Rut-Buster Barbecue Sauce

I’ve fallen into a rut in the kitchen among other places. I’ve been stuck on the baked tomato sauce. It is still a great sauce and makes many meals, but I needed a new thing to try, so I made my own barbecue sauce. I looked at a few recipes to get an idea of what goes into a barbecue sauce and went to the grocery store to pick up whatever I didn’t have. After coming back with some red wine vinegar, liquid smoke and worcestershire sauce, I started mixing things together. I did not measure anything, but kept adding and tasting until I liked it.

I had planned to start with tomato paste, but I had some ketchup I wanted to get rid of, so I used that as the base and mixed in some dark brown sugar. Then I added some red wine vinegar and liquid smoke until it was too runny and smoky. So, I added more ketchup and some light brown sugar. Then the worcestershire sauce some Bufalo Chipotle Salsa and some crushed red pepper. I topped it off with some whole grain mustard, chipotle mustard and garlic salt. Just to add some heat, I tossed in some Tapatio hot sauce. In the end, it made about 3-4 cups of sauce with a smoky flavor and a heat that sneaks up on you.