I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this sauce!!!! This will be "one and only" BBQ sauce from now on. It's thick, sweet and spicy and beautiful in color! To try it out..first I cut the servings to 12. I followed the scaled measurements except only used a pinch of cayenne and chili powder. Concern was it may be too spicy for kids. I did not have celery seed, so I had to leave it out. If you like a sweet and spicy sauce you must try this recipe. I will use this on chicken, pulled pork and ribs. UPDATE: I've made this again using the celery seed and think I like the taste without it. Also for a nice thick sauce it is necessary to simmer on low for at least 20 minutes.
Great! For anyone who like's sweet baby rays brand barbeque sauce, this is it! And advice to anyone wanting to make it, don't leave out the liquid smoke! I didn't have any, so I was just going to leave it out, but then my Dad offered to buy me some and when we added it it was SO much better and really added to the flavor. Only suggestions are that oil can be substituted for the butter or left out alltogether, the molasses can be reduced and it's still sweet, and the chili powder, cayenne, and pepper should probably be doubled. Red pepper is also wonderful for the flavor.
This is a GREAT sauce! I am catering a wedding reception the end of this month and needed a sauce I could call my own, so my kitchen was tore up from the floor up! I measured the spices and saved them for later, then I mixed up the liquids over a slow flame, I did not have any red wine vinegar, but I did have some marsala I mixed 1/4c. and the balance I used of white vinegar, I did not add the butter, I figured the fat from the meat would be enough and I wanted it to have some table time. The sauce tasted good but it had no depth, I only used 3 teaspoons of liquid smoke, and let it simmer for a while. Once I added the spices it was the bomb! This is the best sauce I have ever tasted. The spices are fantastic!! Whoever thought cinnamon would work in a bbq sauce? I told my husband, we have to go get a piece of meat to go with the sauce. Thanks for sharing, this is great!! I also simmered it for about 1 1/2 hours to thicken, Uuummm finger licken good!! I will serve it with pulled pork and baked chicken, I am sure you could serve this with fingernails, and toe-jams.it is so goooood!
I better add my comment, since I have been using the sauce for months. After using this recipe, you can stop searching for the perfect KC BBQ sauce. You only need 2 BBQ sauce recipes, KC and Texas. This will fill your KC slot.
I grew up in South Carolina and this BBQ sauce is the closest I've come to having a "taste of home". I made it when my son and his fraternity buddies were coming to Blacksburg for a football weekend and even with a tripled recipe of pork, I didn't have a drop left. My son didn't believe everything was homemade. I used the slow cooker pork BBQ recipe with bouillon and coffee and poured this sauce over after shredding the pork. Didn't change a thing on either recipe!!
Al must be holding something back if this is his restaurant version! This Barbeque Sauce needs some tweaking-Cut way back on the Red Wine Vinegar, double the spices (not the salt) and more Liquid Smoke. Also, use half tomato sauce and half tomato paste simmer about 10 min. longer than the recipe suggests-This will give you a thicker sauce.
I have found THE one BBQ sauce. No more store bought awful ones here! I made just as is (but halved the recipe= 1 1/2 C) and I simmered it for about 50 minutes. The next day it was nice and thick. The liquid smoke is a great flavor in this (a must!) and mellows out by the next day. I also used a pinch of cayenne so the kids could eat it. I used this on some pulled pork next it'll go on grilled chicken. Next time I'll make the full batch to keep on hand.
I used the sauce for beef ribs. Whow! The ribs were out of this world. I braised the meat and then let it cook in a crock pot in the sauce for some hours - the ribs were fall-apart tender and oh, so delicious!
This is an incredible bbq sauce recipe. I followed directions exactly. Took 2 beautiful slabs of ribs, precooked them in very low temp oven with a bit of red wine, then grilled them with some garlic rosemary, then separated them and put them back in over with big al's sauce for another hour on very low temp. Amazing! It was a crowd pleaser.
