As you will see I have used ribs with the sauce, but of course the beauty of BBQ sauce is you can use it with almost anything from the grill. From chicken to mushrooms and even onto your homemade burgers, it adds something special. So get making it so you can start pouring it

 Ingredients

•  50g Butter
• 1 Small Onion or Shallot
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 500ml Tomato Ketchup
• 3 Tbsp Black Treacle
• 1 Tsp English Mustard Powder
• 1 Tsp Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Paprika
• 1 Tsp Sugar

Optional

• 1 Tbsp Red Chilli Flakes

Mince your onion/shallot (chop as finely as you possibly can), then melt the butter in a pan on a gentle heat and add your fine chopped onion. We want to soften the onion and let it release its flavour into the butter, so about 10 minutes. Then add your garlic either crushed or minced and stir in for about 1-2 minutes.

Take you ketchup (yes we are using the whole bottle!) and pour it into the pan, again keeping the heat low. Now add in the black treacle and again gently stir it in.

Once you have stirred enough for the contents of pan to be completely combined add all of the other ingredients and stir in thoroughly. If you like it spicy add the tablespoon of chilli flakes as well. You could use a teaspoon of chilli powder instead, but I think the flakes add a smokiness and texture to the sauce.

Warning – We are now going to turn up the heat and the sauce will bubble and spit. Put a lid on the pan, then turn up the hob, we want to get a good blast of heat through the sauce, it should take only a minute or two. Once bubbling away turn the heat down again, remove the lid and give a good stir.

Replace the lid and leave on a low heat for about 15 minutes. It’s going to be seriously hot in there so don’t be tempted to taste just yet! So remove from the heat and leave to cool.

That’s it, you’ve done it…your very own homemade barbecue sauce! When the sauce has cooled give it a taste, you will see the main flavours are the tomatoes from the ketchup and the molasses from the treacle. These flavours are a real trademark of Southern USA, the home of the barbecuing.

You can use it as a marinade, as you can see from the pictures I brush on a thin even coating of the sauce and then leave in the fridge for 2 hours minimum. You can leave for longer of course, but I don’t feel the need for an overnight marinating as the sticky sauce doesn’t penetrate that much more.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the article you can use the same marinating technique above for chicken, beef or lamb.

I then cooked my ribs using the same method as the how to marinate ribs recipe.

Once cooked I then pour over the extra sauce, smothering the meat in its sticky goodness and leave to rest for 5-10 minutes. The meat will become tenderer and the sauce will warm through at the same time.

You can store the sauce for a month if you put the hot sauce from the pan into a sterile jar and seal immediately.

If you like this recipe you’ll love my bestselling Kindle BBQ book! http://myBook.to/ManVsFire

Remember to share how you got on with this recipe and if you tried the options  in the comments below.

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post BBQ Season Part 4 – Make your own barbecue sauce appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator

There are two methods to marinating ribs, wet or dry. Wet is the sticky BBQ sauce which we are more familiar with here in the UK, but we are going to start with the dry method.

Dry rubbing (as it’s know) is one of the easiest ways to get great flavour into meat, so I have created for you a basic dry rub for ribs. Southern style with a couple of interesting options which I hope will inspire you!

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Cumin
• 1 Tbsp Paprika
• 1 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

Options

• 1 Tbsp Ground Fennel Seed (for wonderful aniseed flavour)
• 1 Tsp Chilli (if you like it spicier)

Grind up all of your whole spices (if not using pre-ground) and mix thoroughly in a bowl. Add all of the other ingredients and combine well.

This amount should easily marinade a couple of racks of baby back ribs.

Place a sheet of cling film or kitchen foil onto a flat surface. Sprinkle some of the rub onto it.

Now place you ribs onto the sheet, it’s time to get your hands dirty!

Use a generous amount of the rub and, well, rub it into the meat. Get it right into every nook and cranny, ensuring those spices are in place to do their work.

Your ribs should now have an almost completely dry powder coating all over. Wrap your cling film or foil tightly round the meat, sealing in those flavours.

Put the meat into the fridge and let marinate for at least four hours. As with most marinades of this type the longer the better, so if you can marinate overnight all the better.

Now fire up the BBQ!

In the USA the term barbecuing does not mean the same as here in the UK. Our friends across the pond call our version of barbecuing grilling, cooking on the direct heat of the BBQ.

Barbecuing in the USA means slower cooking using a BBQ with a lid, sealing in all the smoke and flavour and allowing the meat to stay moist. This is the technique we will be using for our ribs.

When your BBQ has reached temperature, move the coals to the edges so that the centre becomes the coolest part. You can add BBQ wood chips now if you have them.

With a gas BBQ turn the heat to low, and of course don’t put wood chips in there!

Place your ribs onto the grill and close the lid, leaving the top vent half open to allow for air flow. Without doing this your BBQ could go out.

If you don’t have a BBQ with a lid then pre-make a tin foil lid double thick. Be extremely careful placing this onto a hot BBQ, use oven gloves or similar protection.

Now leave your ribs smoking and smouldering away for around 40 minutes turning once half way through. Check to see that they have cooked through, then leave to rest for about five minutes.

If the British weather let’s you down, try them in the oven at 170C/340F or gas mark 3 for around an hour.

There you have it, perfect BBQ ribs! As you can see from the picture the ribs get a wonderful crisp coating bursting with flavour, yet inside the meat has remained moist and pulls of the bone. If you overcook them ribs can easily get dry, just remember the rule to cook on a low heat and use the resting time…unless you really can’t keep your hands off them

If you like learning how to marinate ribs you’ll love my bestselling Kindle BBQ book! http://myBook.to/ManVsFire

Remember to share how you got on with this recipe and if you tried the options  in the comments below.

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post BBQ Season Part 3 – How to marinate ribs appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator