Barbecue Sauce

This is a tomato-based barbecue sauce in the general style of sauces found in Texas and St. Louis. It’s a bit sweet but not at all thick or gooey and it has enough vinegar to give it a pleasant tang.

Makes

About 1 gal.

Hardware

Ingredients

3 1/2 lbs   onions (gross, net = 3 lbs)
  vegetable oil (not olive)
35 oz   tomato puree
106 oz   canned tomatoes, with juice
12 oz   white vinegar
2 1/2 oz   liquid smoke (5 Tblsp)
10 oz   RC Cola
10 oz   Gulden’s "spicy" brown mustard
10 oz   dark brown sugar
2 1/2 Tblsp   kosher salt
1 1/4 tsp   black pepper
1 1/4 tsp   sweet paprika
1 1/4 tsp   chili powder

Procedure

  1. Roughly chop the onions.

  2. Working in batches, put the sauteuse pan over a high flame and heat some oil; when it’s good and hot, dump in some onions and cook until they start to turn brown; dump them in the 12 quart pot and repeat as many times as necessary. If there’s a lot of gunk stuck on the pan, deglaze with a bit of the vinegar between batches.

  3. While the onions are cooking, open the cans and dump everything but the vinegar and cola into the big pot. If necessary, use some of the vinegar or cola to rinse out the mustard bottle. Turn the heat to high and start to bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

  4. After the onions are all cooked and the pan deglazed for the last time, then pour any remaining vinegar and cola into the big pot.

  5. Just before the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer as slowly as possible for 4 hours.

  6. Allow the sauce to cool.

  7. Puree the sauce using a stick blender or food processor.

Notes

The quantity of tomatoes given is one (1) “number 10” can.

This sauce is the base for my Piedmont-style barbecue sauce (similar to those found in western North Carolina).

Approximately 27 calories per ounce.

If you can’t find RC Cola, Coca-Cola (a/k/a “Coke”) is an acceptable substitute

From April 2022: The yield (cooked, picked, and shredded) from 37 thighs, each approximately 8.5 ounces, was approximately 110 ounces. This was then mixed with 6 cups of sauce.

Rating

Difficulty: Very easy

Time: About 5 hours

Precision: 2

Source

Adapted from The Thrill of The Grill, by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby.
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