MOMMA’S BBQ SAUCE

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Caryn

Homemade tangy wonderful sauce that tastes sooooo good over meat and potatoes.

Momma gave me this recipe and I love it on ribs and on potatoes, it is perfect! Homemade is soooo much better than from a bottle!

INGREDIENTS:

Onion – One large chopped

Butter – Two Tablespoons

Chili Sauce – 1/2 bottle, 12 ounces

Ketchup – One bottle, 24 ounces

Dry Mustard – Two Tablespoons (Or regular, but dry is better)

Brown Sugar – Eight Tablespoons

Worcestershire – Two Tablespoons

Soy Sauce – Two Tablespoons

Liquid Smoke – Two Tablespoons

Rice Wine Vinegar – Four Tablespoons

Garlic – Three cloves minced

Orange juice concentrate – One Tablespoon frozen

Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium pot sauté the chopped onion and butter.

(It’s really easy because basically all you do is chop an onion, along with the butter and garlic and then line up all your ingredients on the counter and put in the pan).

Combine all of the ingredients together and simmer for about 25 minutes.

(I always keep what is left over in a baggie in the freezer…it’s great added in other recipes)

This is hands down the most fantastic sauce for ribs thatI have ever tasted…in my entire life…ever…ever…ever. The best BBQ sauce for chicken, wings, shrimp, or flank steak, or pork…it is seriously wonderful!!!

The original recipe came from my mother’s sister Koueta. Her very close friends Jim and Gerry Gentry, opened up a restaurant called the Fin and Feather in North Hollywood California. Their partner was John Wayne…yep…”the” John Wayne, who enabled them financially to open up their dream…and this BBQ recipe was on the menu.

At their restaurant, they served fall off the bone tender pork ribs, with most of the fat cut off before cooking, slow cooked for 8 hours and they were always served with mashed potatoes and this sauce.

My Momma had never had BBQ ribs before meeting Jim and Gerry…this was back in the late 1940’s. After getting this recipe from them, it became one of her signature dishes that she always made for special occasions and something the whole family continues to request today.

After all these years, through this blog, I can finally share it with anyone who wants it. A huge thank you to my momma for cooking amazing food and handing down all of her amazing recipes to us.

I also love to pour this good sauce over my baked potato and put extra on my plate so I can scoop it up with some wonderful crusty bread.

My husband cooked these ribs on The Big Green Egg (the grill) for 3 hours at 225 degrees then took them off, wrapped them tightly with two layers of aluminum foil, and put them in the oven for four more hours at 325 degrees. These are the “SHE” ribs…she ribs meaning more tender and wonderful than the “manly” He ribs. The “HE” ribs don’t require extra time in the oven to cook…they are still very tender, but not fall off the bone. The ribs cooked both ways are fantastic…but I prefer the “she” ribs. Normally we serve our ribs with baked potatoes and pour some of the left over sauce on top, soooo very good!

All the ingredients

One onion chopped

Start off by melting 2 Tablespoons of butter in a skillet

Dice one entire onion

Two Tablespoons are starting to melt

Saute the onion and garlic and butter

One 1/2 Bottle of Chili Sauce, one bottle of ketchup.

2 Tablespoons of Mustard, I didn’t have dry but that really does have more flavor

2 Tablespoons of Worcestershire

2 Tablespoons of Soy Sauce

4 Tablespoons seasoned rice vinegar

2 Tablespoons of Liquid Smoke

One Tablespoon of frozen orange juice concentrate.

Easy…yet seriously the best I have ever tasted in my life.

I had to wait 15 years for my momma to admit that she put orange juice concentrate in the sauce. I don’t know if she just forgot…or she was just keeping it a secret. More than likely she just forgot, because this was only made on special occasions, and it was always a little of this and a little of that because she didn’t use a recipe.

I have to admit…a little of the concentrate makes a huge difference in the taste. You know that wonderful tangy feeling you get in your jaw right in front of your ear when you taste something great…this does exactly that.

You can feel it when you take a bite at the back of your jaw…ooooh my it is soooo good! And I realize that you can get good BBQ in a bottle, which is perfectly fine…but nothing this good! Cook your ribs or chicken on the grill and slather half of this sauce on top of them…and serve the remaining sauce on the table. After the pork is grilled we put this sauce directly on the meat then wrap them up in aluminum foil and

cook them for an additional hour in the oven to become “SHE RIBS”.

The men like “HE RIBS…the ones where you have to rip the meat off the bone, with only a little sauce on the side, but I love them tender and covered in sauce. Depending if you are making ribs or chicken…meaty or fall off the bone…you will definitely want to make this sauce to go on top…it is just that wonderful.

These ribs have been on the grill for hours. Cover them with half of the sauce and wrap them up, putting them back into the oven at 350 for an additional hour. When you take them out they will be juicy and tender and fall off the bone delicious!

After cooking them in the oven on low, open up the foil and cover them with additional sauce. Not all of it because it’s soooo good to pour over a baked potato.

