Peppery Tomato Barbecue Sauce

Some barbecue sauces are thick, dark, and sweet, some are thin, orange, and spicy, and there's really a whole wealth of flavors, colors, and consistencies in between. Here's a peppery, red sauce barbecue sauce that's not too thick or too thin. Using some tomato sauce instead of all ketchup also makes it somewhat more healthy, or at least less unhealthy.

INGREDIENTS:
1. One 14-16 ounce can tomato sauce (the plain, thin kind - not pasta sauce!)
2. 1/2 cup ketchup
3. 2 tablespoons brown mustard, such as Kosciusko's
4. 1/4 cup white vinegar
5. 1/4 cup cider vinegar
6. 2 tbsp brown sugar
7. 2 tablespoons honey
8. 1 tablespoon pepper
9. 1 teaspoon onion powder
10. 1 teaspoon garlic powder
11. 1/2 teaspoon cumin
12. 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon for daring folks)

STEPS:
1. In a medium saucepan on medium heat, start simmering wet ingredients (tomato sauce, ketchup, vinegars) except honey.
2. Begin adding in spices and honey, stirring frequently.
3. Simmer until bubbling, then turn heat off.
4. Let cool a bit, then store in a jar or squeeze container.

This makes a delicious enchilada sauce for pulled pork enchiladas!

BBQ BASICS: Tips to Prevent Barbecue From Drying

The long cooking time required for barbecue leaves us with a bit of a risk of having our glorious, labor intensive dinner from drying out... especially if you're attempting to tackle a big old brisket. Fortunately, there are some effective ways to keep this from happening.

Just follow one or more of The Three B's: BASTE, BRINE, AND BACON.

Basting, as you've read in previous posts, makes use of a thin, generally acidic "mop sauce" applied to the meat while cooking. Most bastes in barbecue use a lot of vinegar. This accomplishes two feats: one, adding a tangy flavor, and two, helping keep the meat moist. The acidic environment opens pores in the meat, allowing moisture to seep in.

A simple baste could be as minimal as one part water to about two parts vinegar. Try using a couple different kinds of vinegars for unique flavor, or try mixing in coffee, mustard, or hot sauce. For lower fat meats, mix some extra virgin olive oil into your baste, or butter if you want to make a REALLY savory beef roast.

We at Sizzle Grove believe in always basting back ribs, but not necessarily doing so for spare ribs.

Brining is something you're familiar with if you've read our article on cooking pork shoulder. What's great about brining is that it introduces flavor and moisture into very large cuts of meat, when spice rubs and bastes might not be able to penetrate through to the center. The acids help break the meat down, allowing fat and collagen to literally baste the meat internally. In addition to pork shoulder, whole turkey is a particularly great candidate for brining.

Brines aren't as complicated as people seem to think. They're essentially glorified marinades, with copious levels of salt. Just simmer a few cups of water (enough to cover the meat in a container), three parts salt to one part sugar, and maybe some vinegar or another acidic liquid. The exact amount of salt might sound a bit copious, generally about a cup of salt to a gallon of water. Keep in mind, some of this salt penetrates the meat, but most of it remains in the brine which is drained before cooking.

Again, we think coffee is a great adjunct for a brine. Even a strong black tea could introduce a unique flavor. Brine your meat for 24-48 hours.

Mmmmm, bacon. We love bacon. One of the great things about smokey barbecue is, quite frankly, the bacony flavor that hickory and other hard wood smoke infuses into meats. Bacon can also be used to prevent barbecue from drying.

Simply draping a few strips of bacon over a piece of meat while it's on your smoker may help keep it from drying out. This may be particularly effective when cooking flat cut brisket, which still requires a bit of time but has a significantly lower fat content than large, commercial brisket roasts. Fat is necessary for long cooking in order to promote moisture, and bacon adds both fat and flavor. Sweet, sweet, bacony flavor.

Next time you fire up your 'cue to make some pulled pork or smokey brisket, try one of these methods to keep everything juicy and awesome. Don't forget to tell us how it came out.

POLL RESULTS ARE IN...

Our poll has closed, and 66% of Sizzle Grove's readers said that they would like to see more spice rub, marinade, and sauce recipes. Expect plenty more and tell all of your friends to check out our site!

