Griffin’s Old Virginia Red Barbecue Sauce

Boshizzle · Jun 12, 2014

jeffreywp1 said:
Do you have a old school recipe for VA rub?

The first rub on Virginia barbecue was nothing. After that, a little hickory ash. After that, perhaps a little salt. But, early on, all they did was put meat on the pit and baste it with vinegar, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Later, some of the more well to do people did some interesting things but it was just to distinguish the food they ate from the food their servants ate.

In the early 20th century, Virginia BBQ was pretty much seasoned with nothing, salt, salt water, or salt, pepper, cayenne and perhaps a little brown sugar and cumin.

Virginia barbecue style is minimalist. It's not candy coated like some other regional styles. It's about the meat and the smoke as much as anything.

Boshizzle · Jun 12, 2014

rdstoll said:
I made this for a graduation party last weekend and it was a total hit. Not sure a lot of folks like vinegar in my area so their enthusiastic approval of this sauce was a surprise. I did some pulled pork and decided to try this instead of my usual Lexington sauce that I normally conjure up for pulled pork and it was a wise decision!!

Awesome, thanks! I'm glad you all liked it!

tdizzle · Jun 16, 2014

definitely gonna try this tomorrow looks gooooooood

kpq · Jun 16, 2014

made both VERY GOOD MY #1 sauce from now on thanks!:bow:

sknabnoj · Jun 16, 2014

Great sauce, made some for my ribs this weekend, pure awesomeness. I used my homemade apple cider vinegar, I feel like it gave the sauce a whole range of flavor. This is definitely my go to sauce now!

LYU370 · Jun 16, 2014

Wasn't too sure when I first made it, but after sitting for a few days it mellowed out and turned out to be quite tasty!

Thanks!

Boshizzle · Jun 16, 2014

sknabnoj said:
Great sauce, made some for my ribs this weekend, pure awesomeness. I used my homemade apple cider vinegar, I feel like it gave the sauce a whole range of flavor. This is definitely my go to sauce now!

Sounds awesome! Tell us how you made the vinegar!

Boshizzle · Jun 16, 2014

I'm glad you all like the sauce!

I'm very proud of the brethren when it comes to the Shack sauce. Everyone that I have seen honor the old time BBQ cooks by always calling it by Shack's name. All I ask for this sauce is that you all call this one Griffin sauce to honor a great old time BBQ cook that history has up to now forgotten.

juno · Jun 16, 2014

Made some shack last week. Making up some griffin tonight! Thank you for the recipes!

patrickjf1 · Jun 16, 2014

Boshizzle said:
Often referred to by writers of his era as a "free man of color," Griffin became a very famous barbecue cook and restaurateur in Richmond, Virginia in the early to mid 1800s.

Sometime before 1853 Griffin had opened his own restaurant and by 1860, he had revitalized an entire area of the city. In fact, an Island in the James River was called "Griffin Island" for several decades. By the 1880's, people in Richmond longed for Griffin's barbecued shotes (~50 pound hogs), barbecued squirrels, and Brunswick stew.

Here is a Virginia red barbecue sauce inspired by Griffin. It's made old school style much like the sauces I used to see served at roadside barbecue stands when I was a kid but updated slightly for our modern palates. It also contains only ingredients that are known to have been used by Virginians up to the 1800's.

2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup ketchup
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup water
2 TBS yellow mustard
1.5 TBS Kosher salt
1 TBS lemon juice
1 TBS paprika (don't use a spicy hot variety; I prefer a bright red Spanish paprika)
1 ½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp celery salt
1 tsp fine ground black pepper
½ tsp ground sage
½ tsp granulated garlic
½ tsp cumin
Dash ground cayenne pepper (or to taste)

Add ingredients to a saucepan and bring to a simmer stirring often. Let sauce simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, remove from heat, cool, and serve. Store in the refrigerator. It gets better after a couple of days too.

Looks good. If I wanted to use my magic bullet to blend fresh celery and garlic. What portions would I use rather than dry ingredients?

Boshizzle · Jun 17, 2014

patrickjf1 said:
Looks good. If I wanted to use my magic bullet to blend fresh celery and garlic. What portions would I use rather than dry ingredients?

