Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauce

When I posted my long expired BBQ Baby Back Ribs, I received two requests for the Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauce recipe. And because the first recipe I attempted could be improved, I made some more during the weekend.

To make the Jack Daniels BBQ Sauce, obviously you need to have at your disposal a bottle of booze.

Ah, I spent good money on this, I did. Actually I bought this bottle of Jack Daniel's not for BBQ sauce but for something pork belly related. That my friends, will be revealed soon heh...heh....

And since I have me a bottle of Jack Daniel's, it made sense to find other uses for it other than for brining pork belly. Does that sound exciting?

OK, let's get down to this BBQ sauce business. I found the recipe by googling and there are a few versions out there. So I settled on two recipes and sort of mixed and matched them after my first attempt.

Besides the Jack Daniel's, another thing you want to get is liquid smoke. This thing gives your BBQ sauce that smoky aroma and flavor.

I found this at Cold Storage a while back and quickly grabbed a bottle. It has finally been put to good use.

Other than the booze and liquid smoke, the other ingredients are pretty common pantry staples like tomato ketchup, tomato paste, brown sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, onions and garlic.

Oh, I forgot. There is one more ingredient which may not be so common. Molasses. Familiar? I don't have this, so I substituted with honey.

It's not difficult at all to make this BBQ sauce. What you do is simmer the onions and garlic in the booze until onions are soft and then just dump the rest of the ingredients in. Simmer for a further 20-30 minutes and you are done.

Before I started, I mixed the other ingredients together first so that it will be easy to add them all into the simmering onions.

Once the sauce is ready, leave it to cool completely. You may choose to blend it for a smooth sauce (which I did) or strain it. Or what the heck, just leave it as it is. 

The BBQ sauce is now ready for use or you could pour it into an air tight container and leave it to stand in the fridge overnight for the flavors to develop. 

It looks all bubbly because I just blended it.

I have not tasted the bottled Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce, so I can't say if this one comes close. But I can tell you this BBQ sauce is very good. 

I reckon, you can adjust the proportion of ingredients to your taste and you can also freeze any excess. I have tried it and it works.

So here's the recipe and I hope you like it.

Jack Daniel's BBQ Sauce

Recipe source : Adapted from Art and the Kitchen

Ingredients :

- 1/2 cup Jack Daniel's Tennesse Whiskey

- 4 cloves garlic, chopped

- 1 red onion, diced (I used a smallish big onion)

- 2 cups tomato ketchup

- 1 tbsp tomato paste

- 1/4 cup distilled/white vinegar

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

- 3/4 cup honey (the recipe I referred to used molasses)

- 1 tbsp Liquid Smoke

- 1 tbsp Tabasco sauce (omit or add less because this amount is woohoo!! hot!!)

- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

- 1 tsp salt

Method :

1. In a saucepan, combine 1/2  cup whiskey, onions and garlic.

2. Bring to a boil and lower heat to gently simmer until the onions are soft (about 10 minutes).

3. Meanwhile combine all the other ingredients together.

4. Add the combined ingredients into the saucepan and continue to simmer for another 20-30 minutes.

5. Let BBQ sauce cool completely and then blend till smooth (or don't bother)

6. Pour sauce into container and keep overnight on the fridge to let flavors develop or you could use it immediately.