Barbecue sauce (also abbreviated as BBQ sauce) is a

sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi- solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavour, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...

used as a

marinade Marinating is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned, often acidic, liquid before cooking. This sauce, called the marinade, can be either acidic (made with ingredients such as vinegar, lemon juice, or wine), or enzymatic (made with ingredien ...

, basting,

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to enhance the Flavoring, flavour, to complement the dish or to impart a specific flavor. Such specific flavors generally add sweetness or pungency, or sharp or piquant ...

, or topping for

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

cooked in the

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (often shortened to BBQ worldwide; barbie or barby in Australia and New Zealand) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to coo ...

cooking style, including

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). Beef can be prepared in various ways; Cut of beef, cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often Ground beef, grou ...

, and

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

. It is a ubiquitous condiment in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...

and is used on many other foods as well. Ingredients vary depending on area, but most include

vinegar Vinegar () is an aqueous solution of diluted acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains from 5% to 18% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting ...

tomato paste Tomato paste is a thick paste made from tomatoes, which are cooked for several hours to reduce water content, straining out seeds and skins, and cooking the liquid again to reduce the base to a thick, rich concentrate. It is used to impart an i ...

(or a combination) as a base, as well as a combination of

onion powder Onion powder is Drying (food), dehydrated, ground onion used as a seasoning. It is a common ingredient in seasoned salt and spice mixes, such as beau monde seasoning. Some varieties are prepared using toasted onion. White, yellow, and red onions m ...

spice In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

s such as

mustard Mustard may refer to: Food and plants * Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment * Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment ** Mustard seed, small, round seeds of ...

and

black pepper Black pepper (''Piper nigrum'') is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit is a drupe (stonefruit) which is about in diameter ...

, and sweeteners such as

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

molasses Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...

History

Some place the origin of barbecue sauce at the formation of the first American colonies in the 17th century. References to the sauce start occurring in both English and French literature over the next two hundred years.

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

sauce, a type of barbecue sauce, can be traced to

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

settlers in the 18th century. Early homemade barbecue sauces were made with vinegar, salt, and pepper. Sugar,

ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and sour flavor. "Ketchup" now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes for different varieties contained mushrooms, oysters, mussels, egg whites, grapes, or walnuts, amon ...

, and

Worcestershire sauce Worcestershire sauce or Worcester sauce (UK: ) is a fermented liquid condiment invented by pharmacists John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins in the city of Worcester in Worcestershire, England, during the first half of the 19th century ...

started to be used in the 1920s, but after World War II, the quantity of sugar and the number of ingredients increased dramatically. The Georgia Barbecue Sauce Company of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

advertised an early commercially produced barbecue sauce in 1909.

Heinz The Kraft Heinz Foods Company, formerly the H. J. Heinz Company and commonly known as Heinz (), is an American food processing company headquartered at One PPG Place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company was founded by Henry J. Heinz in 1869. ...

was the first major company to sell bottled barbecue sauce in 1940. Soon afterward,

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

introduced "Open Pit".

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

only entered the market in around 1960, but with heavy advertising, succeeded in becoming the market leader. Kraft also started making cooking oils with bags of spice attached, supplying another market entrance of barbecue sauce.

Variations

Different geographical regions have allegiances to their particular styles and variations of barbecue sauce.

East Carolina

Most American barbecue sauces can trace their roots to a sauce common in the eastern regions of

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

and

. The simplest and the earliest, it was popularized by enslaved Africans who also advanced the development of American barbecue, and originally was made with

, ground

, and hot

chili pepper Chili peppers, also spelled chile or chilli ( ), are varieties of fruit#Berries, berry-fruit plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for their pungency. They are used as a spice to ...

flakes. It is used as a "mopping" sauce to baste the meat while it is cooking and as a dipping sauce when it is served. "Thin, spicy, and vinegar based," it penetrates the meat and cuts the fats in the mouth, with a noticeably tarter flavor than most other barbecue sauces.

Western Carolina

In Lexington and the Piedmont areas of western North Carolina, the sauce is often called a dip. It is similar to the East Carolina sauce with the addition of

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (; ; ) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes. In some countries the term refers to a sauce to be served as part of a dish, in others it is a condiment. Tomatoes have a rich flavor, high water content, s ...

, or

South Carolina mustard sauce

Part of South Carolina is known for its yellow barbecue sauces made primarily of yellow

, and

s. This sauce is most common in a belt from Columbia to Charleston.

Memphis

Similar to the Western Carolina style, but using molasses as a sweetener and with additional spices. It is usually served as a dipping sauce, as Memphis-style barbecue is typically a dry rub.

Kansas City

Thick, reddish-brown, tomato-based, and made with sugar, vinegar, and

s. It evolved from the Western Carolina– and Memphis-style sauces but is thicker and sweeter and does not penetrate the meat as much as it sits on the surface. Typical commercial barbecue sauce is based on the Kansas City style.

Texas

In some of the older, more traditional restaurants, the sauces are heavily seasoned with

cumin Cumin (, ; ; ''Cuminum cyminum'') is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Its seeds – each one contained within a fruit, which is dried – are used in the cuisines of many cultures in both whole ...

s or

chili powder Chili powder (also spelled chile, chilli, or, alternatively, powdered chili) is the dried, pulverized fruit of one or more varieties of chili pepper, sometimes with the addition of other spices (in which case it is also sometimes known as chili p ...

, and fresh

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

, while using less

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

and sugar. They are medium thick and often resemble a thin tomato soup. They penetrate the meat easily rather than sit on top. Bottled barbecue sauces from Texas are often different from those used in the same restaurants because they do not contain meat drippings.

Alabama white sauce

North Alabama is known for its distinctive white sauce, a

mayonnaise Mayonnaise (), colloquially referred to as "mayo" (), is a thick, creamy sauce with a rich and tangy taste that is commonly used on sandwiches, hamburgers, Salad#Bound salads, bound salads, and French fries. It also forms the base for various o ...

-based sauce that also includes apple cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and black pepper, which is used predominantly on chicken and pork.Cary, Josh & Jackson, Chef Tom. (Aug 10, 2018).
Cooking With Fire: Alabama White Sauce
', KMUW 89.1 Wichita Public Radio, Wichita, KS.

Brands and types of barbecue sauce

* Ah-So * Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce * Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce * HP BBQ Sauce * Hunt's * KC Masterpiece *

Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

* Maull's barbecue sauce * Reggae Reggae Sauce * Sauer's Barbecue Sauce * Shacha sauce * Siu haau sauce * Sweet Baby Ray's Other sauces sometimes used for barbeque include

mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in Hoodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * ''Mojo'' (2017 film), a 2017 Indian Kannada drama film written and directed by Sreesha Belakvaadi * '' ...

, mumbo sauce, and satay sauce.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbecue Sauce Marinades

History

Variations

East Carolina

Western Carolina

South Carolina mustard sauce

Memphis

Kansas City

Texas

Alabama white sauce

Brands and types of barbecue sauce

See also

References