Four Easy, Homemade Barbecue Sauces

 

Article By: Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough   Print   Email

 

Every month, enjoy the simple but elegant pleasures of a delicious, easy-to-prepare meal. Busy or not, here we come. Every month “Everyday Gourmet” serves up new recipes, cooking tips and ideas for dishes that are elegant in taste and presentation, yet simple enough to prepare and enjoy in a snap. Read the article below

OK, here’s our confession: by this time of the summer, we’re a little sick of the grill.

Not that we want to turn the oven on, mind you. But sometime around mid-August, we can actually blanche at yet another barbecued chicken breast, yet another burger, yet another piece of grilled salmon.

Admittedly, it’s silly—especially since come December, we’ll be knocking the snow off the grill for just one meal from the deck. But such is life. Too much of a good thing is, well, too much.

So about now, we really start to lean on good, flavorful barbecue sauces to keep things interesting. A solid barbecue sauce gives meat and vegetables lots of flavor, thanks mostly to that extra layer of caramelizing sugars it affords.

But there’s one trick: don’t douse things with barbecue sauce the minute they go over the heat. The sauce will burn long before the food is cooked through. Rather, add the barbecue sauce two-thirds of the way through cooking time so that the food itself has its own chance over the heat—and its natural sugars are caramelized before those in the sauce are added. You just want the sauce to heat up and turn into a thickened glaze, not a carbon nightmare.

So keep on grilling with these four easy sauces: two no-cook recipes and two classic combos. They’ll store a while in the fridge, so you can even make a couple and let everyone choose their favorite.

About the No-Cook Apricot Barbecue Sauce
Here’s a fruit-based barbecue sauce that’s perfect for chicken breasts, turkey burgers or grilled salmon fillets. Best of all, you don’t have to heat up the stove to make this backyard favorite. Want it spicier? Add several dashes of bottled hot red pepper sauce such as Tabasco.

About the No-Cook Tomato Barbecue Sauce
There may be a basic divide in barbecue sauces between the sweet and the vinegary, but this no-cook sauce actually crosses the line to give you the best of both worlds. Use it on boneless pork loin chops, chicken thighs, beef burgers or even steaks.

About the Chinese Barbecue Sauce
This thick sauce is familiar from roasted pork and other Chinese barbecue delights. Here’s an easy version that’s great brushed on shrimp, scallops or lobster tails, as well as on lean cuts of pork such as tenderloin and center-cut loin chops.

About the Chile Barbecue Sauce
Here’s a spicy barbecue sauce that’s fit for ribs, burgers, turkey wings or legs, lamb or rabbit—any hearty meat on the grill. Make sure you use pure chile powder, made just from ground dried chiles, not mixed with oregano and cumin as the blends often are.