BBQ Sauce & Ribs

 

I love BBQ sauce and have collected several recipes to make my own over the last two years but for one reason or another I just never got around to actually making it.  Last weekend I bought some ribs at the grocery and thought I would try my own sauce. I had a bottle of store bought waiting in the pantry incase mine failed. 

I'm a sweet BBQ sauce girl, I like my sauce thick and sweet and a little smoky but not too much. When I found  Erica Lea's version I thought it was the perfect first-time homemade sauce to try. I didn't have liquid smoke which the original recipe calls for and like I said, I don't love a super smokey sauce so I just left that out. I also heated my sauce so it could reduce and thicken a bit, plus I really like my sauce to be warm.

I love this sauce and will be making more of it. The ribs turned out great and I cannot wait to make them again. Previously I made my ribs in the oven but this time the crock pot did all the work and the results were probably better, in my opinion. The meat was super tender and fell right off the bone which is how I like my ribs. Next time you want some BBQ, make your own sauce. It's really easy and I liked this sauce a little better than the bottled stuff I normally buy.

BBQ Sauce 

Adapted From: Cooking for Seven

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 (6 oz.) Can Tomato Paste

1 Cup Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup & 2 Tablespoons White Wine Vinegar

1 1/2 Tablespoons Onion Powder

1/2 Teaspoon Garlic Powder

3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 Teaspoon Chili Powder

Directions:

Whisk all ingredients in a small sauce pan and heat over medium low heat until warm.

For the ribs:

I purchased one package of spare ribs and cut them into 4 servings of 4 ribs each. I placed them in the crock pot and cooked on low for 4-5 hours. Then I poured 1 cup of the BBQ sauce over the ribs and cooked 1 more hour. When serving, I like to brush extra sauce on my ribs but that's my personal preference.

This recipe can easily be doubled and you can give your friends and family some sauce. Is there anything better than a homemade gift? Not in my opinion!

Do you have a favorite BBQ sauce?

BBQ Pulled Pork

I hate washing dirty dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. In fact, on some of those cookless nights it's because of the dirty dishes that I choose not to cook. :) That's just how I roll. I'm not one of those people who can leave dirty dishes in the sink over night, leave for work in the morning, come home, cook and dirty more dishes then clean them. No, that's just not my style. If you know my mamma then you know where I get this from.

I won't say I have NEVER left dirty dishes. You might find my morning coffee cup (my favorite one that can't go in the dishwasher) in the sink if you came over to my house while I'm at work. And sometimes I let a dish soak over night and usually finish up the clean in the morning.  If you find more than 1 dirty item in my sink then you know I'm either sick or I've been committed.

My least favorite item to wash...my beloved crock pot.  While I adore cooking with it, you simply place your food in the crock and turn the knob to low and let it do it's thing all day and like magic you have dinner! But cleaning the darn thing STINKS! My crock is black and if you put it in the dishwasher you get a white residue left over from the detergent...UGH! This drives me NUTS!!!! I can't tell you how many times I clean my crock pot with each use, at least an average of 3 times per use!

All that complaining aside, I'll continue using my crock pot and loving the food it produces, this BBQ pulled pork included!



BBQ Pulled Pork
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pork shoulder (Boston Butt)
2 bottles BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)
4 tbsp. Weber's Steak 'N Chop seasoning
2 cups water

Directions:

Place pork shoulder in crock pot along with Weber's seasoning or seasoning of your choice.

Add 2 cups water and cook on low 10-12 hours.

Remove pork from crock pot and pull apart with forks.

Pour out the cooking liquid that's left in the crock pot and return pulled pork to crock.

Add 1-1 1/2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce.

Serve on bread as a sandwich and add some mozzarella cheese if desired.