Looking for Peach BBQ Sauce for Chicken


 
R

Rita Y

TVWBB Emerald Member
I'll be doing some high-temperature (300-325°) BBQ chicken parts (breasts, thighs, & drumsticks) for a group next week and would like to serve a peach BBQ sauce alongside and also use the sauce to put a shiny glaze on the chicken parts.

I'm going to use KEVIN'S METAMORPHOSIS RUB.

I only have 2 peach sauces in my files:
One is PAUL KIRK’S GEORGIA PEACH BBQ SAUCE, printed in Fine Cooking.

THE OTHER PEACH SAUCE contains:
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/2 cups ketchup
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3/4 cup peach preserves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco

Does anyone have a peach BBQ sauce that they like for chicken? I’d like it to taste fairly peachy but not be over-the-top sweet. Herbal notes would be nice.

Or would one of the above sauces be better than the other?
Any modifications to the sauce?
Add some of the rub?

Rita
 
I have Paul Kirk's recipe for a peach chipotle salsa and a jalepeno peach chutney. I also have Myron's recipe for a peach injection. Sorry, not the peach sauces you were looking for, but if you would like them I would be happy to post them.
 
Here's a couple;

INGREDIENTS

developed by Paul Kirk for chicken

2 cups ketchup
1 1/2 cup peach preserves
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup cider vinegar
2 T clover honey
2 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T dijon mustard
1 T Peachtree Schnapps (optional)
1 T granulated onion
2 t black pepper
1 t granulated garlic
1 t ground ginger
1/4-t ground clove
1/4 t ground mace
1/2 stick butter, cubed and well chilled

DIRECTIONS

In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients except the butter. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. (You may want to have a lid handy to protect yourself and your kitchen from any sputtering.) Reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. With a whisk, blend in the butter cubes, a couple at a time, until incorporated.

Makes about a quart.

INGREDIENTS

1 large onion, peeled and quartered
1 1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cup ketchup
3/4 cup peach preserves
4 tbsp cider vinegar
3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
3 tbsp Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Hot pepper sauce to taste such as Tabasco

DIRECTIONS

Puree onion and water in food processor or blender until mixture is slush, about 30 seconds. Pass mixture through fine-mesh strainer, pressing on solids with spatula; you should have 1/2 cup strained onion juice. Discard what’s left.

Whisk onion juice, ketchup, water, Worcestershire, mustard, preserves, pepper, and vinegar together in bowl and set aside. Heat oil in large non-reactive saucepan over medium heat until shimmering; add garlic, chili powder, and cayenne and cook about 30 seconds till fragrant. Stir in ketchup mixture; increase heat to bring sauce to boil then reduce heat to simmer and keep uncovered until sauce thickens, about 15 minutes. You should have 4 cups sauce.

recipe courtesy of Venom, BBQForum
 
Honey-Peach Sauce

4 medium peaches
2 T lemon juice
2 T honey
1/2 t cracked black pepper
1 to 2 teaspoons snipped fresh thyme

Peel & cut up 3 of the peaches. Place 3 cut up peaches in blender or processor along with the lemon juice, honey, and pepper and blend until smooth. Transfer to a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes or until slightly thickened (stir often). Peel and finely chop the remaining peach. Add the finely chopped peach and snipped thyme, brush on meat during last 5 to 10 minutes of grilling time.

(Better Homes & Garden, "Biggest Book Of Grilling")

Thought I would add one with less ingredients.
 
Btw, you can mod the necatarine sauce and nix or reduce the chipotle. Use stock in place of meat juices.

I like the color of this sauce. Here's what it looks like over brisket:

 
Sorry, gents, for the delay in replying.

Chris, thank you for the offer. I’m going to need something that I can put into a squeeze bottle to be used in a buffet line, so chunky things might not be the ticket at this time.

Bruce, the first recipe sounds interesting. I especially like the addition of the mace and cloves. You don’t see mace used much anymore. The second one is originally from Cook’s Illustrated. They’re big on preparing the onion for BBQ sauce that way; I’ve seen the method several times.

