well. Refrigerate unused portions.
Makes about 6 cups
This recipe first appeared in our Texas Barbecue book.