Thanks for playing!

BBQ BASICS: Barbecue Lingo

Some of you folks browsing through barbecue blogs might have questions like "what the hell do they mean by bark and Boston butt?" Like all hobbies, there is a lot of lingo in the barbecue world. Here's a convenient run-down:

Babyback ribs / Back ribs: The smaller ribs taken from "high on the hog" - a.k.a. between the chest and spine, rather than around the belly.

Barbecue sauce: A type of sauce, often tomato-based, applied to barbecue which varies greatly by region. Ranges from thin, vinegary, and spicy to thick, dark, and sweet. Some regions prefer mustard-based barbecue sauces.

Barbecuing: Cooking over flames, indirectly and at a low temperature, with the addition of smoke from hard woods.

Bark: A crust, often heavily spiced, that forms on the outside of barbecued meat.

Baste: A liquid, often made with acids such as vinegar and sometimes made with fats such as olive oil, applied to meat during the cooking process in order to prevent drying and infuse extra flavor.

Boston butt / Pork shoulder / Pork butt: A type of large cut of pork which is well-marbled and high in fat, used often for barbecued pulled pork or chopped pork. Often contains shoulder blade bone.

Brine: A type of marinade with a high acid level and often a fairly high sugar content. Helps break down meat before cooking, and may be used for curing outside of the barbecue realm.

Brisket: A beef cut with a high fat and collagen content, from right below the neck of a cow (below the chuck cut). Requires long cooking time in order to prevent from being too tough. Never, ever, ever served rare, but still delicious.

Carolina barbecue: A type of barbecue generally hailing from South Carolina, often showcasing whole hog barbecue, pork shoulder, and spare ribs. Sauces are often thin, vinegary, spicy, and/or mustard-based, rather than thick and sweet.

Charcoal: Made from charred hard wood. Either sold as square shaped briquettes or as natural lump coals, this serves as the heat source for most barbecue.

Dry rub: A mixture of salt, pepper, spices, and/or herbs applied to the surface of food.

Grilling: Cooking over flames, with food close to the heat source and at a relatively high temperature, over either coals or with propane.

Hard wood: Wood from trees such as hickory, mesquite, oak, birch, or fruit trees, which may be used in barbecuing for a savory smoke flavor.

Kansas City barbecue: A style of barbecue popular in Missouri and Kansas, showcasing a wide spectrum of meats, particularly pork ribs. Generously applied, thick, sweet sauces made with tomato ketchup and molasses are most common.

Lump charcoal: A type of charcoal which is not processed and formed into briquettes, but rather sold as raw charred wood chunks. Generally cleaner burning than briquettes and with a lower ash level.

Marinade: A mixture of liquid and/or dry spices applied to food for a specific period of time, often hours or longer, in order to promote flavor penetration.

Memphis barbecue: Another pork-centric barbecue hailing from Tennessee, often featuring generously coated dry spices adhered by vinegary mop sauce in place of thick barbecue sauce.

Mop sauce: A baste or thin sauce applied during cooking, traditionally with a small mop.

Pulled pork (or chopped pork): Shredded or finely cut up barbecued pork, either from pork shoulder or whole hog barbecue, often served in sandwich form.

Smoker: A type of wood and/or charcoal grill promoting high levels of smoke which are infused into barbecued food.

Spare ribs: The very large, higher-fat ribs from around the belly or chest of a pig. Generally perceived as a tougher cut of meat, though may be tender and delicious if cooked properly.

Texas barbecue: Often beef-based, particularly focusing on brisket, and generally simply spiced with salt and pepper. May be served with hot sauce as per the consumer's prerogative, though rarely served with any type of sweet barbecue sauce.

As always, we'd love to hear from you if you see something that you think ought to be on this list. Submit to sizzlegrove@hotmail.com.

BBQ BASICS: What To Look For In A Smoker/Grill

Backyard smokers and grills come in a huge variety of designs and sizes. Most use charcoal, some are electric, and some homemade smokers are literally glorified trash cans with a hot plate and some wood chips - beware of doing this yourself, as the wrong type of metal trash can may release toxins into your cuisine.

