vinegar (trying to make my own sauce)

SmokeyBear · Jan 2, 2007

I've been trying to create my sauce. I bought a bottle of apple cider vinegar, but it seemed to add a very sharp taste to the sauce.

I'd appreciate a run down on what the different types of vinegar add to a sauce as well as any other sauce making suggestions y'all can share with me.

My first attempt was so bad that it went down the drain. My second attempt was okay, but I got carried away with the spices. I want something fairly understated that just adds a splash of flaver to the meat without overpowering it and without that immediate sharpness that some sauces heavy in vinegar have.

Bigmista · Jan 2, 2007

If you are going to use Apple Cider Vinegar, you don't want to use a lot. Just enough to give it a little tartness that you feel in the back of your jaw. You can also use balsamic vinegar.

What are you using for sweetness? Is this a tomato based sauce or something entirely different. Hard to make recommendations without more details.

backyardchef · Jan 2, 2007

What kind of sauce are you trying to make, Smokey? Cider vinegar is sweeter and less sharp than plain white vinegar. If I'm looking for something less sharp, I might use Rice Vinegar. It would be a big help to know what kind of sauce you're looking for......

MoKanMeathead · Jan 2, 2007

I would suggest getting a good cook book, like Paul Kirk's Sauce, Rub, and Marinade cook book. Start with a basic recipe and then make SMALL changes adding spices you like and removing ones you may not care for.

SmokeyBear · Jan 2, 2007

Bigmista said:
If you are going to use Apple Cider Vinegar, you don't want to use a lot. Just enough to give it a little tartness that you feel in the back of your jaw. You can also use balsamic vinegar.

What are you using for sweetness? Is this a tomato based sauce or something entirely different. Hard to make recommendations without more details.

I was going for a tomato based sauce. I started off with ketchup. I then added some brown sugar and apple juice and some spices and some liquid smoke.

I want flavor and maybe a little kick, but I don't want it very tart.

Q_Egg · Jan 2, 2007

... what they all said, and ... I love Bragg _ raw-unfiltered, organic Apple Cider Vinegar __ 'with the mother' __ aged in wood ... from many heath food stores. It's a fairly well known old fashioned daily tonic (1-2 tsp) so I go thru a quart bottle fairly regularly. Inexpensive too ...

RichardF · Jan 2, 2007

MoKanMeathead said:
I would suggest getting a good cook book, like Paul Kirk's Sauce, Rub, and Marinade cook book. Start with a basic recipe and then make SMALL changes adding spices you like and removing ones you may not care for.

You cannot go wrong with Kirk's book. It's a great refrence and point-of-departure to make your own signature sauce.

Roo-B-Q'N · Jan 2, 2007

Try rice wine vinegar, it is has never let us down.
But like the others said, we got Paul Kirk's book and tweaked until we liked it.

ggriffi · Jan 2, 2007

SmokeyBear said:
I was going for a tomato based sauce. I started off with ketchup. I then added some brown sugar and apple juice and some spices and some liquid smoke.

I want flavor and maybe a little kick, but I don't want it very tart.

If I was you, find yourself a basic sauce recipe, book or otherwise, and "doctor" it from there. Also, if you look at a lot of basic sauce recipes that have cider vinegar in them most of those recipes do not call for vinegar to ketchup in more than 1/4 cup vinegar to 1 cup ketchup. Did you use more than that? I started with a few diferent recipes and then I found Mike Mills recipe for his Apple City bbq sauce (in his book Peace,Love, and Barbecue) and changed a couple of things, one being the vinegar and some other spices and it really turned out to be something we really enjoy.

just don't be afraid to experiment

g

Greendriver · Jan 2, 2007

Can't get any more basic than this Better Homes and Garden recipe and I agree you just need a good place to start and adjust to suit your taste.

Snappy Barbecue Sauce

1 cup catsup
1 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs worchestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seed
2 or 3 dashes hot pepper sauce

What I have wound up doing most times and having started with the above years ago is to: leave out the sugar, double the vinegar (white), double the wor sause and the tabasco, and add a tbs of blk pepper and a tbs of liquid smoke. One key to getting a good consistency is to whisk it good before heating it and if it is not thin enough after whisking add more water and whisk again before heating.

ggriffi · Jan 2, 2007

Oops, forgot to say that I personally would stay way,way away from the liquid smoke. let your smoker take care of that part of the flavor,better in the meat than the sauce.

