BBQ Sauce Cooking Question

Cody, this has been sitting for three and two thirds days, unanswered.  Been driving me nuts!

First, let me say I'm not a BBQ sauce maker.  I've played with several I've copied or created, but my wife prefers a commercial sauce, so I've set BBQ sauces aside.  That said though, I do a LOT of homemade sauces using tomatoes, spices, sugars, salts, etc.  We also have canning experience, which addresses one of your concerns.  Here's my input in a different order than you show above:

1. Butter.  Butter is a fat, which helps bind the ingredients in a sauce.  If you use all the same ingredients and change the only the fat, you'll notice a difference in the final result of the sauce.  I recently switched from olive oil to butter for making several of my pasta and pizza sauces.  The result was very subtle, but created sauces that were less sharp, somewhat smoother, to my wife's "supertaster" palate. In BBQ sauce, if you used no butter, butter, lard, or recovered fat drippings from a smoked meat, you'd have four different tasting sauces, so it really depends what you are hoping to achieve.   

2. Canning.  You can't just heat the sauce then store it in glass jars.  Follow canning guidelines for sterilizing your canning equipment and sealing it properly in sterilized glass canning jars.  Six months won't be an issue.  DON'T USE THE ALUMINUM POT for canning.  More below. 

3.  Aluminum pot and heating.  Yeah, you may very well get an off "metallic" taste due to the reactive nature of the aluminum pot and the acidic nature of a tomato product.  A chemical reaction occurs between the pot and the sauce.  Burning the bottom without using a heat diffuser is an issue with whatever pot you use, but adding an acidic liquid to a reactive pot will create an additional problem.  One of the catering folks will have to address the 20 gallon reheating issue.  Definitely a no-no when canning a sauce.       

4.  Personally, whenever I make any sauce that starts with tomatoes, or a tomato product, I simmer for a minimum of 1 hour.  Something magic happens to tomato-based sauces once you reach 4 hours of slow simmering.  In my experience the spices become well saturated, the ingredients break down completely, and the sauce just becomes a smooth blend of perfection.   

Bottom line, my suggestion is you need a large, non-reactive, stainless-steel pot.  Buy one, and it will last you a lifetime.   

The only difference between light and dark brown sugar is the amount of molasses added to white table sugar by the maker. Try white sugar if you are concerned about the color. Molasses is a flavor component though, adding what I call a "toasted" flavor.

To augment what Ray said, you could also use raw (or turbinado) sugar instead of white sugar.  It hasn't been refined, and doesn't tend to burn as quickly as white.  I don't really think that the different sugars play a huge part in the sauce color--it might have a small impact, but not that much imho.  Especially where your recipe above only calls for 3TBS of white.  I also concur with his advice about storage & canning--don't simply put this on the shelf and call it good, as someone could get quite ill from it.  Follow proper canning procedures if you're going this route.  Lastly, I agree about his stainless pot advice:  you'll be thankful you did.

Something did catch my eye that you posted earlier--"I may need up to 20 gallons for an upcoming cooking."  That's a huge amount of sauce any way you slice it--was that a typo, and if not, how much meat are you going to prepare?  Unless you're cooking half a ton of meat, that sure sounds like a lot.  Back to the sauce, you're going to have issues with a stockpot flamethrower (like a Bayou Classic) and sauce, simply because of keeping the flame low enough not to burn the sugars.  If the flame is low enough on those types of rigs, it's in a concentrated small section of the pot and you'll have to be stirring almost constantly to keep from sticking (and thus, burning also).  You may have issues keeping it lit at very low output if there's any hint of wind.  I'd be inclined to do smaller batches on a stovetop where things can be more easily regulated.  My $0.02--good luck.

I always have viewed sauce as something to compliment the meat, and not as a focus or mainstay of the meal.  I typically do not sauce, and would rather instead have the meat stand on its own,   plus allow my guests to add as much or as little as they choose without me having made the decision for them.  This was something I was taught at a very young age by some amazing pitmasters--not to mention in some areas, sauce is considered an insult or that the restaurant is trying to hide something about their meat.  But this is about your event, and sounds like that's what's been successful previously, so if that's what they want, that's what they get!

So to your question about the smoked paprika:  I think it will get lost in the shuffle, since it's a very mild, light flavoring to begin with, and you're already smoking the birds.  I use it in different dishes where the meat/fish/fowl/vegetable/etc. wasn't smoked so that it brought a hint of smokiness to the mix.  If you're looking for a more robust flavor, you may want to consider chili powder in place of the mild paprika if you're going to go that route.  Experiment, as there's a myriad of possibilities available.  Also, you may want to use a water bath for the sauce--will eliminate the concern of the sauce burning or sticking to the bottom.  Since it doesn't sound like you've got access to a steam table, this is the next best thing.  Good luck.

BBQR99 said:

 
Do you think this pot


would work?  or do you have another recommendation

It appears to have a thick bottom and is stainless steel.

I am thinking about making 5 - 4 gallon batches.  This one will give me a little extra room.

Cody

Click to expand...

Looks nice, but how often are you going to be using this?  If it's a once a year type thing, I'd look at something less expensive--there are entire turkey fryer rigs out there (including the burner) for around half of this one.  I've had good luck with Bayou Classics or King Kooker pots, as well as some other no-name stainless pots that have held up quite well over the years.  If you're going to be using the heck out of this, it might not be a bad option with the thicker bottom.  That said, my single walled stainless pots get used frequently and are 20 years old with no signs of being replaced.  My $0.02.

Where are you located?  Academy, HD, Lowe's, Menards, Wally all carry these, and likely some other of your locals will too.

As for the canning, you cannot just let the jars seal like you would with jams and jellies.

There are some sauces that can be water bathed and some that need to be pressure canned.

Your best bet would be to get a hold of your counties local agriculture extension department. They will be able to help you with your recipe and wether or not it has the required acidity to be safely canned.

You must have pretty lax laws where you are. Here even for fund raisers and charity events all food prep has to be done in a certified kitchen and cannot be home prepped.

Hello all,

I thought I would chime in since I make a sauce that I'm currently working to get to market. 

When I make mine at home, I mix all of the ingredients together into the pot with the burner turned off. I don't put heat on it until all the ingredients are mixed together. I'll then simmer it for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't let it boil!

As for acidity, I sent mine to the UNC food laboratory to get it tested. They gave me a full out nutrition label with calories, sodium, etc! I didn't cost that much.

If people really love your sauce, you should look at it getting it packaged!

some of the best sauces and their usage have been mentioned here. Thanks a lot guys for it. Also i feel smoked paprika adds a fresh flavor to the already smoky dish. A must try on charcoal.