It has snuck up on me again – it is Memorial Day Weekend. It’s time to toss tea into the Chester River and to fire up the grill. I need to check on the Pimm’s supply, too.
It is time to herald the beginning of summer, and leisurely-spent evenings, sitting out on the back porch waiting for the fireflies to light up the night sky.
And it is grilling season, or so say all the magazines I paw through: Rachel Ray, Bon Appétit, Cook’s Illustrated and Garden & Gun. They are filled to the brim with seasonal delights all picturesquely photographed and sourced from fine artisinal organic farms with tiny little carbon footprints, home-baked tortillas, bacon you can cure yourself in 10 easy steps or divinely purple lingonberry sauces transported from Sweden. Our cooking isn’t exactly that worldly.
The Tall One is Assistant Grill Master when he is home. And now that he is cooking for himself I have been trying to give him some lessons in the basics. Barbecue sauce and hot sauce are de rigueur for most of his meals (maple syrup at others). I can’t remember when catsup stopped being his favorite dipping agent, but I suppose this sauce is just fancier catsup; so much more sophisticated and collegiate.
And yes, it’s not something to make every day, because one should be studying or training for that triathlon, but isn’t there a little piquant charm to slow down, smell the, err, sauce, and stir the aromatic mixture before slathering it on a hunk o’meat. It is worlds better than getting that cold bottle of KC Masterpiece out of the fridge. The only thing better would be a short trip to Bryant’s in Kansas City for some excellent genuine barbecue. https://www.arthurbryantsbbq.com
Makes about 2 cups
2 cups catsup
1/2 cup beer (darker is better)
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon minced onion
1 clove crushed garlic
Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan, on a medium to low heat, for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can serve it warm, which would be very civilized, or chill it for future use.
The Tall One might prefer Martha’s recipe, because it does not involve any actual cooking, but it seems a little charmless: https://www.marthastewart.com/312812/quick-bbq-sauce
But Martha does include a recipe for cooking ribs for that barbecue sauce, which is more than I did: https://www.marthastewart.com/318389/oven-roasted-ribs-with-barbecue-sauce
And this is an diverting story about different regional sauces. https://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/BBQ_sauces/index.html
And in case you started thinking about those lingonberries: https://www.food.com/recipe/swedish-lingonberry-sauce-229893
“Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all’s right with the world.”
-Ada Louise Huxtable
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