Just my $.02

g

Bigmista · Jan 2, 2007

Here is an excerpt from The Survival Gourmet

Basic BBQ Sauce

I was making a batch of Bigmista’s Secret Sauce for one of the BBQ Brethren yesterday and it dawned on me that there are a lot of people out there who don’t know how to make barbecue sauce. They use some sweet store bought goo on meat they have slaved long and hard over. (There are however some awesome sauce that can be bought in stores or on the internet like Big Rick’s or Cattle Boys.)

Well I have come to save the day and show you how to cook your own BBQ sauce.

Here are the ingredients (measurements are approximate because I never measure):

1 bottle of Ketchup
1/2 bottle of maple syrup
1/4 cup Worchestershire sauce
1/8 cup Louisiana hot sauce
4 tbsp black pepper
3 tbsp garlic powder
1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix all ingredients in a pot and simmer over a low heat for about 15 minutes. Let it cool so the flavors will meld together.
This is a basic sauce. Experiment with it and come up with your own special blend. Add honey or a fruit flavored syrup. Try a different hot sauce. Add different spices like cayenne or thyme. The sky is the limit. Let your imagination go wild. Just remember to build on this basic sauce and you won’t go too far wrong.
(And the answer is no, I will not share the recipe for Bigmista’s Special Sauce. Hire me to cater a party and you can taste it then!)

Hope this helps!

jpw23 · Jan 2, 2007

SmokeyBear said:
I was going for a tomato based sauce. I started off with ketchup. I then added some brown sugar and apple juice and some spices and some liquid smoke.

I want flavor and maybe a little kick, but I don't want it very tart.

See the recipes section of my sauce site, got a basic recipe that you can refine to your own tastes.

SmokeyBear · Jan 2, 2007

Lots of great info. Thanks and keep it coming.

smokinbadger · Jan 2, 2007

I always use this stuff (see below) when I need apple cider vinegar (for mops, pulled pork sauce, whatever). It's got great flavor and is not offensively sour or sweet. I get the gallon jug for around $14.

http://www.bragg.com/products/applecidervinegar.html

biazzio · Jan 2, 2007

For every sour you must have a sweet, off set the tang with honey or corn syrup, then salt, catsup, worstershire, hot sauce and red pepper.
now everyone will tell you something diffrent and that is what bbq is

backyardchef · Jan 3, 2007

biazzio said:
For every sour you must have a sweet, off set the tang with honey or corn syrup, then salt, catsup, worstershire, hot sauce and red pepper.
now everyone will tell you something diffrent and that is what bbq is

True.....remember to try and keep everything in balance. Usually, I don't even work off a recipe when it's just for the family. I add a little of this and a little of that until it's 'right'.

chingador · Jan 3, 2007

I am with byc on that one. My sauce is a variation on a Walter Jetton sauce recipe. Mine is a ketchup based sauce, which I use honey and brown sugar to sweeten and regular white vinegar, worchestershire and hot sauce to balance the sweet. I like a thinner sauce so I use canned beef broth to thin.

tony76248 · Jan 3, 2007

Regardless of what type of vinegar based sauce you make, apple cider vinegar is the right stuff, it isn't half as potent as straight vinegar.

vinegar (trying to make my own sauce)

SmokeyBear

is one Smokin' Farker

Bigmista

somebody shut me the fark up.

backyardchef

Babbling Farker

MoKanMeathead

is Blowin Smoke!

SmokeyBear

is one Smokin' Farker

Q_Egg

Guest

RichardF

is Blowin Smoke!

Roo-B-Q'N

Guest

ggriffi

Full Fledged Farker

Greendriver

is Blowin Smoke!

ggriffi

Full Fledged Farker

Bigmista

somebody shut me the fark up.

jpw23

Babbling Farker

SmokeyBear

is one Smokin' Farker

smokinbadger

Full Fledged Farker

biazzio

Guest

backyardchef

Babbling Farker

chingador

is Blowin Smoke!

tony76248

is Blowin Smoke!

Similar threads