When did BBQ become sweet? (video)

[plakers]

Dont care to hijack but my question is related, when did bacon become sweet??
or sausage? I know the Jimmy Dean maple flavors are big sellers but none goes in my cart.

[Panthers65]

I was always to understand that vinegar based pork BBQ in slow smokers originated on the Easters coast, and sweet based beef BBQ cooked over a smokey open n pit was from the central and southcentral US. As far as them stretching to other parts of the country that's just how trade has expanded the industry.

I think the 'wet' look of the ribs is a result of the judges in comps.

[1MoreFord]

Here ya go Mista. When I was growin' up this was bbq sauce in central Arkansas. Seemed most every joint used this or a clone. This has been posted here a couple of times before.

http://www.ibdjohn.com/shack/

Shack BBQ Sauce

Wet Stuff


Mix in a large bowl:

3 - 24 ounce bottle of ketchup (catsup)
Use the plastic ones, we will refill after making sauce.

Fill with hot water, swoosh around and dump contents into bowl.
Folks have asked: HOW MUCH WATER? Fill all three bottles, and dump all into 'Wet Stuff'
(For original recipe use Grapette from Wal Mart- see 'additional notes').

Pour in plain ole cheap vinegar. "THE" recipe calls for just less than a quart, do not sweat this. use anywhere from a pint to a quart, strangely, this amount has scant effect on final product.

Put "wet stuff' in a LARGE pan, put heat on "high"
by the time it is approaching a boil, you will have "dry stuff' prepared.



Dry Stuff:


Since you dumped wet stuff out of bowl, why not use for 'dry'?
Into bowl, dump:

1 - 4 ounce can of chili powder
1 - 4 ounce can of black pepper
1 - 4 ounce can of garlic salt (SALT, NOT garlic powder!!!)
1/2 cup - sugar (is the ORIGINAL amount, why not TRY that, and adjust to your very own taste after 'brewing' mess up...likewise with Tabasco. See below)
1 - small Tabasco (anywhere from 1 to 4 ounces..start with about 1 oz...you can 'play' to taste after whole mess is completed.
1 - small mustard (size of an apple, just regular ole smear on a hotdog yeller mustard)

Stir
...btw, easier to put the mustard in last, and just swirl around till it looks like chocolaty brown tar.



Simmer


Dump all this stuff into pan on stove now approaching a simmer if you have been quick, and if you rinsed out the catsup with HOT water;-)

stir enough to make it evenly liquid...bring to a boil and immediately lower heat to a simmer.

30 minutes, (stir fairly often to avoid sticking).. during which the vinegar will bring sweat to your forehead, and tears to your eyes...think ventilation here.



Finish


That is it.
Remove from heat, pour back into bottles you saved, unfortunately, you will have an excess of sauce. Improvise, all life has dry rot.

You now have a LOT of sauce. I always do, and find it MOST welcome as a gift.

BTW, there is no need to refrigerate your sauce supply, even if you inhabit hot and humid southern climes! Apparently mischievous microbes refrain from causing problems in gratitude for being immersed in this tomato based necter, or are immobilized by the ingredients rendering them deliciously inert.



Additional Notes


Do it this way the first time, later, you may substitute Grapette, for the water (seriously) SHACK DID for several decades ... for total authenticity you can obtain Grapette from Wal Mart

I add about a cup of sugar to my sauce, but this is heresy, and practice has strong adherents and detractors.

Likewise minced onions, NOT authentic, but can be pleasant.

Do NOT futz with the amount of black pepper. I KNOW it sounds like a lot. Trust me on this.

Also remember garlic SALT, not garlic powder!! several folks got this wrong, actually the sauce wasn't bad, but they were not fit as shipmates for WEEKS.

Do NOT judge 'heat', as in taste, by sipping off spoon from pot, even if you were stingy with the Tabasco. Dunk a piece of bread into sauce and sample that way.

Should you screw up your courage and actually MAKE this stuff and after having your friends, co-workers and mistress try it, drop me an e-mail with comments : click dp

[1MoreFord]

Here's a couple more that have Texas roots you might be interested in.

First is Bigwheel's version of Smitty's BBQ Sauce

To a non reactive pot add this:

1 big jug of ketchup 46oz size
1 small bottle Lea n Perrins Wooster Sauce
2 T. chili powder
2 T. granulated onyawn
1 T. granulated garlic
1 small can grapefruit juice (Sacramento Brand if you can find it) BW once said any kind of juice but Smitty used grapefruit as a mystery ingredient.
2 t. cayenne (or however much suits your taste)
1 big ketchup jug full of water

Put it in the coolest part of the pit and let it chuckle away all day without a lid. Serve it on the side.

The next one was called Tom & Mary's Sauce when I found it somewhere or the other. Think it was National BBQ News.

