Homemade Sausage Making

This is a finishing/table sauce for ribs and chicken. If I couldn't get turbinado sugar, I would substitute a 50/50 blend of dark brown cane sugar and white cane sugar. As with any such sauce, while it can be made on the day you need it, the sauce does benefit from sitting a day or three before use.

1/4 cup chili powder
1 cup turbinado sugar
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon celery salt
2 24-oz. bottles ketchup
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons chipotle Tabasco

Combine chili powder, sugar, pepper, garlic salt and celery salt in a small mixing bowl.

Combine ketchup, water, vinegar, mustard, Worcestershire and chipotle Tabasco in a 3-quart soup pot. Mix well. Add spice mixture. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cool sauce and transfer to 2 24-ounce ketchup bottles. There will be a little extra. Store in the refrigerator.

I have a friend who runs a sugar processing company. He tells me that Brown sugar is quite simply a blend of plain white sugar and molassas. About 10% for light brown and 15 % for dark brown. Worth knowing if you happen to be out.

ssorllih wrote:I have a friend who runs a sugar processing company. He tells me that Brown sugar is quite simply a blend of plain white sugar and molassas. About 10% for light brown and 15 % for dark brown. Worth knowing if you happen to be out.

Good point. Domino and Holly use chemically-cracked fructose chains to form a molasses that is added to plain white sugar, so it isn't like adding blackstrap to white sugar. The molasses they are using is lighter and thinner. OTH, it's a good trick. To sub for turbinado, I've found that a blend of white and brown sugars more closely approximates the flavor of turbinado. I have, on one occasion, used a combination of blackstrap and white sugar, to sub for dark brown, and I thought it was very good.

Good one thanks for posting!

I use molassas and white sugar when I want brown sugar.

I'm no fan of sweet sauces, but I'll ask anyway- - could you use piloncillo? It's crude sugar from Mexico, a grade above molasses but below brown sugar (it would seem), with a nice flavor that reminds me of days long ago when we'd cut cane and chew on it while headed home from the farm.

You can still get cane sugar from Mexico, since they weren't subject to the same politics that led the US to boycott Cuban sugar and switch to sugar beets. In fact, so-called Mexican Coke (made with cane sugar) is quite popular in central and south Texas.

Sorry for the ramble. If your local grocery has a Hispanic Foods section, check out piloncillo. You might like it.

In antique shops i sometimes see sugar molds. These were used to produce truncated cones of crude sugar that were then shaved for use. I also sometimes see these sugar cones in our local grocery store. They are a dark brown three inch long truncated cones about an inch and a half on one end and two inches on the other. They are sold in the produce section with hispanic veggies.

Would some kind knowledgeable soul please clarify for we the ignorant down under what the characteristics of sauces which have regional names, eg Memphis, Texas, Carolina etc etc are ? I would like to make some of these, but the ingredients don't always tell the story, which may be interesting know. Are there historical influences too ? I know I could do an internet search, but posting a question should yield more personal answers............
Regards all,
Gus

This should answer your questions

http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/BBQ_sauces/

Thank You Devo,

Exactly what I was after !

Regards,
Gus

Snagman, having read through the article, which overall seems pretty good, I think some corrections and additional information are in order.

2. South Carolina - In an area south of Columbia, particularly in the firehouse buffet dinners that are common down there, a variation on the basic mustard sauce has emerged that uses a fair amount of curry powder (like a Madras Curry). An interesting variation that has become increasingly popular in the past 20 years.

3. East Carolina style - The vinegar/pepper sauce tradition of East Carolina sauces is actually English in origin and dates to the Middle Ages (vinegar, salt and black pepper with roast pork), chili peppers were added after New World trade was established and chili peppers started to show up in Europe. This is the oldest style of barbecue sauce in the US.

4. Lexington/Piedmont - The Piedmont lies east of the Appalachians. The commonly-accepted transition line from East Carolina-style sauces to Piedmont sauces is around US Highway 1, further east than the article's map indicates, and the further west you go, the more tomato they contain. Lexington Dip, a kind of sauce used at the table where pulled pork is dipped in the sauce, sometimes contains secret ingredients like tamarind paste. Locals will tell you that there is a clear difference between Piedmont sauces and the sauces of western North Carolina, in that the western sauces are sweeter and sometimes milder, with more ketchup and less vinegar.

7. Kentucky Black Sauce - Owensboro is NOT "just east of Louisville", as stated in the article. Depending on how you drive it, Owensboro is about 2 hours 15 minutes southwest of Louisville (115 to 140 miles depending on the route), along the state line. Mutton barbecue is a specialty of the area, and the black sauce served with it usually includes coffee among its ingredients (not mentioned in the article). The author also doesn't seem to understand that mop sauces do not necessarily taste particularly good on their own, though they may impart spices and good flavor to the meat, itself.

10. His section on Memphis, I'd disagree with, having been born and raised there. The Memphis barbecue tradition is much, much older than barbecue spaghetti or even dry rub ribs. The sauce in west Tennessee is different from middle Tennessee and east Tennessee, and was before hosting a world-class barbecue competition. To say there is no regional sauce and that Memphians prefer dry ribs, is to ignore pulled pork shoulder and the table sauces that go with it. East Tennessee sauces are an extension of western North Carolina sauces. Middle Tennessee sauces are sharper and thinner, like eastern Piedmont sauces. West Tennessee sauces are a little thicker than middle Tennessee sauces, and often incorporate a little mustard. I do agree that, since the establishment of Memphis in May, the nature of barbecue has changed to some degree in Memphis, along with the cole slaw, which didn't contain mustard until relatively recently.

JMO, of course. Others will have different opinions.

Thanks Tom for that extra info, that is what makes the topic so valuable and interesting. There is a month's worth of reading on that site on all bbq topics too. All grist for the mill !

Regards, Gus

snagman wrote:...sauces which have regional names, eg Memphis, Texas, Carolina etc...

It varies across Texas, of course, but in Central Texas "it's about the meat" and the sauce is grudgingly served on the side if you ask for it. Here, the meat is smoked beef brisket.

Oh, yeah, that pork advertising campaign of a few years back about "the other white meat" fell on deaf ears. Here, the other white meat is fried catfish. ...yellow cornmeal dusted.