I love fine cuisine from all over the world, but my favorite flavors are the uniquely American, rich, smoky tastes of true Southern BBQ. When buying BBQ sauce, most of the sauces you’ll find at your local grocery store are thick, sugary sauces, generally intended to be used as a condiment rather than a marinade or cooking tool. Below, you’ll find the recipe for my personal BBQ sauce done in this same vein, but with a few twists:
Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cup tomato paste
2 large tomatoes
2 large sweet bell peppers (red, green, yellow, orange, any color’s fine.)
1 habanero pepper (optional)
1/4 cup chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (or whole, dried chipotles)
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup of your favorite bourbon whiskey
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 small yellow onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Dice the onion and saute together with the olive oil and minced garlic over high heat until the onion darkens to a nice carmel color. Set aside.
After washing, open and remove the stem and seeds from the sweet peppers and the habanero. Then put the peppers and whole tomatoes over a charcoal fire, turning regularly until well charred on all surfaces. If you prefer, you can dice the fresh tomatoes and peppers and broil them in your oven until charred instead.
Put the caramelized onion, grilled tomatoes and peppers (don’t remove the charred skins!), chipotle peppers, and tomato paste together in a food processor or blender and mix to a fine puree.
In a stockpot, put the puree together with the remaining ingredients over a medium heat and stir constantly for approximately 5 minutes. Reduce to a very low heat and let the sauce simmer for another 20 minutes or until thickened to desired consistency. While over the low heat, the sauce does not require constant stirring, but it must be watched carefully and stirred occasionally or the sugar in the sauce will scorch on the bottom of the pot.
Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature. Sauce should be stored refrigerated in an airtight container. I prefer to wait at least 24 hours after making the sauce before serving it. Sauce should be brought back to room temperature before serving.
Enjoy, but be forewarned, once you try this sauce, you won’t be able to go back to just buying stuff off the shelf.
Also, don’t forget to submit your own recipes to our recipe contest for a chance to WIN A FREE BLACK SATIN FUDGE CAKE!
Ryan Crafts
Culinary Crafts Director of Catering
I must admit, one of my least favorite things to do in this world is wait. As a guest, walking into a reception, there are those first few minutes of thought about how to negotiate the lay of the land, figure out where everything is a located, where do we stand? where do we sit? Oh boy, am I thirsty! One of my favorite things is the feeling of being welcomed and taken care of. Butlering a beverage to arriving guests at a reception provides a great big welcome. It can be a fabulous cocktail or non alcoholic “mocktail“, either way 
it really makes your guests feel pampered. Think about your favorite flavors and colors and really take it up a notch by creating personalized names and themes. Follow through with availability of these beverages on your bars or beverage stations to add additional accessibility. Fun colors, dramatic glassware and creative garnishing touches will make your “Signature” speciality drinks a very memorable personal touch.
