Because I Love You: Da Bomb BBQ Sauce--The Recipe

I kinda meant to post this a couple weeks back, but I've had lots of content, so I didn't bother.

But it's Memorial Day weekend this weekend, so I thought it was a great time to post this for those who have a long weekend. For me, every weekend's a long weekend, since I work four-day weeks. Heh. But this recipe's easy as hell to make. You can let it simmer a lot longer than 20 minutes, though, if you want to just use it for basting burgers and such. If you're slow-cooking it, though, there's no need to bother.

Happy weekend, kids.

* * *

WhippedBoy and I hung on Mother's Day, since we're both motherless. We did a great little pointless roadtrip down to the States, then rushed on home to gorge ourselves on ribs.

Beefy ribs. Big beefy ribs. (Again, size does count.) Amazingly good, rich, spicy, uberbarbecue ribs. Who cooked said ribs? I did, of course. Humility? None. It's like anything, you know when you done good.

I drowned--DROWNED--a rack of seven big, beefy ribs in copious homemade barbecue sauce, marinated 'em 24 hours, baked it in a slow oven for 1.5 hours, turning once and basting often, before finishing 'em on a medium barbecue for five minutes a side.

Absolutely incredible. Beats the shit outta any BBQ house I've visited in a while. I came THIS CLOSE to becoming a chef, people. I tell you, this recipe's the bomb.

So, for you? The sauce recipe. For 20 minutes of woefully simple labour, you can make five cups of the best damn BBQ sauce around. Here you go. It's Emeril Lagasse's recipe, but it's the bomb.

(I didn't fully stick to the recipe--I used molasses, not cane sugar, and more than it called for, 1/2 the brown sugar, 50% more worcestshire, and 1/2 the vinegar. The rest? Thumbs up. Maybe a little extra spice, too.) And lucky GayBoy, he's in line to taste the rest of this sweet, sweet, mother-of-god sauce. (That happened the other day, and GayBoy now admits I'm the bomb when it comes to ribs, man. Whoo!)

Finger-lickin' BBQ Sauce:

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup chopped yellow onions
2 tablespoons chopped garlic
4 cups ketchup
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons cane syrup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons hot red pepper sauce
2 teaspoons Emeril's Essence** (see below)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the ketchup, brown sugar, cane syrup, vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire, hot sauce, Essence, and red pepper flakes and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and the flavors marry, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly before serving.

Yield: about 4 cups

Emeril's Essence? Bite me, Emeril. First off, go for two tablespoons at least combined of: chili powder, cayenne pepper, thyme, salt, pepper, cumin, coriander, etc. Do NOT be afraid of the spice! Or go buy that store-made shit.

If it's thick, you should water it down for baking it longterm in an oven. I recommend BOURBON. Or at the very least, Jack Daniels.

Happy barbecue season, readers.
Burn one down.