Sweet & Sticky Barbecue Sauce

This recipe appeared in the April 2005 issue of Food & Wine magazine. It accompanied an article about Adam Perry Lang, a French-trained chef who spent a decade working in some of the best restaurants in NYC, then turned his attention to American regional cuisine and spent more than a year traveling the country, visiting countless barbecue restaurants, judging at the American Royal Barbecue competition, etc., and eventually opening Daisy May's BBQ USA in Manhattan.

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Sweet & Sticky Barbecue Sauce

1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 garlic cloves, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
salt
1/4 cup dark rum
3 Tablespoons chili powder
1 Tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 cups water
2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 teaspoons hot sauce

Heat oil in large saucepan. Add garlic, onion, bell pepper, and a pinch of salt. Cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.

Add rum and simmer for 2 minutes.

Add chili powder, black pepper, allspice, and cloves, stirring continually, until fragrant, about 3 minutes.

Add brown sugar, water, ketchup, molasses, mustard, vinegar, and hot sauce, stirring often, until thickened, about 30 minutes.

Transfer sauce to a large food processor and puree. Season with salt to taste.

May be refrigerated for up to two weeks.

Brush sauce on meat up to 45 minutes before the end of cooking.

This is on my list to try after Kruger's KC sauce. The last sauce I tries with clove and allspice did not quite make the cut. I am anxious to try this one. Thanks Chris.

Any idea on what would be an appropriate substitution for the 1/4 rum?

If it's the rum flavor you don't like you could skip it entirely or replace it with an off-dry, buttery, oaked Chardonnay, like Kendall Jackson, Edna Valley, Coyote Creek or the like. The wine, of course, won't taste like dark rum, but it'll add a few similar characteristics and a few of its own. If you choose the wine route, I'd suggest replacing 1 Tbls of the oil with 1 Tbls unsalted butter.

If the alcohol is the issue, skip the rum entirely. If you can find a rum extract that is not alcohol based, you could use a touch of that, about 1/2 tsp, but add it with the sugar and water in step 4. If you choose this route or if you can't find an extract you like and skip the rum entirely, there is no need to replace it with any liquid. The sauce will simply start out a bit thicker to begin with at the simmering stage.