My Best Sauces for Barbecue and Grilling
In the past posts we enjoyed playing practically a bit with all the existing seasoning tools: rub, marinade, injections, brine and glaze. Only sauces miss to complete a nice journey, between alternative recipes, some light technical explanation and some experiments. To be honest about sauces we talked yet about how to get 5 easy easy recipes from ketchup but we were all aware that it was a way too simplistic to deal with such an important topic.
There are peoples making of sauces a national pride, others declining recipes as a family patrimony, a bit like we do for ragu. The world of sauces deserves at least to be observed with care and respect. First of all let’s understand what we are talking about:
Sauce:
Gourmet preparation made up of a Flavor, a Binder and Aromas and / or SpicesIn lighter terms, therefore, a sauce is any liquid or creamy substance that binds to flavors or aromas. As can be seen, in contrast to the other seasoning instruments seen before, bound by a physical principle or in any case bound to a very precise application, in the case of sauces it can be said that the definition is at least generic. This already lets presume how many thousands of possible expressions are commonly understood under this name. 
I miss the boring classification of family sauces and all the ladder that leads from the roux to the sauces but I gladly like to look at this: according to the definition almost any seasoning can be termed as a sauce. A mayonnaise is a sauce but also the tomato sauce with which we cook the spaghetti it is. Even a Vinagrette it is and the same we can say for Pesto alla Genoese. They’re all sauces. But let’s face it openly, removing Chimichurri and a few other exceptions, if we talk about Barbecue what are the characteristics we see in our ideal sauces? Probably we will see them soft, dense, suave and velvety. In other words, the sauces we expect are very often emulsions. What can do to make all the difference in the world is the degree of voluptuousness we want to give it. To maximize: We want an extremely thick, almost as syrupy sauce as a Kansas City, coating and shining our Ribs or a safer and more acidic sauce like Alabama White Sauce, which nourishes our chicken but keeps on its skin that with so much fatigue we made so crunchy?
If you remember we already talked about this topic when we faced together the Marinades. In the case of sauces it is worth further exploring the concept. As you well know, I try to avoid if possible transforming a post into a doctorate in physics and / or chemistry so I will limit myself to the indispensable tightness to get to the point. In an emulsion, that is, the stable union of two liquids that by their nature tend to separate, the liquid that tends to so-called “coalescence”, or to group into balls, is the dispersed substance, the one that contains it is the continuous substance. Typically in a sauce the continuous substance is one that is perceived most into the mouth while the dispersed is the one that aromatically characterizes the whole. In Mayonnaise, for example, the fatty substance, so the oil is the most perceived, while the lemon contrasts it, giving the fresh and balanced taste we all like.
However, we know that emulsifying the dispersed substance in the steady state requires an emulsifier and here is the interesting part. To emulsify a sauce typically three types of emulsifiers can be used, each with its own effect:
- Egg Yolk – Contains among the many other things Lecithin, which is a phospholipid. You have to imagine it as a molecule with two heads, one tied to water while the other rejects it. In addition to creating a strong and stable bond, it gives sweetness and voluttuosity.
- Mustard – The principle is the same as the egg but the mustard contains less lecithin, so it binds much less, creates less savory sauces and brings an unmistakable aromatic note.
- Corn Starch – Alloy dispersed and continuous substance but based on a mechanical principle that limits the mobility of the particles by thickening the compound.
Now, let’s take the example of a non-emulsified sauce: a beautiful Vinagrette. Let’s imagine adding the egg yolk. The phospholipids will bind to vinegar, essentially composed of water and reverse the ratio: no more vinegar in oil but the opposite. The result is a very beautiful sauce to see, incredibly delicate and pale. And if we do it with mustard? Same thing but the sauce looks less voluptuous, plus a seasoning and aromatic much more intense. With Maizena, finally, an emulsion is created but no inversion in it, so confirms the acre note of the vinagrette, simply stabilized. All of this from the same basic ingredients. What task do you want to attribute to your sauce?
If you like to create sauces from scratch, apply this simple rule. If you prefer to start from semi-finished products, I leave here, as we did in all the cases where we talked about seasoning, some recipes of unjustly less known sauces, but which really deserve to be tested, together with my own interpretation out of the patterns, of the classic and popular Kansas City Style Barbecue Sauce. To these I add a further remarkable note: the beautiful Burger Boss site has posted just the days when I was writing this post, a recipe for a barbecue sauce that promises to be really interesting. If you happen, take a look at it. Enjoy!
Comeback Sauce
It is an original Mississippi sauce, very popular in the United States and corresponds to a spicy version of Romulade. If it is not enough the name Fry Sauce with which it is alternatively known, it is the typical home-country cuisine to suggest its most common uses: fried in general, but also fish, chicken and crustaceans or even dressing on salads. It seems to have been originally invented in a Jackson Greek restaurant. Realization is very simple: just add the ingredients to a blender.
1 Cup of Mayonnaise
1/4 Cup di Ketchup
1 Tbsp of Djione Mustard
1 tsp of Hot Sauce (or other spicy sauce)
1 tsp of Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp of Garlic Powder
1/2 tsp of Onion Powder
Lemon Juice as discretion
Black Pepper as discretion
Spicy Sauce
If you have stuck the United States and have had lunch in one of the many fast food chains met along the way, you certainly had the chance to see the description “secret sauce” as a typical burger dressing. Very often these are variations of the type of sauce I write here below. Even in this case, the realization is very simple: just add the ingredients into a blender.
1 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 Cup Ketchup
1/5 Cup Mustard
1 Tbps of minced Jalapeno
1 Tbsp of minced Pickles
1/2 Tbsp Dill
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/2 tsp Garlic powder
1/2 tsp Cayenna
Avocado, Yogurt and Mint
It is a fresh, summer, very pleasant sauce. The best match about me is with the crustaceans but also with the Lamb it works well. The realization involves putting all of the ingredients in a blender except oil, only added after having been smoothed them in a very homogeneous way.
1/2 Avocado
1 minced Shallot
2 Coriander leafs
1 minced Garlic clove
150 gr. Greek Yogurt
1 tsp Apple Vinegar
1 tsp White Pepper
1 pinch of Salt
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Cherry Chipotle BBQ Sauce
Whoever tried to share the competition field with me, knows it very well: I love the match between the aroma of black cherry and the barbecue sauce. I find that they marry in wonder. This is one of the many versions I have experienced over the years, in which I also included the vivid aroma of Chipotle Chili, another promised groom both of cherry flavor and barbecue sauce. To achieve this, just bring all the ingredients to boiling and then homogenize them with a mixer, lower the flame to minimum and let it simmer until it reaches the desired density level, for example 30 minutes, that is, until the sauce does she coat the back of a spoon of a red and brilliant layer.
1 Cup Heinz Ketchup
3/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
3 Tbsp Black Cherry Syrup
1 Chipotle in Adobo
1/2 Tbsp Mustard
1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp Chily Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt and 1 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
1 tsp Nutmeg
Get yourself into the world of sauces and try these recipes or create by yourself. It is a gastronomic experience that deserves better attention than we are accustomed to giving it to Italy. Do you know yet what the sauce you would like to make as first?
