KC Classic Barbecue Sauce

"Kansas City barbecue goes shamelessly for the sweet tooth." Meathead

Although there are several distinctly different regional styles of barbecue sauce in the US, the thick red stuff is what most of us reach for when our spouse says "pick up some barbecue sauce, willya?"

If you are no longer living with your parents, you really should have a house sauce made without preservatives, additives, stabilizers, and emulsifiers, so that when your guests ask "what brand of sauce is that?" you can plunk a hand labeled bottle on the table. When they beg you for the recipe, you can then tell them "It's a family secret" and mumble the old saw that ends in "and then I'd have to kill you."

Traditional KC style sauces are always tomato based, and there are a lot of ingredients, but they are easy to assemble and each contributes complexity. The best have multiple sources of sweetness (brown sugar, molasses, honey, and onion - which gets sweet when it is cooked); multiple sources of tartness (vinegar, lemon juice, hot sauce, and steak sauce); multiple sources of heat (chili powder, black pepper, mustard, and hot sauce); and it gets layers of flavor from all the above as well as ketchup, Worcestershire, garlic, and salt. It's not a KC Masterpiece, but it is a KC Classic. Try it and you'll never use the bottled stuff again.

Most Kansas City sauces are brass bands with multiple layers of flavors, sweets, and heats. Because they are thick and tomatoey, they sit on top of the meat, not penetrating very far. For this reason you don't want to use too much. Just one or two layers, max. Let the meat shine through. Don't drown it in sauce.

Recipe

Yield: 6 cups. Click here to calculate how much you need and for tips on saucing strategies.
Preparation: 15 minutes
Cooking: 15 minutes

Ingredients
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon table salt

2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup yellow ballpark-style mustard
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup steak sauce
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon hot sauce
1 cup dark brown sugar (you can use light brown sugar if that's all you have)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 medium cloves of garlic, crushed or minced

Optional. If you are cooking indoors, or if your meat does not have a lot of smoke flavor, or if you just want more smoke flavor, you can add 1 teaspoon of liquid smoke.

About the chili powder. In the US chili powder is not just pure grated chilis. It is a blend of a small amount of hot chile pepper powder, perhaps chipotle, with milder peppers such as ancho, and other herbs and spices, usually cumin, dried oregano, garlic powder, and salt. It was originally developed for making gthe cowboy stew, chile con carne. Not all chili powders are created equal. Many of the common grocery store chili powders are lifeless and dumbed down for the Anglo consumer. Buy your chili powder from a Mexican grocer or online or better still, make your own signature chili powder so you know it is fresh and just to your taste

About the vinegar. I like my sauce tart. If you are not big on vinegar, cut it in half.

About the steak sauce. There are many different brands and they all have different flavor profiles, but what we want here is the meaty depth of savoriness that they call umami, so use whatever you have on hand.

About the oil. You may use butter or bacon fat for a bit more flavor, but they can get rancid with time, and they will likely shorten shelf life to about 1 week.

Secret ingredient. Add 2 tablespoons of tamarind paste. This exotic ingredient isn't really that exotic. It shows up on the ingredient lists of a lot of great BBQ sauces. It has a sweet citrusy flavor and really amps up a sauce. If you can't find it in an Indian or Asian grocery, it is available online. Worth looking for.

Do this
1) In a small bowl, mix the chili powder, black pepper, and salt. In a large bowl, mix the ketchup, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire, lemon juice, steak sauce, molasses, honey, hot sauce, and brown sugar. Mix them, but you don't have to mix thoroughly.

2) Over medium heat, warm the oil in a large saucepan. Add the onions and saute until limp and translucent, about 5 minutes. Crush the garlic, add it, and cook for another minute. Add the dry spices and stir for about 2 minutes to extract their oil-soluble flavors. Add the wet ingredients. Simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes with the lid off to thicken it a bit.

3) Taste and adjust. Add more of anything that you want a little bit at a time. It may taste a bit vinegary at first, but that will be less obvious when you use it. Remember, it is going on meat and will be cooked once again. Strain it if you don't want the chunks of onion and garlic. I prefer leaving them in. They give the sauce a home-made texture. You can use it immediately, but I think it's better when aged overnight. You can store it into clean bottles in the refrigerator for a month or two.

This page was revised 1/14/2011

---

NOMINEE: 2010 World Food Media Awards MEMBER: International Association of Culinary Professionals MEMBER: Kansas City Barbeque Society MEMBER: National Barbecue Association REPRESENTED BY: The Lisa Ekus Group Promoting A World Of Culinary Talent Important Info About This Website AmazingRibs.com is all about the Zen of barbecue, grilling, and outdoor cooking, with great BBQ recipes and techniques: Barbecue baby back ribs, spareribs, pulled pork, beef brisket, steak, burgers, chicken, smoked turkey, lamb, barbecue sauces, burgers, steaks, rubs, and side dishes, with the world's best buying guide to barbecue smokers and grills. It is written, photographed, illustrated, and coded solely by Meathead. AmazingRibs.com is published by AmazingRibs, Inc., a Florida Corporation. Our philosophy about food is simple. First of all it must taste great. It must be easy to make and emphasize fresh seasonal products with a minimum of processed ingredients. We think that people need to know why as well as how, so we spend a lot of time explaining things, and we believe that there are no rules in the bedroom or dining room. About Product Reviews and Best in BBQ Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals are highly recommended products. Awards are based on features, quality, and value. Rest assured that when we recommend a product, it is really because we like it, not because someone has paid us to say so or because the company is an advertiser or sponsor. We purchase most products we review although occasionally suppliers send us samples. We have always been transparent about when we are reviewing a product sample, even before the Federal Trade Commission Required it in 2009. About links on this site. Other than clearly marked ads, links and recommendations on this site are all products, services, and websites we truly admire, and are never paid endorsements. Your suggestions are always welcome. If you would like us to link to your website, click here to read our links policy first. Advertising on this site. AmazingRibs.com is one of the 100 most popular food websites in the US according to comScore, Alexa, and Quantcast. It is by far the most popular barbecue website in the world and pageviews double every year. Advertising on AmazingRibs.com is a great way to build your brand or make direct sales. I keep a strict wall between editorial and advertising, so, for current pricing and availability of prime space, contact my agency, Federated Media, by clicking the logo at right. Click here for analytics, stats, demographics, and advertising options. Our Privacy Promise. AmazingRibs, Inc. promises to never sell or distribute any info about you individually without your express permission, and we promise not to, ahem, pepper you with email or make you eat spam. Click here for more details of my privacy promise. Disclaimer. The information on this website is for educational purposes only. All material within comes without warranties of any kind. The authors are human and capable of mistakes, omissions, or errors, so we make no guarantees as to the accuracy, completeness, or safety of the information. Under no circumstances are we liable for any damages that result from use of the site (so you can't sue us if you don't like a recipe or if you burn your tongue on hot ribs, OK?). Copyright © 2011 by AmazingRibs, Inc. Unless otherwise noted, all text, recipes, photos, and code are owned by AmazingRibs, Inc and fully protected by US copyright law. This means you need written permission to republish or distribute anything on this website. But we're easy. To get reprint rights, click here. Note: Some photos of commercial products such as grills were provided by the manufacturers and under their copyright.

---

| Homepage | Table of Contents |
| Weights, Measures, Conversions | Techniques | Recipes | Buyer's Guides | Links | Ruminations | Ingredients |
| Misc BBQ Articles | One Nation Under Sauce | Meet Meathead | Newsletter | Updates | Donations |
| Privacy Promise, Code of Ethics, Other Legal Terms | Advertising and Sponsorship Opportunities |