'Bar-B-Q Sauce' three ways.

 Story time first. When I was very young, infant age until I was about 4, my parents belonged to a yacht club that was based in Long Beach, CA. They would take our boat to Catalina on weekends and then the club would have a Labor Day cook out there. Somewhere there is photos from one such excursion wiht a photo  of the 'cannibal cooker' they used. A vertical spit roaster for a half side of beef. Amazing times for sure. In my mom's recipe box there were about four different versions of 'Bar-B-Q' sauce ranging from family size to crowd size. The following two photos are very similar at first glance, I have no idea which one my parents used but I think one may be a copy of the other.  Notes once again on the back of one card provided by my dad.

You can see by the amounts that it was an adjustment of proportions and clarification. Because you don't just toss in two hole celery ribs, right? Either of these recipes are for a large hunk of meat. Then there's the other recipe that appears to be from someone named Betty Carter, a friend of my parents I am assuming, and it makes 1/2 gallon of sauce!

 

It also has the added tobasco and 1 (1/2) can of beer. 'Mapeline' is basically maple flavored syrup and you could use maple extract instead. Here's the first recipe for easier reading with reverse side proportions after.

'Bar-B-Q Sauce'

6 1/2 (2 lg cans) cups tomatoe puree

1/2 onion

1 lemon

1 clove garlic

1/4 lb brown sugar

1/4 gal stock

3 1/4 cups catsup

1/4 bunch celery

1/2 T. dry mustard

1/2 T mapeline

1 1/2 oz. smoke

1/2 T pepper

15 oz PUREE TOMATO

1 BOTTLE CATSUP

1 LEMON SLICED

GARLIC

DASH PEPPER

2 STALKS CELERY (CHOPPED)

2 SLICES ONION (CHOPPED FINE)

1 TBSP BRWN SUGAR

DASH OF DRY MUSTARD

20 DROPS SMOKE

3 DROPS MAPELINE

1 CAN BEEF BROTH + 3 CANS WATER

cook for 1 hour.

Now when you look at all those ingredients it all makes sense flavor wise. You have your acid, sugar, smoke flavor, maple and beef flavoring for richness. The proportions though. 1/4 bunch of celery? How many stalks is that even? 5? 6? 1/4 gal stock, we have to assume beef due to my dad's notes on the back. This is a much scaled down version of the second card because that one calls for 2 chopped onions and a gallon of stock. It's like, the original, the 'half portion' version and then my dad's hand written version for an even smaller batch.

Now the other recipe, that's from Betty Carter is another small batch version but in addition to the regular ingredients it calls for 1 can (1/2 can) of beer and tobasco.

I need to mention that the vertical spit cooker that was used, was the hit of the day because the guys would come over and see how the meat was looking and then say something like, 'looks like it could use a bit more marinade' and pour some of their beer over the meat. So the Betty Carter version maybe a scaled down version of that recipe.

If I ever use one of these I will try it and post results here. As a matter of fact  I have a pork butt roast in the fridge thawing, I think barbecue pork sandwiches are going to be on the menu for New Years Day.

After I get some of the extra supplies I need.

Looks like meat is back on the menu boys!