Dino, the fresh peaches sound great, but I’m afraid that at this time of year I won’t be able to get decent, flavorful peaches any more. I guess I’ll have to settle for some other peach product. Might be poor planning on my part.

Kevin, for which recipe did you mean for me to use less ketchup -- the Fine Cooking recipe by Paul Kirk (the first one Bruce posted, but he added Dijon) or the one where I listed the ingredients?

Am I going to be able to find flavorful peaches or nectarines this time of year? I like the crystallized ginger and smoked paprika additions. The color is beautiful.

Should I make any adjustments to your Metamorphosis Rub for the chicken and using the fruity sauce?

Rita
 
The OP links to a different rub. The MR rub is here.

I'd remove the cumin and cut the marjoram to 1/4 t. Consider a 1/4-1/2 t sage addition or work just a touch into whatever sauce you make.

On the ketchup: I meant all of the above. If you want a peach Q sauce (which is a good idea) make a peach Q sauce, not a peach-flavored tomato-based sauce. That's my two cents anyway.

Kirk's sauce practically defines cloying but, to me, in addition to the sweetening being over-the-top (1.5 c preserves plus 1/2 c sugar plus 2 T honey plus all the sweeteners in the ketchup!) the ketchup-peach ratio doesn't work--unless one is looking for more of a tomato-y sauce--and in that case, fine. The spicing--which is the same spicing used in ketchup, btw) is fine, but the sauce would benefit from caramelized onion and a cooked-in herb or two (or three!). The caramelized onion would add body and would add sweetening. I'd likely cheat in some red bell for additional natural sweetening and a color boost. A little of the butter would go in at the beginning to saute the vegs, I'd deglaze with chicken stock (need a meat tie-in!) and the vinegar, and do a butter mount at the end, but off heat, and just the remaining 2 T (2 T having been used to saute with). (If the option was desired, I'd use peach brandy rather than the schnapps which tends toward the artificial).


Venom's I like too. I'd also cut the ketchup dramatically and I'd skip the water entirely, instead sauteing and caramelizing the onion (finely chopped), cheating in some herb(s) (in both sauces the herbs could be sauteed, whole, with the onion, then removed), and deglazing with stock and the vinegar. I'd lower the Worce a bit. I think both sauces would benefit from a tiny lemon addition right at the finish.

When peaches are out of season I mostly always use frozen for these sorts of sauces rather than preserves. To the frozen peaches I add reconstituted dried peaches (or nectarines). That way i can really make the sauce peach-y, sweetening as desired with the desired sweeteners (often brown sugar plus honey) rather than fighting the sweeteners in the preserves. I often use preserves for glazes though, and that is something you could do as well: Make whatever sauce you wish but, before salting to taste near the end--and before mounting with butter--removing some of the sauce and reserving it. Finish the sauce as planned. For the glaze, melt some peach preserves in a pot, then add the reserved sauce, a T at a time, stirring well. (I'm thinking a 1:1 result). Simmer gently, puree with a handblender, then reduce till quite thick but still just paintable with a pastry brush. Add a drop or two of lemon. Cool; reserve; rewarm slightly, before use).

Okay, my four cents.
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Kevin, Thanks - I’ve corrected the link but I don’t know why it doesn’t open to your post or the beginning of the thread, rather than mine.

I’m braindead. I never even gave frozen peaches a thought! Duh!

OK, I think I’m in business. I’ll get my notes and recipes organized and hopefully I can give the chicken and sauce a test run this weekend. I’m really excited about this project. Stay tuned.

Four cents, huh? A bargain at twice the price.
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Rita
 
I don’t know why it doesn’t open to your post or the beginning of the thread, rather than mine.
Click to expand...
Because it links directly to the chicken variation post. The post link looks like this:

http: //tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1980069052/m/8730024584

--the variation like this:

http: //tvwbb.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1980069052/m/8730024584?r=3720072784#3720072784

They are the same--up to the ?r=, which occurs in the second. That directs the browser to the string following it which is the post's number. That's why it opens there.
 
