Sybil Carter's Barbecue Sauce
Sybil Carter’s homemade barbecue sauce starts with bacon drippings and builds layers of tangy tomato, brown sugar sweetness, mustard bite, and hot pepper heat. Doubles easily and keeps in the fridge for weeks.
YIELD
32 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minEvery great pitmaster has a secret sauce, and this right here is Sybil Carter’s. It starts where all good things start: bacon drippings sizzling in a heavy pot with chopped onion, garlic, and green bell pepper.
From there it’s a slow simmer with canned tomatoes, tomato paste, brown sugar, mustard, vinegar, lemon quarters, and a few dashes of hot sauce. The lemon gets pulled out once the sauce thickens up, leaving behind just a whisper of citrus that keeps the sweetness honest.
Slather it on chicken, spareribs, pork chops, burgers, or hot dogs during the last 15 minutes of cooking. This recipe doubles beautifully, and trust us, you’ll want the extra batch waiting in the fridge.
Kitchen Tips
- Cook this low and slow. Rushing it on high heat will scorch the sugars and turn your sauce bitter.
- The lemon quarters are meant to simmer whole in the sauce. Don’t squeeze them, just fish them out at the end.
- Brush the sauce on during the final 15 minutes of grilling only. The sugar content means it’ll burn if it goes on too early.
Ingredients
Directions
- heat bacon fat in a large heavy pot over low heat; sauté onion, add remaining ingredients, blend well, bring to simmering, then lower heat and cook slowly until thick. remove and discard lemon quarters.
this sauce keeps well in the refrigerator, and sybil often doubles the recipe to have on hand to use whenever a barbecue recipe is called for.
heat well before using. baste over meat during last 15 minutes of cooking, and, if desired, spoon over cooked meat before serving. 2. excellent for chicken, spareribs, pork chops, hamburgers, hot dogs.
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