My Dad’s family used to have a cabin in the Brainerd Lakes area. Growing up at least one weekend in the summer my grandparents, and all four of my dad’s siblings and my cousins used to try to get together there. We’d swim, waterski, jump off the rope swing, play badminton, enjoy cocktail hour and marshmallows around the fire. And of course eat. One night, we’d always barbecue ribs and cook them with our traditional family barbecue sauce. This barbecue sauce is sweet and sticky – so much so that the kids and some of the adults would all eat in their swimsuits so we could just jump in the lake to clean off!
One reason why it is so sticky and sweet is because it has a lot of brown sugar in it that caramelizes really well when you brush it on the meat during the end of cooking. Finger-licking-good is how I’d describe absolutely anything I make with this barbecue sauce.
The recipe comes from my Auntie Jenn, and it’s been the traditional family barbecue sauce for as long as I can remember. I really struggled trying to make this recipe for the blog because I’ve never measured anything before. When my mom showed me how to make it she put it into the pot she always uses and added the ketchup then goes “now add about a 1/2-3/4 of an inch of brown sugar.” I continued to make the recipe by feel for years, sometimes I might be a little heavy on the Worcestershire and other times a little heavier with the brown sugar but it’s always turned out great. Lucky for you, I did finally manage to identify true measurements when I made it for this post – but I’ll probably continue to cook by feel.
Here’s what you need:
Mom probably doesn’t know what I’m doing with a full bottle of ketchup in the picture. Whenever ketchup bottles get down to the end, she always opens a new one and leaves the rest of the bottle for barbecue sauce. As a result you can always find a few almost-empty ketchup bottles in my mom’s fridge – unless of course she’s just made some barbecue sauce.
Start by dumping the ketchup in to a saucepot.
Now for your ½-3/4 inches of brown sugar, which worked out to be about 1-1/2 cups.
Finely dice up a large sweet onion.
And add it in to the saucepot on top of the brown sugar.
Add in the spices – minced garlic, pepper, and dry mustard.
Now splash in 4-5 shakes of Worcestershire sauce. This is about 2 t to 1 T.
Stir everything together.
Now bring it up to a boil, stirring often while it heats up.
Once it starts to bubble, turn the heat down to a simmer and allow to simmer for about an hour. I like to put a cover on but crack it so the steam can escape so the sauce can thicken up nicely. Warning – if you don’t cover it like this be prepared for it to splatter around your stovetop. If this should happen, try to wipe it up right away (I write from experience).
This barbecue sauce will keep in the fridge for a month or so, and in the freezer for the entire Minnesota grilling season (if it even lasts that long before you need another batch).
I put it on almost everything I grill in the summer – baby back ribs (my absolute favorite!), chicken, or pork chops. The secret to making this sauce taste the best is to cook it on during the last 5-7 minutes of cooking time. I usually do 3 coats – one coat on the top, let it thicken a minute. Flip, coat the bottom (now top) side, cook for a minute or two. And flip and add a final coat of barbecue sauce. Allow it to cook on for a couple minutes before pulling them off.
ENJOY!
- 36 oz bottle of ketchup
- 1 large onion, finely minced
- 1-1/2 c brown sugar
- 3 t garlic, minced
- 1-1/2 t pepper
- 3 t dry mustard
- 2t – 1 T Worcestershire (about 5 shakes).
- Mix together all ingredients in a sauce pan.
- Bring to a boil, stirring often.
- Reduce to a simmer and simmer for 1 hour.
I remember when i got my first FULL bottle of ketchup. It was Christmas , I was about 13. I had nine siblings and we lived off a hard-rock miners wage…plus my mom always had a part time job…besides raising us! Anyway. Back to the ketchup. My parents were always telling us to go easy on the ketchup…it costs money! So when we dug into our stockings on Christmas morning and each found their very own bottle…well it’s a good memory. Of course we all had wonderful presents too.