Bar B Que (Not just for meat!)

The best thick sauces are made with paste tomatoes.  You can use a canned tomato puree or "crushed tomatoes".  But if you go the from scratch route you must cut tomatoes in half and squeeze or scoop out the seeds and more importantly the soft slimy covering to the seeds. Short of fermentation the seeds and slime bits take forever to break down.  The soft stuff around the seeds are what give the bitter acidic tangy flavor to tomatoes so if you want to have sweeter smoother sauce you get rid of that part.  It is also the part of the tomato that breaks down protein so expelling it makes your bbq last longer.

For one 4-5 lb chicken (this will make approximately 5 Cups finished sauce) baked and stripped down  this is the amount of bbq sauce you'll need for a saucy dish.  You can halve this if applying to grilled foods or using as a glaze while baking.  I like this with Pici pastas. num

• 4 pounds of Tomatoes or one 28oz can of tomatoes
• 1 giant (and I mean huge) yellow or vidalia onion minced (teeny tiny pieces) - this adds a lot of round and sweet flavor one of the more important ingredients
• 4-6 cloves garlic pressed or minced
• 1/2 Cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp cayenne (depending on heat-taste)
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp paprika as real as you can get not just the stuff that makes things red (smoked paprika makes a unique bbq)
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp cumin (fresh ground is best)
• a handful of fresh oregano
• 1/2 -1 Cup honey, agave, brown sugar or Preserves of your choice (cherry, and raspberry are my personal favorites- apricot is also awesome)  I use Bonne Maman or whatever I have been given or have canned myself.
• Sea salt to taste 

Simmer minced onion until translucent, add minced garlic and stir well.
Pour tomatoes into onion/garlic mix simmer on low-med (it should not spit and sputter too much that scorches the sauce). Add spices and then herbs, once nearing the end choose one sugar/sweetener.  Stir in until well blended wait a few minutes to taste before adding final salt -the flavor builds and you can end up with a salty mess if you salt too quickly.  This recipe can be halved easily to be a dip for chicken fingers, fries, sandwiches.

This recipe can be canned or frozen into portions so you don't have to baby a new sauce each time you want some.  If canning add 1 tsp of lemon juice to a half pint,  2 tsp to a pint, 2 TBSP to a quart jar.  Or just test the ph.  I like to just make it easy on myself and add the lemon juice in these increments, it assures there is enough acid to help preserve the sauce.

Lemons and Limes for keeps

I've salted and sugared some limes and tossed them into a jar along with the juice of 4 other limes.  I have also salted some lemons and put those into a jar along with the juice of 3 other lemons. 

The salt will draw out the juice and create a citrus brine for preserving the fruits in.  The only maintenance it needs is to shake the brine a little to coat the lemons and limes respectively every other day (most important during its initial curing of 3 weeks) while visiting your fridge.  Once the brine covers the majority of the citrus, it will keep refrigerated for a year.  This leaves plenty of time to do it all over again the next year.  After about 3 weeks the citrus will be soft and supple and at that point, the rind is soft and edible too.  These are excellent for salads and other Summer refreshment.  When the lemons and limes are this way they qualify as a full-fledged  condiment and can be used just as you would any other.  And, best of all, a little goes a long way and is always an impressive addition.

Instructions on cutting, salting, canning these citrus:

- Meyer are the preferred choice, but really any will do.

- The amount of salt and additional juice depends on the jar size. 1 quart Mason or Kerr jar needs 2 TBSP salt (then add the juice as mentioned below)

- The double quart size needs 4 TBSP of salt

- For the additional juice, you want enough to help give the citrus a boost.  This again depends on the size of jar and how many fruit you choose to do.  1/3 or better of juice/brine is best to start off.   It will continue to make its own brine as the salt does its magic.

- With the limes, I chose a smaller jar as the slices of limes are so much smaller than the lemons that the same amount of wedges fill a much smaller jar.  For limes I also add 2 TBSP vegan sugar along with 2 TBSP sea salt.

• Cut one end off -- enough to reveal some fruit and not just the pith, cut the other end just enough to stand your fruit upright
• Cut downwards from the most cut end toward the stand end along the wedges direction but not severing the citrus entirely through. Repeat in as many wedges as you'd like - I do 6 for each.
• Pour salt into each wedge cut making certain each side of each wedge is well salted.
• Cut and juice the amount of citrus you'd like for the jar you've selected
• Pour 2-4 TBSP salt into the jar (2 for 1 pint-1 quart 4 for a double quart).
• Pour a lesser amount of sugar into the jar if you'd like it to be a touch less tangy in the end (it's rather minimal and I do it for limes
• You can add spices like cloves, cinnamon sticks and allspice to lemons if they are too edgy.  I like it without because they have more uses without the spices added.  Maybe try two little batches?

Now this is really a very general recipe and hasn't many rules.  The basic rules are:

• You want enough salt to keep the citrus and enough to make brine
• You want enough starter brine so the citrus is eventually covered
• You want it to taste like a million dollars and for people to think you're incredible.

You can leave the citrus out overnight to let it stand at room temperature and after that move it to the refrigerator with a shake to coat and tend to it as you think of it.  A good shake should move the salt from the base of the jar and redistribute it.