A glossy, thick brown barbecue sauce true to the spirit of the American South: ketchup, onion, garlic, brown sugar, honey, Worcestershire sauce, smoked paprika, and a touch of cayenne pepper.
Ingredients
- 1 piece yellow onion
- 2 cloves fresh garlic
- 360 g classic ketchup
- 45 ml Worcestershire sauce
- 60 ml cider vinegar
- 70 g brown sugar
- 45 g runny honey
- 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- to taste fine salt
- to taste ground black pepper
- 100 ml water
Method
- Prepare the aromatics: peel the onion and garlic, then mince them very finely. The finer the cut, the easier it will be to make the sauce smooth at the end.
- Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and sweat it gently until translucent, tender, and slightly blond, without pronounced browning.
- Add the garlic and cook briefly, just until it perfumes the oil. It must not brown: if it colors too quickly, lower the heat immediately.
- Add the smoked paprika and cayenne pepper. Stir them into the hot fat until the spices clearly smell smoky and of roasted pepper. This brief toasting awakens the sauce's color and aroma.
- Stir in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, cider vinegar, brown sugar, honey, and water. Mix with a whisk or spatula until the brown sugar begins to dissolve and the sauce is homogeneous.
- Bring to a gentle simmer, then lower the heat. The surface should form small, regular bubbles, not boil vigorously. Cook, stirring often, especially around the edges and across the bottom, until the sauce darkens, thickens, and coats the spatula.
- Taste and adjust with fine salt and black pepper. The sauce should be sweet, tangy, smoky, slightly hot, and salty enough to lift grilled meat.
- Blend the sauce directly in the saucepan or in a blender until smooth and glossy. For a perfectly even sauce, pass it through a fine sieve, pressing the onion fibers well.
- Return it to low heat briefly if it seems too thin. It is ready when a track left by the spatula closes slowly and the sauce holds in a thick layer on the back of a spoon.
- Let cool slightly before transferring to a clean jar. Use hot for glazing, cold as a condiment, or as a marinade before cooking meat.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 289.8 kcal
- Protein
- 2.62 g
- Carbohydrate
- 49.38 g
- Fat
- 8.04 g
- Fibre
- 2.36 g
- Calcium
- 33.35 mg
- Iron
- 1.43 mg
- Magnesium
- 28 mg
