OUR BARBECUE SAUCE

Mine is a second marriage. It is also a second marriage for my husband. In addition to children and furniture from first marriages, we also brought recipes. The children are all grown now and seem to know where they fit into the scheme of things and the furniture has long since been replaced. The recipes, however, have been more difficult to sort out and have required more diplomacy than a summit meeting. We are both ardent cooks and have been known to be competitive in the kitchen.

I came to the marriage with the conviction that the kitchen was my own private and exclusive domain. It is not that I did not know he loved to cook and was pretty good at it. He cooked wonderful gourmet meals for me when we courted and I have always been deeply impressed by his self-sufficiency in homemaking. I thought, though, that once we were married he would defer to me as the superior chef and that wousld be that. Well, that was not that and we continued to share the kitchen and sometimes it felt quite crowded. It is only because we love and respect each other that we were able to work out our problems in the kitchen so that we have both lived to tell the tale. There were times when we were not sure we would. What has evolved is the natural consequence of bowing to God-given abilities.

Dean is the better meat cook because of his ability to close the oven door or grill hood and not open it again until the clock on the wall says it is the right time to do so. I'm a pot watcher and a peeker who enjoys standing over the cauldron and stirring until a mixture is precisely the correct color and consistency and that makes me the better sauce cook. I also like to concoct desserts and to bake. Dean, however, is the better taster. He can detect subtle differences in flavors and identify the ones that elude me.

"My" recipes and "your" recipes have become "our" recipes. Our recipe for Barbecue Sauce is a prime example. It was Dean's recipe originally. He used brown sugar for which I substituted honey and that gives it a distinctive flavor. We both experimented to come up with a way to keep it from separating. We think these collaborative changes made a great recipe a memorable
one that is now rightfully called "ours."

This recipe is dedicated to Caroldee, a blogging friend and the author of the only comment on this entire blog!

OUR BARBECUE SAUCE
64 ounces catsup
12 ounces white vinegar
16 ounces vegetable oil
1 4 ounce box of dry mustard
dissolved in a small amount of water
16 ounces honey
4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Tabasco
4 tablespoons soy sauce
1 5 ounce bottle liquid hickory smoke

Combine all ingredients except catsup and mix in a blender on high for about one minute. In a saucepan bring this mixture to boiling and let cool. When this is cool enough to handle pour into a plastic one gallon milk jug and add catsup. Now blend small batches in blender until all is blended. Return to milk jug and cap. Let stand for a couple of days before using to allow flavors to blend. Sauce does not need to be refrigerated.
Yields one gallon