Recipes

Sean Brock's Secret Weapon

May 14, 2015

Sean Brock's BBQ Sauce — While Brock insists that store-bought barbecue sauce will work perfectly well, a homemade version takes very little time and you can customize it to your tastes or whatever it is you're cooking.Matt Taylor-Gross

While Charleston-based chef Sean Brock insists that a store-bought barbecue sauce will work perfectly well on his Char-Smoked Baby Back Ribs, we prefer the homemade Carolina-style version adapted from his book, Heritage (Artisan, 2014).

Featured in: The New Grilling Essentials

Store-bought barbecue sauce has its place, but for real depth of flavor we prefer this version adapted from Charleston chef Sean Brock's book Heritage.

Yield: makes 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

¹⁄₂ cup pork or chicken stock
2 ¹⁄₂ cups cider vinegar
³⁄₄ cup ketchup
2 ¹⁄₂ tbsp. light brown sugar
1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp. smoked paprika
³⁄₄ tsp. kosher salt
¹⁄₂ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
¹⁄₂ tsp. garlic powder
¹⁄₂ tsp. onion powder
¹⁄₄ tsp. chile powder

Instructions

Heat all ingredients in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high; simmer, stirring occasionally, until reduced by ²⁄₃, about 30 minutes. Sauce will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.