HERE ARE THE MAIN THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN A BACKYARD SMOKER/GRILL:

1. Distance between grill grate and coals. Two to two and a half feet is optimal for slow barbecuing.

2. Ability to move the grill grate close or far away to the charcoal pan, or vice versa. This allows you to adjust the heat for slow barbecuing or fast charcoal grilling.

3. Ability to add more coals or wood. This, in most cases, will require moving the meat or the grill grate when the heat goes down. However, if you can get a smoker that allows you to add coals without moving stuff around.... sweet dude. Totally sweet.

4. Adjustable vents on the side. Such vents will allow or prevent oxygen flow. Opening these vents wider promotes oxygen flow, resulting in higher heat. Water smokers tend not to have this feature, but the door on the side of them may occasionally be opened for a few minutes if the heat is going down too low.

5. A temperature gauge. Some may indicate the exact temperature, while some brands have a gauge that says "Warm," "Ideal," and "Hot." If your smoker/grill has the latter, you may need to judge for yourself when food is fully done, or use a meat thermometer to obtain a specific temperature.

HERE ARE SOME COMMON TYPES OF SMOKERS AND GRILLS:


1. Barrel smokers appear as cylinder shaped receptacles, sometimes with a side compartment where the hot coals are placed. This design is great for allowing a chef to add more coals during cooking, promoting smoke flow, and slow cooking. Its one drawback is the fact that the heat source is all to one side. The resourceful chef, however, can make use of this by placing a thicker side of a piece of meat closer to the coal compartment.

2. Upright water smokers are perhaps the most common home smokers. They are tall, often with a rounded top, they contain a small grill, and they also include a water pan. This keeps the temperature down for slow smoking and additionally creates a steamy environment to prevent drying of food. Such a design is optimal for cooking turkeys and other large meats, however it may be difficult to keep your heat up and to create a pronounced "bark" on your barbecued meat.

3. Old fashioned, round, Weber-style charcoal grills are not to be overlooked. In our opinion, these are near perfect for barbecuing, and some of the fancier, stranger looking grills and smokers can't do as good of a job as these can. The difficulty is finding one large enough to promote low temperature cooking.

Smokey Barbecued Buffalo Wings

Wings are one of the best things ever. Make these.

MEAT:
Package of about 25 chicken wing segments, rinsed

RUB:
Teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder

SAUCE:
1/4 stick butter or margarine
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 tablespoons medium hot sauce, such as Frank's
1 teaspoon Sriracha (optional, for extra zing)
1 teaspoon honey

STEPS:
1. Melt butter and pour into a large bowl with other sauce ingredients.

2. Mix together and apply rub to chicken wings.

3. Fire up the smoker, with the grill grate closer to the coals to obtain a temperature of 325-350 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Cook wings for 45 minutes or until well browned, turning once halfway through. Internal temperature of wings should be 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

5. Toss wings in sauce until evenly coated.

Though we're not always traditionalists, we at Sizzle Grove like to enjoy wings with celery sticks. It's healthy, it's crunchy, it's refreshing, why not. Serve with your favorite blue cheese dressing if you're into that sorta thing.

You know what goes great with these? A cool glass of NY-brewed imperial India pale ale.

BREWERY SPOTLIGHT: Captain Lawrence

The battle rages on... east coast vs. west coast...

No, we're not talking about gangsta rap. We're talking beer. A lot of American craft beer fans enjoy the citrusy, high-octane, mega-hopped ales of the west coast, but the east certainly has some incredible contributions to the beer world. One of our favorite up-and-coming breweries is Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in Pleasantville, NY.

We've had several chances to visit this brewery and sample a variety of their beers, from their flagship pale and brown ales, to limited releases such as "Smoke From the Oak" aged porter and Cuvee de Castleton sour ale.

Being the hopheads we are, one of our favorites is their "Captain's Reserve Imperial IPA." Here's our review:

Translucent orangey color, pretty decent head. Big hop and fruit aroma. Huge apricot, pineapple, and grapefruit flavors. Some nice grassy hops too. Not overly sweet and malty and 'barleywine-ish' like a lot of DIPAs these days. Just the right sweetness, and a generous hop bitterness, but not tongue-biting.

$13.50 for a new growler, $10.50 for a refill

Overall score from Beer Advocate reviews: A-

Captain Lawrence Website

Try pairing this with some smokey barbecued buffalo chicken wings. Wait a minute, do we have a recipe for that???

