DIY BBQ Sauce

So, after the pig is rubbed (yesterday's post "Life Goes On"), roasted (to see our pig roaster, go to my post from June 2011 "The Homemade Pig Roaster"), and shredded, you can add barbecue sauce to it if you wish, to make pulled pork sandwiches.  I'll share my bbq sauce recipe with you.  It is what we've used for at least 8 years now; all the sauces from the store are just too sweet for my tastes anymore, not to mention the preservatives, etc in them.  This sauce is good for anything you want to grill, especially chicken, and mixes well with roasted shredded meats such as beef and pork for sandwiches.  It's easy to whip up, and does not require cooking, so even a child can do it (DD1 has been our official sauce maker since she was 10; she'll turn 18 in a few weeks).

BBQ Sauce

2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp mustard (the prepared kind, not dry mustard)
1 Tbsp tabasco sauce
2 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tsp paprika
2 Tbsp coarse salt (canning or kosher)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion power
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you want your sauce)

Mix all together and enjoy!  Can be used to marinate meats before grilling, or to baste while cooking/grilling, or to mix into cooked and shredded meats for pulled pork or bbq beef.  Store unused sauce in an airtight container in the fridge.  Should keep for several months, although at this little place here it's never been in the fridge more than 3-4 weeks without getting used up.

For DD1's open house, we quadrupled the batch of sauce and mixed it into an 18 quart roaster-worth of shredded pork.  Sorry I don't know the poundage of the meat, I just know DS1 filled the roaster about 2/3 full of meat, poured in the sauce (slightly less than a gallon), and mixed it together for BBQ pork.  The other pork (about 4 more roaster's worth!) we left 'plain'; it's really good this way too, and we can always add sauce to the leftovers later.