No. 5 Sauce


 
Hello gents,
First off let me say what a great base sauce recipe you have here... but you already know that.
Here is a question for the guys who add onion, garlic, dried fruit, bacon or other solids to the simmer. Do you guys strain out the pulp or do you blend together the ingredients for the final sauce?
 
When I make sauces with solids, which are the vast majority, I often purée the sauce either partially or fully depending on the finished texture I seek. I f lighter body is desired I purée fully then strain through a fine strainer.
 
Another option is to remove the solids. That leaves a thinner sauce depending on how much it was reduced.

The removed solids: onion, garlic, dried fruit, peppers...which makes what I call BBQ RELISH.

Bbq relish makes a great topping on a bbq or other sandwich.
 
I have diced onion and garlic very fine and then left the bits in the finished sauce. It added a interesting extra to the consistency of the sauce.

Mike
 
Just thought I would throw this out there. I'm sure some of you gurus have done this, but worked out for a new guy like me. Took the number 5 sauce (which I adore...thank you to the inventer) added about 1/3 cup of apricot preserve. My fam and friends all loved it. Made for a nice sweet sauce on the apple wood smoked pulled pork.
 
What am I doing wrong here? This sauce is kinda similar to a recipe I saw in Weber's Charcoal Grilling cookbook. I tried them both, and both just came out tasting like hot ketchup soup.

I'm sure that I'm doing wrong, but the steps are basically 1) add ingredients and 2) simmer.
 
You're not doing anything wrong. This sauce is somewhat in the style of NC sauces, which tend to be on the thin side. Might not be your thing, but you can simmer to reduce/thicken, or you can add aromatics (cooked onion, garlic, fresh chilies) and purée, dried fruit or chilies (simmered in the sauce till reconstituted), jam or jelly, etc.
 
Mark, the rub you use can make a big difference. I tend to use low or no salt rubs in the sauce. Some like to add 50% more rub for more spice. Some add their favorite hot sauce for heat too.
If it is a touch sweet for your taste, cut the brown sugar a bit.
 
I like the original #5. But i cut back on the vinegar to 1/4C.

Last night i added : onion,garlic,veal stock,hot sauce and webers "smokey mesquite" and some ancho.

I tasted every 2 min after i added a new thing.
So it simmered for 30 min.

Came out GREAT!

Love the Jam idea. And maby even a spoon of mustard would be good in the Original sauce.

Thats why i Like this sauce. Fast to make,and you can change it so it fits you and your food.
 
It is interesting that there are quite a few comments about cutting the vinegar. I go the other way...perhaps 1/3 more than recipe calls for. Perhaps this comes from my earliest BBQ memory...OTT's BBQ. They had a wonderful vinegar sauce-Eastern NC style. No ketchup.
One of my favorite additions is fresh squeezed lemon juice. I like the twang!
 
Steve, I'm like you . Love that vinegar taste but everyone else likes less. I cut the recipe so that the vinegar taste sneaks up on you at the end. Kinda like hot sauce . Too much heat up front and you can't taste anything but hot. I keep a bottle of "my special blend" for me only.
 
I made this sauce according to the original recipe with the following changes:

Reduced the brown sugar to 1/4 cup.
1/4t Onion Powder (only had a red onion on hand)
1/2t Chipotle Powder
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1/3 cup dried cherries

I simmered it for 15 minutes and finished with the juice of half a lemon.

Now this didn't make nearly enough so I plan on doubling it for the bbq, and I will definitely add the drippings from my two butts after they're done resting, but at the moment this sauce needs just one more thing but I can't quite put my finger on it.

The dominant tastes are ketchup, cherry, and lemon. Any suggestions on what other component to add to really round out these flavors? I was thinking about adding another T of rub, but was hesitant since I used the rub from Big Bob Gibson's Championship Injection recipe, which isn't low-salt.

The potential for greatness is there, I just need one more bump to get there. Thanks for all of your suggestions.
 
Steve,
Thanks again for No. 5, we love it.

Could you talk about straining or blending in the dried cherries/cranberries, I'm not familiar with that technique.
 
Charles, that is a good question.
Think about soup. There is thin chicken broth, thicker cream of chicken soup and chunky.
No5 Sauce can be similar.
If you make additions to No5, they may be sliced or chopped onion, garlic cloves, dried fruit etc.
If you like something different in your sauce, you may opt for chunky. Just leave the chopped onion and dried fruit as is after simmering the sauce.
If you like a smooth but thicker sauce, just use a blender to blend the simmered sauce, solids and all, until smooth.
If you like a thin sauce, just strain the solids out.
Al three work. Take your pick.

If you really want to jazz up a bbq sandwich, strain the solids out. Make your sandwich with pork, beef or say chicken. Then top the sandwich with the solids. MMM MMMM good. I call it BBQ RELISH.
 
Originally posted by Steve Petrone:
Looking forward to hearing which way you go...
Click to expand...

I don't do a double batch very often, so no experience to draw on.
I wanted to strain the solids out to preserve the "what is that" factor, but the sauce was too thick to pass through our one-and-only strainer, so I just left them in. I think it gives it character.

Thought the flavors of the lemon and cranberries were great, but I added a little too much pepper(s), and it was a little too hot to give to people whose taste I'm not familiar with.

I added some more Ketchup and Brown Sugar, that knocked the heat down, but sort of unbalanced that great No. 5 flavor I'm used to.

I piddled a little more with it and was finally pleased.

I haven't checked with them yet, it's too early, but I'll report back on how they liked it.

Also of note: I smoked an 8 lb Butt in 6 hours yesterday.
Empty foiled pan, 275°, probably only used around 50% of the charcoal.
I'm REALLY likin' this "no-water-in-the-pan" stuff.
 
So I'm thinking of making the #5 and adding some roasted peaches to it, finish off with a whizz in the blender. I have a lot of peaches and I hate to see them waste. Anyone tried this?
 
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