Homemade Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce - AKA: Oh Dear Lord. I've died & gone to Heaven.

This is part three of getting my family away from store bought condiments & preservatives.  So far I have made ketchup & taco sauce.  All with great results.  If you missed my post about my homemade ketchup, go here, & taco sauce go here. 

 

Here in the PNW, Autumn comes quick.  Chilly nights make the tomato skins crack.  I had to get out there in September & pick all the green tomatoes that were left on the vine.  When it was all said & done I had 6 brown paper bag full.  Yesterday, I finally used up the last remaining tomatoes from my garden.  I'm so happy to be able to see my clean counter top. 

 

I decided to make some BBQ.  I tried a recipe from the Ball Canning website, but it was too hot & vinegary for my taste.  Then I came across this little gem from allrecipes.com.  Go here to bookmark it.  Here is the recipe in its entirety:

 

Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce:

1/2 onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup bourbon whiskey

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper  

1/2 tablespoon salt 

2 cups ketchup

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/3 cup cider vinegar                                                

2 tablespoons liquid smoke flavoring

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce                                                    

1/2 cup packed brown sugar 

1/3 teaspoon hot pepper sauce, or to taste                                                    

Directions

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, combine the onion, garlic, and whiskey. Simmer for 10 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Mix in the ground black pepper, salt, ketchup, tomato paste, vinegar, liquid smoke, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and hot pepper sauce.
2. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Run sauce through a strainer if you prefer a smooth sauce. 

I played around with the recipe to suit my situation.  For example I wasn't going to use store bought ketchup & paste when I had my own tomatoes.  Secondly, I wasn't going to go out & buy liquid smoke.  Finally, I found out I had no Worcestershire sauce or garlic cloves. 

I peeled & seeded 8 quarts of tomatoes.  Cooked it down to desired thickness.  I added 1/4C of whiskey, I didn't want to over power it.  Then added the onion & garlic powder,  salt, pepper, brown sugar, & hot pepper sauce.  I let it cook a bit more so the alcohol would cook out.  I processed it for 25 minutes in my water bath canner.

 

It came out AWESOME!  I am never going to use another recipe.  My husband wants to use this on the next tri tip we buy.  Try it out & tell me what you think.  Now I am putting my canner away, jars & lids away.

Homemade Taco Sauce

In my house we eat a ridiculous amount of Mexican food, in particular, tacos.  We have tacos at least once a week.  It's just easy & everyone eats them without complaining.  I am trying to cook from scratch & trying not to buy processed food. The most easiest way to start lessening my family's dependence on processed food is with making my own condiments. 

 

I haven't bought taco sauce in the past 2 years.  In my humble opinion, I like my sauce more than the store bought stuff.  That's saying a lot because I am picky about my food.  This recipe is similar to the previous post about making ketchup.  See the post here.  (Yes I am reusing the same pictures.)

Use as many or as little tomatoes you want.  I use about 6-8 quarts of tomatoes.  Peel tomatoes (lightly cut an X into the skin and drop them into boiling water.)  Leave them in the water for about 10 seconds and put them in cold water (ice water is preferred).  The skins will slide off.  Core & cut.  Leave pot uncovered.  Once soft run through food mill to remove seeds.  Unlike the picture, you don't need onions or red peppers.

 

 

 

 

Reduce the tomato mixture to desired thickness.  Cook on low for 4-8 hours stirring from time to time to prevent sticking.  I prefer my sauce a bit thick so when it covers the spoon & doesn't fall off too quickly I know it's done.  The only thing I add after reducing the tomato mixture is my homemade taco seasoning.  If you're using my recipe for taco seasoning, I used at least 4-5 tablespoons full.  I really don't know how much I just pour some seasoning in until I like the way it tastes.  I'm that kind of cook.  I usually can get 6-8 pints of taco from 6-8 quarts of tomatoes.  Have fun & let me know what you think.



 

 

Once you try it, you'll never buy it again: Homemade Ketchup

I have been making my own taco sauce for the past couple of years and it's pretty easy.  Cook down tomatoes, run through a food mill, add my homemade taco seasoning & water bath it.  This year I had so many volunteer tomato plants in my garden & they are producing tomatoes to the nth degree I decided to try to make ketchup.  Why?  We are trying to eat homemade food to help our children with their epilepsy.  Less chemical or man made products going into their body. 

 

My ketchup label says this:

 

"Tomato concentrate (water & tomato paste), high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, vinegar, salt, onion powder, spice & natural flavoring."

 

Thank goodness for my Ball Blue Book of Preserving.  I found a wonderful recipe that I will use forever.