Just wondering aloud here. Could one use dried apricots instead of fresh or frozen peaches? My guess it would be no different than using dried shrooms or peppers, and soaking them in hot water to bring them back to life, NO?
 
Yes. I use dried fruit a lot, alone or as a supplement to fresh fruit or fresh or bottled juice. (Just picked up some dried white peaches in Tucson and they're calling my name.) In either case, use more than you think you'll need, reconstitute well, and cook well in the sauce so that when the time comes they will puree easily.
 
My apologies to Paul Kirk. Here is his recipe for Georgia Peach BBQ Sauce for Chicken, as printed in Fine Cooking #39; URL above. Not quite as sweet and no Dijon.

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon onion salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground mace
1/3 cup white vinegar
2 cups tomato ketchup
1 cup peach preserves, puréed
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons butter, cubed and well chilled
 
Fine tuning the glaze:

Quote: “Make whatever sauce you wish but, before salting to taste near the end—and before mounting with butter—remove some of the sauce and reserve it.“

A procedural question: One would reserve the portion of the sauce for the glaze before adding the 1/2 cup of meat juices or chicken stock to the remaining portion used for the sauce, right? You’d be glazing at the end of the cooking process so would not have access to the meat juices in the pan of the WSM.

With chicken stock this wouldn’t be much of an issue, since we often have it on hand. It could be added to the sauce, then a quantity of that set aside for the glaze, which would then be reduced further. The glaze would then have a hint of chicken flavor that way, but enough? Overshadowed by the other ingredients?

Rita
 
In order: Yes, right.

I'd deglaze with a little of it, along with the vin so, yes. The sauce just posted still (to me) suffers from being cloying (1 c of preserves plus 1/2 c packed brown sugar plus the sweeteners in the ketchup is virtual candy to me), has too much ketchup, and is in bad need of flavor development. Chucking everything in a pot and heating/cooking it doesn't cut it.

Nope, wouldn't be overshadowed. One isn't looking for chicken flavor per se; one is looking for some breadth to the finish. In other words, you don't need to taste the chicken in the glaze, you're making the glaze dimensional. Doing so by using a touch of stock can allow its flavor to tie in better.
 
Just to clarify about the chicken stock, I was referring to your Nectarine Sauce. I'll add the chicken stock earlier in the sauce process than I would if I were using meat juices.

So, I'd deglaze the onion-herb saute with the 3 T sherry vinegar AND 1/2 CUP CHICKEN STOCK and allow the combo to reduce by about half.

Or do you prefer to reduce the stock by half, then add the vinegar and reduce both by half again? Is there a name for this double-reduction technique?

I understand what you are saying about the subtlety of the stock flavor.

Thanks,
Rita
 
Ahh, okay. With the necatarine sauce I added the stock when noted in the recipe. The vin gets reduced in the deglazing process then, late, the stock gets reduced. Your idea of deglazing with the vin and some of the stock would work, and your latter idea might too. What you are shooting for here (or, I was) is a concentration of the vin flavors (30-year-old aged sherry vin concentrated wonderfully--and it is far cheaper than much younger balsamic, with a deeper flavor) first, then the stock reduction later so as to avoid over-reducing the stock which can veer it towards salty--or salty enough so that no adjustment is possible later.

This technique is fairly common: one uses it with wine-stock and juice-stock combos as well. There isn't a specific name for it. If not using much in the way of stock quantity, holding it till later in the process isn't necessary.
 
Thanks Kevin. That's great. I didn't make it to the store for the ingredients today; maybe tomorrow.

Rita
 
Found sound terrific-smelling (always a good sign) Calif peaches today at Publix here in Okee. Bought a bunch. Have the dried whires from TJ's. I think a peach sauce is in the making as well...
 
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