This is the final outcome..the perfect picture of tender fall off the bone pork ribs with the most fantastic BBQ sauce ever!

Just made this sauce because my husband grilled ribs for Super Bowl Sunday 2020. After I emptied the ketchup and chili sauce, I turned them upside down on a dinner plate. It really got the leftover sauce out from the bottle. All these years I was wasting lots!

MUSHROOM SAUCE

Posted on October 27, 2019 by Caryn

This sauce is wonderful and tastes so good served over chicken, pork or beef. It really brings your meat up to an incredible level and makes a normal meal extra ordinary.

INGREDIENTS:

Mushrooms – 3 to 4 cups roughly chopped

Marsala wine – 1 Cup

Parsley – 1/2 Cup

Onion – 1/2 chopped

Butter – one cube

Heavy Cream – one cup

Salt – 2 teaspoons

Pepper – 2 teaspoons

DIRECTIONS:

In a saucepan add the Marsala wine and butter. Add the roughly chopped mushrooms and salt and pepper. Let simmer about 25 minutes until the liquid is reduced then add the cream. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes and it’s ready.

My husband and I went to the opening of the Farmer’s Market down on Riverwalk in Augusta Saturday and bought wonderful fresh green tomatoes, oyster mushrooms, fresh baked bread, and onions.

A beautiful Spring day in the 70’s it was the perfect setting to walk past all the tents where merchants set up their fresh food and homemade goods. These are the beautiful oyster mushrooms that I’m making into a sauce this morning. They are very meaty have a nice earthy flavor and are a bit more earthy and rich than regular button mushrooms from the market.

The wine, butter and salt take away and bitterness and your left with a wonderful creamy sauce that is wonderful over any pasta.

Roughly chop mushrooms, any type you like best.

Marsala wine and Parsley

One half onion chopped

One cube of butter

Add mushrooms, wine and butter to a large saucepan

Add the parsley and onions

Add salt and pepper and stir

Let reduce on simmer for about 20 minutes

Stir and taste to see if more salt and pepper are needed

When the liquid has reduced add the cream

Pour over the mushrooms

Simmer for an additional 10 minutes

I transferred the sauce into a canning jar to place in the refrigerator overnight.

Tomorrow all I will have to do is cook up some linguini with fresh shrimp and pour this warmed wonderful creamy sauce over the top.

I’ll make a green salad, some crusty bread and I’ll have a wonderful

dinner on the table in minutes.

This is a great sauce to freeze too. Just place the sauce in a freezer bag

and keep frozen until you’re ready to use it.

RASBERRY BALSAMIC SAUCE

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Caryn

A scrumptious sauce served over meat.

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 medium Shallot, minced

1 Garlic Clove, minced

1/4 cup Dry Red Wine

1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar

1 1/2 cups Raspberry Preserves

Salt and freshly ground Pepper to taste

Directions:

In a saucepan, heat the Extra Virgin Olive Oil over medium high heat.
Add the minced shallots, saute until soft.
Add the garlic, cook about a minute.
Reduce heat to medium and add the Red Wine, Balsamic Vinegar, and the Raspberry Preserves.
Cook stirring for 5 minutes or just until thickened.
Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

This is mouth watering good! This sauce is a wonderful compliment to any meat you are serving.

Tonight when my husband grilled flank steak and I didn’t want to fix it in the same old way…wanted to try something different. I decided to make this balsamic sauce for the meat, and I am so very happy that I did. It turned out sooo good…it was definitely a great idea. Have you ever had one of those wonderful moments when you take a bite of the perfect food, and you just want to eat it in slow motion because it is so incredibly good? This was one of those times.

This raspberry sauce added a depth of flavor to the meat. The rich and silky sauce drizzled over the grilled meat was a wonderful combination.

I always stayed away from sauces, because I thought they were much to complicated to make…but as you can see, they aren’t…not at all. And oh my, do they add to the flavor of so many dishes. This is one I love making now and I really hope you will try it.

PESTO

Posted on February 6, 2019 by Caryn

Easy to make and great used as an addition to a recipe to enhance the flavor of food or as a sauce.

6 Basic ingredients and you can have incredible tasting fresh pesto, or you can freeze it up to seven months to add to so many of your favorite dishes from soup to pasta.

Ingredients:

2 Cups Fresh Basil
2 Garlic Cloves
2/3 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated
1/4 Cup Pine Nuts, (or any nut really)
1 Vitamin C tablet, (prevents browning)
Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Directions:

Put all ingredients into a blender and drizzle in the olive oil while it’s mixing. The Pesto is done when the mixture is completely combined, about a minute. Makes about a Cup.

Now you can use it fresh or freeze it in ice cube trays for future use.

Every year in my garden I start out with these cute little plants, and then before I know it, I have more basil than I know what to do with.

Last year was the first time I did anything but eat it fresh. I have learned to hang it to dry and now how to make up pesto and freeze it for dishes through the winter.

I like making Pesto…and lots of it, because I found it is sooo good in so many dishes. Spaghetti, linguini and clam sauce, soup, rice, top ramen for the kids…it just makes so many things taste so much better!

