Terri’s Tangalicious Barbecue Sauce

Wehaw!  I finally found my grandmother’s barbecue sauce recipe!  I was a young girl when I last had her sauce and I have always remembered it as being one of the best barbecue sauces I have ever tried.  I can still remember Granny holding up the plastic bucket in which she had mixed up the sauce and laughing, “The recipe calls for a bottle of mustard, a bottle of ketchup, a bottle of Worcestershire sauce…”.  Oh, how many times I have wanted that sauce recipe over the years!

The sad part about it all?  I have had the recipe in my possession for over 30 years and didn’t know it.  When I was in my late teens Granny gave me a copy of her church’s cookbook.  I have mentioned that book a few times in other posts and have shared some of the recipes from it.  However, I had never gone through the book page by page until a few weeks ago.  Low and behold I turned a page and saw a recipe for barbecue sauce.  I read the recipe and got really excited when I saw my grandmother’s name below it.  Could this really be the recipe for which I had longed?  I am so happy to announce that, yes-yes-YES this is absolutely the treasured recipe.

As well as I remember, Granny had clipped the recipe from her local newspaper, The Times and Democrat, which was published in the small South Carolina town of Orangeburg.  I think that the recipe appeared in the newspaper around 1967 or 1968.

Believe me, this one is a definite keeper.  As a matter of fact, after John tasted it, he emphatically said that I should never, ever use any other sauce again.

This is a zesty sauce with a little bit of sweet, a little bit of heat, and a whole lot of zippity do dah zing.  I used it to make Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches and the male factors at my house grunted and smacked and staked out territorial rights over every last drop of it. Oh, and we girls loved it, too.  So, so, so-so-so good!  And so incredibly easy, too!

Notes about the sauce:

• This recipe makes approximately 9 cups of sauce.
• Left-over sauce can be frozen in appropriate containers for later use.  In the past I have often bought barbecue sauce in gallon containers (like the ones from Costco), then divided it among quart jars, and stored it in the freezer.  When ready for use, I take a jar out of the freezer and defrost the sauce in the microwave.
• The sauce by itself is very zingy–you definitely get the vinegar.  However, it mellows to perfection on meats.
• The salt, pepper, and hot sauce are to taste.  I did not add any salt or hot sauce to my sauce, but I did use a few grinds of black pepper.
• No exact brands or sizes (other than “small”) were stated on the recipe.  I chose brands and container sizes which I thought might have been available during the time period in which this recipe was written. 

Terri’s Tangalicious Barbecue Sauce
Recipe @ that’s some good cookin’ as adapted from The Times and Democrat Newspaper, Orangeburg, South Carolina 1967 or 1968
Printable Recipe

• 1 (10 ounce) bottle Worcestershire sauce (I used Lea and Perrins)
• 1 (18 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce (I used Hunt’s Original)
• 1 (14 ounce) bottle ketchup (I used Heinz)
• 1 (16 ounce) bottle French salad dressing (I used Kraft’s)
• 1 (8 ounce) bottle mustard (I used French’s)
• 1 stick butter (1/4 pound) (I used real butter)
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons vinegar
• hot sauce, salt, and/or black pepper to taste (I did not use any hot sauce or salt)

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pot.  Cook and stir over medium heat until butter is melted and sauce just begins to bubble.  Remove from heat and use on your favorite barbecue meal.  Try this on Pulled Pork Barbecue Sandwiches…perfection.

Left over sauce may be stored in the refrigerator for about two weeks (maybe longer–you decide) or put in freezer-safe containers and kept frozen for at least 3 months.