Tuesday, January 11, 2011

BBQ Sauce On The Brain

When the weather takes a nasty turn I find myself inside and I think about condiments.  My favorite one is BBQ sauce, yes I consider it a condiment and I like to use it on almost everything.  Here is a recipe for a pretty darn good BBQ sauce.  It calls for 2 bottles of beer I should suggest two for the recipe and two to drink while making. 

Yield: 8 servings

Bacon, smoked, diced (or one ham hock)8 Oz

Onion, large, smoked, coarsely chopped1 each

Garlic cloves, smoked, chopped4 each

Ancho chilies, stems and seeds removed2 each

Arból chiles, stems removed2 each

Cracked black pepper1 TBS

Worcestershire sauce2 TBS

Beer, 12-Oz bottles2 each

Ketchup2 C

Hot pepper sauce6 dashes

Lemons, juice of2 each

Kosher salt2 tsp

Instructions:
1. Place bacon in a small sauce pot and cook over medium heat until crisp. Add smoked onions and garlic and sauté until translucent. Add ancho and arból chiles to pot and cook until chiles start to toast. Add cracked black pepper and deglaze pan with Worcestershire sauce and beer. Reduce sauce until it starts to thicken, then add ketchup and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 15 minutes. Season sauce with hot pepper sauce, lemon juice and kosher salt. Strain barbeque sauce through a chinois and reserve.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ken, how would I smoke an onion and also garlic?

Ken said...

Smoked Garlic Cloves are cloves of garlic that have been smoked to give them a smoky flavor. You use them as you would Roasted Garlic, but where you also want a smoky flavor.

The cloves can be just smoked, or smoked and dried. Smoked, dried garlic is sold in stores as whole bulbs. It will have a golden-brown color. It needs to be cooked up in a liquid to rehydrate it.

To make your own Smoked Garlic Cloves at home, you basically proceed as you would for for Roasted Garlic, but roast them in a smoker over wood chips, and put the garlic bulbs on grills instead of wrapping them up or putting them in a covered dish (which would of course prevent the smoke from getting at them.) Some people peel both the bulbs and the cloves, but you will need a fine grill to put them on so they don't fall through.

If you are smoking the bulbs with hot smoke (160 to 180 F / 70 to 80 C), you coat them in oil, and end up basically with soft roasted garlic that has been smoked.

If you are smoking the bulbs with cold smoke (up to 160 F / 70 C), they will cook, smoke and dry. No oil is used. The cloves will reduce to half their size. You can store these homemade smoked, dried garlic cloves in a cool, dry place for up to 3 weeks.

Note that smoking garlic is mostly a flavor enhancing technique, not a long-term preservation method.