Celery seed and celery have slightly different flavors and celery takes a while to cook, so I have no idea on that one.

As far as garlic, I'd suggest 1 or 2 at most finely chopped cloves of garlic.

Kyle Serlington · Jun 17, 2014

well i just tried making a half batch of this, minus the sage because i didn't have any, and i added a little extra brown sugar. and i only had 3/4 of a cup of cider vinegar so i used a quarter cup white with it. not too bad but i've had better vinegar type sauces.

ICDEDTURKES · Jun 18, 2014

All I got to say if this tastes as good over pulled pork as it does as I am burning my finger going for 2nds and 3rd dips simmering in the pot, this is a winner... I have some Shack Attack for the girlfriend mixed up in the fridge as she is a low carb life... But this recipe may surpass my favorite mustard sauce recipe for pork THANKS ALOT...

Blanton · Jun 18, 2014

Made the SA this weekends pork. As already said, this ages like a fine wine. Unfortunately the pork is going to run out before the week to really taste it's glory

Pitmaster T · Jun 18, 2014

I am not posting my video of Purgatory Stout because I don't love Shack Attack. As I mentioned, Shack Attack INSPIRED purgatory stout - which is a stout that can be modified by sweetners'ketchup/mustard to make any sauce or stand alone.

I mention Boshizzle at 3:25

But I am interested in this griffin thing. Now that I have the MKT, which will probably cook burgers and dogs and sausage as well as some Cambro Bought in BBQ.

But there is this one thing I saw in BOTH Va and Tennessee I plan to do. They shred up the pulled pork like normal but then chill or freeze it.

Then when the customer ordered a sandwich they scooped it out and placed it on a griddle flat top on butter. I think they toasted the buns.... the pork was steamed with a but of vinegar sauce covered by a large lid... like the lid you use on a turkey cooker. I think the buns were steamed too

But lastly was a great sauce like this griffith stuff here. I can't wait to see the consistency of it (how it sticks to the meat).

Remember, there are entire BBQ Meccas up near there that don't put a SMIDGEN of rub on the pork or hog... because the flavor is in those sauces.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHvJNjHShj0"]Pitmaster T's Video Recipe Series - Purgatory Stout - YouTube[/ame]

kpq · Jun 19, 2014

Kyle Serlington said:
well i just tried making a half batch of this, minus the sage because i didn't have any, and i added a little extra brown sugar. and i only had 3/4 of a cup of cider vinegar so i used a quarter cup white with it. not too bad but i've had better vinegar type sauces.

everybody has there own taste on things but how do u tell if something is good or not if u don't make it as the recipe calls for?u might like it if u do!

NeilH · Jun 19, 2014

kpq said:
everybody has there own taste on things but how do u tell if something is good or not if u don't make it as the recipe calls for?u might like it if u do!

yeah, i like to follow the original recipe then tweak if needed.

Boshizzle · Jun 19, 2014

Pitmaster T said:
But there is this one thing I saw in BOTH Va and Tennessee I plan to do. They shred up the pulled pork like normal but then chill or freeze it.

Interesting! The BBQ restaurant I worked at while in high school used to do just that! The only difference is, we never seasoned any of the pork, pulled or minced but it was still delicious. The place is still in business. It opened in 1954. But, the original family sold it a while back and the new owners, in my opinion, have no idea what they are doing and the quality just isn't there anymore.

We would chop the "outside" meat which was the bark that was too hard for most people to eat and mix it with a little chopped pulled pork, freeze it, and reheat it to serve on minced BBQ sandwiches. Because we used direct heat, the bark would get a little hard on some parts of the shoulder. Even so, some people would specifically order "outside" meat just for the bark. But, far more people ordered pulled rather than minced, so it made sense to keep it chilled until time for use. The flavor of the minced was very good and quite different from the pulled. I didn't know that other places did that too. Thanks for the info!

bigbrew25 · Jun 19, 2014

Will have to try this. Thanks!!

Flash_333 · Jun 19, 2014

Outstanding info.

Griffin’s Old Virginia Red Barbecue Sauce

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