Saute 3/4 cup of onion and 2 or more cloves of garlic in oil of your choice. Pour off the oil (or not) and add these ingredients -

3/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup vinegar (I used Apple cider vinegar)
3 tblsp sugar (I used turbinado)
3 tblsp Worchestershire sauce (go ahead - I can't spell either)
3 tblsp Mustard (plain old yellow)
2 tsp Salt (I used kosher)
1 tsp Pepper (Fresh ground)
1 8 oz can tomato sauce

Simmer until your happy with the thickness. This was the Taste of Texas to me as a child.

[Boshizzle]

The amount of sugar in BBQ sauce is directly proportional to the price and availability of sugar. People have always liked sweet foods but only in the last 100 years or so in the U.S. have most people been able to afford sugar in large quantities.

Remember, sugar used to be to the world what oil is today. It was rare and costly and was a symbol of prosperity.

"Old fashioned barbecues" gave way to barbecue and ice cream meetings around the 1890s. That's also when you began to see the hot dog and hamburger stands showing up and even at barbecues. Not long after, barbecue sauces for the masses began to get sweeter and sweeter.

But, wealthy people used sugar on barbecue for decades before others could afford it.

The current central Texas tradition came along almost as its own thing. People working at meat markets in central Texas started cooking meat for themselves to eat for lunch/dinner. They used salt and peper on the meat to cook it because that's all they thought they were doing was cooking lunch and dinner for themselves. Customers found the aroma very appetizing and began asking if they could buy some. Next thing you know, the meat market/butcher was in the barbecue business selling roasted meat. That practice spread throughout the region.

[martyleach]

Great looking sauce. Gotta try that!

[Bludawg]

In the last few months my brains returned and I realized that my BBQ had one off the rails. It was time to go back to what I grew up on Simple ingredients( read Salt & Pepper) and a clean hot fire. I was shocked on the first cook I could actually taste the meat of my youth. Now I have never been a Big BBQ sauce type a person and I prefer more of a savory to sweet. Growing up our sauce was A thin salsa de arbol mixed with some Lonestar and drippins or Grandaddys Mop and sometimes a little coffee tossed in especially if the Lonestar was in short supply.

Salsa de Arbol

1 qrt roasted tomatoes
8 chili arbol
juice of 1/2 a lime
2 tsp Garlic salt Not powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp dried Cilantro
Dump it all in a blender pulse 6 times Jar it up let it stand overnight.

[HogFan]

Doesn't catsup have a lot of sugar? What's the difference between adding sugar to a tomato base and starting with catsup?

[FamilyManBBQ]

My name is FamilyMan and I have a problem?? I likes sweet bbq...sweet with a bit of heat, as a matter of fact. Kind of what we shoot for when cooking in comps (for our ribs, pork and chicken for sure).

I'll also admit to liking a more savory, not sweet and more peppery, flavor for all things beef.

For me, it depends on the situation, and what we are cooking.

Kinda mesmerized by your video Neil, almost hypnotic. I'm pretty sure I'd swear off the sweet stuff forever if I watch it enough times.

[Bigmista]

...you are getting sleepy...drowsier and drowsier...

[BBQchef33]

for us, its only sweet for judges.. home and eatin stuff is savory.... rosemary, thyme, oregano and garlic.. no sugar for us... and no sauces.... but for contests, candy on a stick.

[Bigmista]

Funny thing is, if ask most judges, they don't care for sweet either.

[Bigmista]

Thanks for all the recipes! I will post when I give them a try.

[Militant83]

Originally Posted by Bourbon Barrel BBQ

Commercial BBQ sauces started the sweet trend IMO. Go look at your local grocery store shelf and check the labels. The majority of them have lots of high fructose corn syrup. Sweet isn't just a product of competition BBQ.

Bigmista first off great video, I spent all night last night on a slow night at work catching up on your videos I enjoyed everyone of them.

I agree with the above statement I think the sweetness first came into the picture when bbq sauce became commercialized. But I also think the popularity in competition BBQ has a part in it as well.

I think another factor is how peoples taste have developed over years. Back when BBQ was nothing but savory rubs and minimal sauces sweets were not as popular in peoples diets as they are today. In society today sweets are such a big part of people diets, they have aquired a need for sweetness in other foods as well.

Personally I prefer the savory BBQ, if I eat it sweet at all its only on ribs. I wouldnt even eat ribs with a sweet sauce if it wasnt for my wife loving sweet bbq.

[---k---]

I blame California!
and do we need some of the comp guys to post "shig alert"??

Originally Posted by Bourbon Barrel BBQ

Commercial BBQ sauces started the sweet trend IMO. Go look at your local grocery store shelf and check the labels. The majority of them have lots of high fructose corn syrup. Sweet isn't just a product of competition BBQ.

Actually, I agree 100% with this. KC Masterpeice and it just kept getting sweeter. A sweet arms race in the grocery aisle.


I too am a fan of the savory side of BBQ. But my better half prefers Blues Hog....


So, when can we expect to be able to buy your non-sweet rubs and sauces.