Making Your Own Barbecue Sauce

Have you ever wondered how you could save some money on a barbecue? Well one way that you can do that is by making your own barbecue sauce. Homemade barbecue sauce is a great way to not only personalize your next barbecue, but to experiment as well. In fact, just about every cook worth their salt has their own "specialized" barbecue sauce. Some can be as complex as adding a few special ingredients to a preexisting or premade barbecue sauce, to making everything from scratch. In the end it doesn't really matter how the barbecue sauce is made; what matters is if you like it or not. The only way that you can figure that out, is by experimenting. Here is a simple tomato based barbecue sauce that you can use to begin your experimentations with.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Pepper to taste
• 4 tablespoons minced onions
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1-1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 can (16 ounces) of tomato paste
• 1 can (16 ounces) of tomato sauce
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire suace

Recipe:

1. Cook vegetables. Coat the bottom of a large sauce pan, or even a pot, with non-stick cooking spray and begin to cook the minced onions and the garlic. Use a low or medium-low heat to help ensure that there is no burning. Continue to cook the vegetable until they have become soft enough to cut with a spoon.
2. Add ingredients and simmer. Add the remaining ingredients (and any others that you may feel like adding) and mix everything together. Allow the mixture to come to a low boil, and then allow it to simmer for about 30 minutes. Make sure that you stir the sauce frequently to avoid any burning or scorching.
3. Refrigerate. Remove the sauce from your stove, and cover. Place the sauce into your refrigerator, and let it sit there for at least two days before you use it. Ideally, you will allow the mixture to sit for three days, to allow the ingredients to fully integrate and develop.
4. Use. Once you have finished allowing the sauce to blend, simply use it as a marinade, or brush it onto the meat you are going to be cooking.

This recipe is a very basic one, and can easily be adapted to your personal tastes. For example, if you would like to have a sweeter sauce, you can simply add a little bit of honey or brown sugar. Another option that you can use is to make a "Whiskey barbecue" by adding a little bit to your recipe. Ideally, for this kind of a sauce you will want to use bourbon due to its high sugar content. While not strictly "Whiskey" barbecue sauce, it can still be called this.