BBQ SIDES: Herbed Garlic Toast

We at Sizzle Grove are garlic enthusiasts. Did you know garlic is believed to have an aphrodesiac effect? I mean, as long as your teeth are thoroughly brushed.

Here's a delicious side dish to serve with your favorite barbecue, or to be used in place of a roll for a brisket sandwich:

WHAT YOU NEED:

A big loaf of rustic bread, cut into thick slices
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Small handful chopped fresh parsley

WHAT YOU DO:

1. Mince garlic with a knife, or use a garlic press. Put minced garlic into a little microwaveable dish.

2. Put butter into dish with garlic.

3. Microwave for about thirty seconds, or until butter mostly melts.

4. Stir butter and garlic up, then add in olive oil, pepper, and parsley.

5. Refrigerate for a few hours, until mixture is congealed.

6. Spread herbed garlic butter onto bread slices.

7. Grill, bake, or toast at around 400 degrees Fahrenheit until edges of bread start to brown and crisp a bit.

If you'd like, try other herbs such as oregano, basil, or a combination!

BBQ BASICS: Charcoal Chimneys

A charcoal chimney starter makes it easy and efficient to start coals. It's possible to light said coals without lighter fluid, but using a little bit may help them catch a tad bit faster. Generally, a chimneyfull of briquettes takes about an hour to light.

1. Place a small amount of crumpled newspaper in the vented underside of your charcoal chimney.

2. Pour coals to the top. If you're using lighter fluid, drizzle that in and shake the coals for even dispersement.

3. Set the chimney on the grate or charcoal pan of your smoker/grill, and light the newspaper at the bottom. If the grill is unavailable, set your chimney on a flat concrete surface, with a bucket of water nearby for emergencies. Asphalt, depending on how freshly it was laid, may melt from the heat underneath.

4. Once the smoke is continuously billowing... GREAT SUCCESS! This means the coals are lit. If they are not lit, lift up the chimney using an oven mitt, carefully add another crumpled newspaper to the bottom, and relight.

5. After a while, flames will be visible at the top of the coals. This means you're almost ready. In about ten minutes, the top coals should be whitish colored and the flames should no longer be visible.


6. Unlike our friend Rob here, always use an oven mitt to carefully pour your coals in the charcoal pan of your smoker/grill. Wait five or ten minutes or so with the smoker open, to keep the coals oxygenated and help "pre-heat" your smoker. Isn't "pre-heat" a dumb phrase? I refer to it as heating. Pre-heating is when I think to myself "I want to cook something."

7. Start placing soaked wood chunks or chips onto the hot coals to produce savory smoke, place the grill grate in the appropriate spot, and start a-cookin.

Remember, keep your smoker on a hard, flat, non-flammable surface with a bucket of water nearby just in case. Always use an oven mitt when handling coals or your grill grate.

BBQ SIDES: Tangy Cole Slaw

Part of enjoying barbecue is having delicious sides to both complement and enhance the smokey, tangy, spicy, and sweet flavors. Cole slaw makes for a perfect side dish.

We at Sizzle Grove like our cole slaw with plenty of mustard. Mustard, we believe, is a fantastic staple of awesome barbecue. Here's our recipe:

CABBAGE:
*Half of a medium-sized cabbage
(May substitute a half pound bag of pre-shredded cole slaw)

DRESSING:
1.5 tablespoons mayo
1.5 tablespoons mustard
1.5 teaspoons olive oil
Pinch salt
Pinch black pepper
1 teaspoon honey
Pinch smoked paprika

STEPS:
1. In a large bowl, combine mayo, mustard, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar, and paprika. Mix well with a spoon until a consistent dressing is formed.

2. Either shred or finely dice large cabbage. Be sure to remove the tough, thick white sections underneath.

3. Mix cabbage into dressing until everything is well incorporated.

4. Transfer to a smaller dish with a lid, store in the fridge for a couple hours for all the flavors to blend together. The acids in the mustard and spices will help break down and soften the shredded cabbage.

Serve either on the side of your barbecue or ontop of a pulled pork sandwich. More side dish recipes to come. Let us know what your favorite recipes are too!