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BBQ Sauce

1.  Shirley's

Note:  This recipe has evolved with time. The base is Craig's Sauce below, but with less mustard. After rave reviews and requests for the recipe from our recent family BBQ, it is finally FINAL! Best served with Pulled Pork and accompanied by Carolina Coleslaw or Yankee Baked Beans .

1 cp water
1 cp apple cider vinegar
1 Jalapeno pepper or more to taste, diced, or whatever is on hand
3/4 c catsup (approximately)
2 T olive oil
Juice from 1/2 lemon
2 T Worcestershire, or to taste
1 t dry mustard
2 T jalapeno jelly, or substitute other tart jelly (crabapple, quince)
1/4 cp dark brown sugar
1 T Tabasco sauce
1 t prepared mustard (not Dijon or brown)
1 t celery seed
1/2 Onion or 3 bunch onions, sliced
2-3 drops liquid smoke, or to taste
6 T Jack Daniels whiskey, or to taste
1 cabbage core
apple peels if available

1. Saute onions lightly in 1-2 Tbsp oil.
2. Mix remaining ingredients in and simmer for an hour or more. The longer the sauce cooks, the better it tastes. Add water and ketchup as needed to make a slightly liquidey sauce. We prefer our sauce poured over the sandwich, but shredded meat can be added at the end of cooking if preferred.

2.  Craig's

Note: This recipe is taken from notes at a cooking demo at the 1997 Smithsonion Folk Festival.
The theme of the festival was Cajun culture and the cook was from Duvall, Arkansas. He uses
the sauce for a ham roast, but he said it could be used with meat or fish. (The editor
suggests reducing the mustard by at least 75% for meat or fish.) His wife started the
tradition of adding the peels and vegetable cores.

White vinegar (red OK)
2 Parts ketchup
1 Part mustard (prepared)-- I use 1/2 that
liquid smoke
Worcestershire sauce
cinnamon
nutmeg
celery seed
black pepper
red pepper to taste

Add following to sauce when cooking:

Onion peels
Cabbage slaw core
Apple peels
Lemon peels

Cook 7 hours for a large ham. 155 F (Note taking breaks down here! This could be the
internal temperature of the ham, or it could be the oven roasting temperature.) Turn every 1/2
hour. Wait till 1/4 done till basting ham.

3.  Justin's

Note:  Adapted from Justin Wilson's "Outdoor Cooking With Inside Help." These proportions may need some massaging. BBQ au Justin' uses red wine and steak sauce. Only one of his recipes called for liquid smoke. 'Comforting BBQ' uses Southern Comfort Liquor and is "mighty fine for soppin."

1 cp onion, chopped
1/4 cp bell pepper, chopped
1 T garlic, chopped
3 T honey
1/4 t celery seed
1 T tabasco, or "Louisiana" sauce
dried pepper flakes to taste
1 1/2 cps ketchup
1/4 cp vegetable oil (JW uses peanut and olive oil)
1 cp dry red wine, or 1/4 (?) cp Southern Comfort
3 T vinegar
2 T lemon juice
1 T Lea Perrins (Worcestershire sauce)
2 T parsley

1. In a large skillet, saute onions, celery, bell pepper and parsley in till onions are clear or
tender.
2. Add garlic and cook a little longer.
3. Add remaining ingredients and salt to taste.
4. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cover. Cook for 2 to 3 hours. This sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks.