Homemade Barbecue Sauce

This sauce is the love child of ketchup and teriyaki sauce with a few added ingredients. Feel free to adjust the sweetness or spiciness. Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to barbecue. This is a basic sauce that can be twisted a million different ways. Add some bourbon or curry or lime, you name it. Get creative!


3/4 cup Teriyaki Sauce
1 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/4 - 1/2 cup raw honey (or more if you like a sweeter sauce, like me)
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper (or more if you like a spicer sauce, like my husband)
juice of one orange

Mix all ingredients together. Use immediately if you are baking with it or using it in a crockpot. Otherwise, simmer for 30 minutes over medium-low heat to develop the flavors.

Teriyaki Sauce

This makes a great marinade for meat or vegetables. It would be particularly good with salmon.


1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
3 gloves garlic, mashed
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon raw honey
1/2 cup naturally fermented soy sauce

Whisk all ingredients. Makes 3/4 cup.

Homemade Ketchup (Lacto-fermented)

I grind pickling spice and add it straight to the ketchup. If you do not own a spice grinder, steep one full tablespoon of pickling spice in the apple cider vinegar before adding the vinegar to the other ingredients. Strain the spices out.


3 cups canned organic tomato paste
1/4 cup whey*
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup fish sauce
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 tablespoon pickling spice, freshly ground
juice of one lemon

Blend everything together in food processor. Transfer to mason jars and sit at room temperature for 2 days to ferment before moving to the refrigerator.

*Note: Whey is the by-product of the cheese making process or can be obtained by straining plain yogurt. To do this, line a fine meshed strainer with cheesecloth and suspend the strainer over a bowl. Place plain yogurt in the strainer, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. The whey will separate and drain into the bowl leaving you with a thick yogurt cheese. Use that as a protein packed replacement for cream cheese.

Update 4/1/10:  Amount of tomato paste should be 3 cups, not 3 cans.  Thanks, Kim!  jm

Basic Vinaigrette

The method to make a vinaigrette is one part vinegar or acid to three parts oil plus flavorings (in addition to salt and pepper). In my basic recipe, I use champagne vinegar and olive oil, and flavor it with shallots, dijon mustart, and honey. Use this formula to make any type of vinaigrette you can imagine. Play around with the 3-1 ratio if you prefer more or less oil, as well as, the sweetener to balance out the vinegar. This can also be used as a marinade.


1 small shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1/2 cup good extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

In a small, wide mouth mason jar add shallot, mustard, honey, and vinegar. Using a hand-held immersion blender, blend the ingredients until slightly pureed. Slowly pour in the olive oil as the blender is running on low speed until the mixture emulsifies. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Taste and adjust sweetner/salt/pepper, as required. This will keep in the refrigerator for at least a week. Alternatively, this can be made in a blender, food processor, or by hand with a whisk.

Variations:
- Add any herbs. Use fresh herbs if you are using immediately and dried if you will be storing it for later use.
- Use garlic instead of shallot. Or red onion, leek, scallions.
- Use fresh ginger instead of shallot and replace some of the olive oil with sesame seed oil for an asian flavor- - Play with vinegars: Balsamic, Champagne, Red or White Wine Vinegar, Apple Cider Vinegar are all good
- Replace some or all of the vinegar with a citrus juice (lemon, orange, lime).
- Use pure maple syrup in place of honey

Note: Mark Bittman's book How to Cook Everything contains an awesome section on vinaigrette's. He provides a ton of different variations based on the oil, vinegar/acid, and flavoring method, all of which are so easy and so good.