Barbecue sauce recipe

Made some home made barbecue sauce last week, pretty nice recipe I thought.  Works well for basting while cooking or dipping.

Chop a small onion (or half a big one) fairly finely and start frying gently in some olive oil or butter.

When the onion is just about soft, add a couple of teaspoons of chopped garlic.  I’m lazy and use precrushed, feel free to chop your own if you are an enthusiast.

Cook until the garlic has calmed down a bit, but don’t start the onion or garlic colouring.

Add 1 cup of bourbon.  I used home brew.

Cook gently until the alcohol smell has gone.

Add 2 cups tomato sauce, and half a cup of tomato paste.

Add ½ cup of brown sugar.

Add ½ cup of maple syrup.

Add ½ cup of vinegar (white or malt, whatever you have kicking about.)  You may need some more depending on how acid the tomato is, but taste first.

Add as much Tabasco as you feel like, there’s a lot of tomato to season so don’t be afraid to give it some.

Season with salt and pepper, again don’t be afraid to go in fairly hard.
[EDIT]  A couple of teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce is also nice for some tang.

Cook gently for about ½ hour with the lid on the saucepan, then toss the lid and cook further until it’s a little reduced – I like it moderately thick.

If you have some liquid smoke about half a cap goes well in there too, but no more than that or all you will taste is smoke.

Going to have a go at replicating the TGI Friday’s dipping sauce next, it’s more of a thin glaze based on bourbon, a little tomato, vinegar, onion, garlic and pineapple.