This is the amount of Basil I picked in one day from my trash can garden.

It’s always tempting to eat pesto by the spoonful because it is so very fresh and wonderful. The flavors of basil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic and olive oil, play so nicely together.

Spread it on sandwiches instead of mayonaise, toss it in pasta dishes or vegetables, great addition to soups or my favorite…spread it on a crusty piece of toasted sourdough bread with fresh mozzarella.

When I first started making it, I used my Cuisinart because it was so quick and I was making massive amounts to freeze, but now I
prefer to cut it by hand. Either way…it really doesn’t matter…just make it and freeze it.

I think my blender breaks down the pesto too much, and I really prefer using a good sharp knife or a motar and pestle…which is really great for breaking down the vitamin C.

For this batch I used Pine Nuts, because quite frankly I thought that was the only nut you could use to make pesto. But I was so wrong, because you can use any nut and the flavor is different and unique with which ever one you choose. Walnuts, almonds…really whatever you have on hand will make a wonderful pesto.

Wash your basil and remove the stems and chop.

Chop the nuts

Smash the Vitamin C (This prevents the basil from turning black and keeps it nice and green)

Grate the fresh Parmesan Cheese

Add the freshly ground pepper, salt and olive oil and combine the ingredients together.

So simple…so good.

You can store it in an air tight container or freeze it. I do both.

I use ice cube trays to freeze the pesto. As soon as it is frozen I place the cubes in a zip lock bag to store. The size is perfect to throw in soups or sauces…and the taste stays really robust, even after being frozen for three months.

REMOULADE SAUCE

Posted on March 27, 2017 by Caryn

It’s so delicious to make your own!

INGREDIENTS:

Mayonnaise – 1 1/4 Cup

Stone Ground Mustard – 1/4 Cup

Garlic – 1 Clove crushed

Pickle Juice – 2 Tablespoons

Capers – 2 Tablespoons without juice

Horseradish – 1 Tablespoon

Cayenne Pepper – 1/4 Tablespoon

Hot Paprika – 1/4 Tablespoon

Franks Red hot – 1/2 Tablespoon

DIRECTIONS:

All ingredients in any order go into a blender. Pulse 4 or five times and it’s done.

This remoulade sauce goes with shrimp, chicken, peanut butter…okay not peanut butter, but just about anything you would put mayo on…this would make it better.

Tonight I’m making fried green tomatoes, topped with sweet Georgia shrimp over

an avocado salad with shredded lettuce and remoulade sauce drizzled over the top.

The sauce is what I’m going to do right now, because it can be done

days, or hours ahead of time…

and anything I can do ahead of time makes me happy.

I know I can purchase this in a bottle, and it’s good…but not this good.

Basically if you can open a jar…you really have this one. The only reason it needs to be in a blender is I don’t care to taste the capers whole.

But if you don’t have one just mix it together really well…or use beaters.

I added my ingredients into a bowl and then into the blender, but not really sure why.

To save on dishes, just put it straight into the blender.

It’s in the blender

Just hit pulse 4 or 5 times and it’s done.

Into a canning jar and it will be in the fridge until I need to use it tonight.

Super simple to make, and much better than what is available in a bottle in the store.

PUREE OF ROASTED VEGETABLES

Posted on June 6, 2015 by Caryn

Roasted Bell Pepper and Cauliflower make this such a wonderful sauce. Full of flavor and tastes incredible with any fish.

I used one Cauliflower and a hand full of red bell peppers, plus some roasted peppers from a jar.

Simply roast your favorite vegetables by putting them in the oven and cooking at 350 for 30 minutes. Sprinkle liberally with salt, pepper and olive oil…then place them in the blender and you will have a wonderful homemade sauce. You may need a little extra oil, if you do use it.

What you will end up with is a fantastic tasting puree that goes perfectly under fish, or pork.

The creamy, rich flavor elevates the taste of this fish to make one incredible dish that you won’t soon forget.

A smear on each plate before you add the protein

Wash one head of cauliflower and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Break up into smaller pieces and drizzle with olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

I had four baby red bells, so that’s what I used

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degree

Place the tender roasted cauliflower and peppers into a blender

Add a 10 ounce jar of roasted peppers

Into the blender with the cauliflower

Pulse 5 or 6 times until smooth

Creamy smooth and thick

Transfer into a container

Puree under the Cod with a parmesan crisp on top.

I will definitely make this again!

To make that cool little topping on the fish, I simply grated parmesan cheese on a backing dish in small circles that I sprayed with non stick. When it cooled I lifted it off and put it on top of the fish. Really pretty on top of mashed potatoes too.

I used the puree under grilled cod and it was amazingly wonderful!

Food and My iPhone

This little blog of mine…enjoying the world of food one bite at a time

Tag Archives: Sauce

MOMMA’S BBQ SAUCE

MUSHROOM SAUCE

RASBERRY BALSAMIC SAUCE

PESTO

REMOULADE SAUCE

PUREE OF ROASTED VEGETABLES