 

• 4 quarts of chopped, peeled, & cored tomatoes (abt 24 large)
• 1 cup chopped onion (1 med)
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper (1/2 medium)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon celery seed
• 1 teaspoon whole allspice
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 1/2 cups vinegar

Combine tomatoes, onion & pepper in a large sauce pot.  Cook until tomatoes are tender.  Puree using a food processor or food mill.  Cook puree rapidly until thick and reduced by one-half.  Tie whole spices in a spice bag.  Add spice bag, sugar, salt & paprika to tomato mixture.  Simmer 25 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking.  Remove spice bag,  Ladle hot ketchup into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space.  Adjust two piece caps.  Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.  Yields about 3 pints.

  

To peel tomatoes lightly cut an X into the skin and drop them into boiling water.  Leave them in the water for about 10 seconds and put them in cold water (ice water is preferred).  The skins will slide off.  Core & cut.  Leave pot uncovered.  Once soft run through food mill to remove seeds.

  

Once reduced add spice bag & other ingredients. 

 

*Remember to use iodine free salt or sea salt when canning.

The finish product.  This picture does not do it justice.  The color is vibrant.  It's a deep red-orange almost like the color of marinara sauce.  The flavor is AH-MAZING.

 In the water bath canner my pretties.

The finish product:

 

 

4 pints of tomato heaven.  While it is not a thick as store bought, probably because there is no corn syrup to thicken it, but it comes very close.  If you cooked it down a bit longer it would be more like store bought.  My has the consistency of taco sauce. 

 

NOTE: I don't know how many quarts of tomatoes I had.  I just used what tomatoes were ready, I probably used more. than the recipe calls for.  I did cook my sauce longer than it said and at a higher temperature.  I think from start to finish it took about 8-10 hours, mostly just waiting for the puree to cook down.

I seriously should've grown up in Ireland.

My mother calls me a dark Irish.  Dark brown hair & neon white skin.  Opalescent to be exact.  Except when we moved to the PNW, now a stay at home mom, my arms are tan, well tanner than "normal" compared to my legs.  My husband says that my freckles just morph into one big freckle during the summer.  Thanks babe, love ya too.   For a few brief months I look good.  I can shed my Irish genealogy & be seen in a tank top. 

In honor of my Irish ancestry I decided to grow potatoes in my garden this year.  Never grown them before, seriously the easiest thing to grow.  No wonder my ancestors have a knack for drinking, you don't have to do too much to potatoes, except water them & give them a nice mound of dirt to grow.

I planted, (like how I said I) two different kinds of potatoes: red & russets.  Went to the good ole feed store & bought potato seed.  Potato seeds are basically potatoes, but they don't have a growth retardant sprayed on them like the ones you find in the stores.  Cut them into pieces so each piece had two "eyes" & plopped them into the ground.  When the leaves are about 6 inches high mound dirt around them.  That's it folks.  Water them once a day & wait until the leaves die back before you dig them up.  Let the potatoes dry in the sun for a couples of days to get the skins hard.

Red

White

Pretty good for just one plant.  The big ones are on the smaller side.  Maybe 1/2 of the size you'd find in a Costco potato bag.  I still have about 24 more of each variety to go!  I know that I'll be putting up a bunch of potatoes this year.

Recipe: Hot Banana Pepper Mustard

I found this on a canning website & had to try this for my husband.  Our peppers are growing sporadically, so I had to get some of them put up.  I can't handle hot & spicy things, but this is mild with a sweet after taste.  My husband LOVED IT.  It is super easy.

I cut this recipe by 3/4 th.  There was no way I had 40 peppers. 

9-‎10 hot banana peppers

1 C yellow mustard

1 1/4 C sugar

1/4 C honey

1 C vinegar (they had apple cider)

1/4 tsp salt

3/8 C flour

1/4 C water (which I forgot to add).

Blend peppers until smooth. Pour into pot add all other ingredients except flour. Bring to hard boil. Whisk flour & water until smooth & pour into boiling mixture. Continue to boil for 5 mins. Process in water canner for 5-10 mins.  This made 3 of those little jelly jars & 2 bigger ones.  At least enough for a years worth.

Vintage canning tips

The internet is full of handy little tips!  Here is a site that I found that had canning tips from the 40's &  50's from Tipnut.com.  I'm still rather new at canning so I thought it was informative.  These are some of their tips:

1. When canning catsup, pour off the watery liquid on top of tomatoes after running through sieve. Your catsup will have a bright red appearance and cooking time will be cut in half.

5.To label jars of food, write on the jar while it is still hot with a bright colored crayon.

10. Make sauerkraut when the moon is new until the first quarter, and the juice will stay on until it is used.

11. That teaspoon off your metal measuring spoons makes a handy gadget for coring fresh pears for canning, salads or desserts. Cut pears in half and then run metal teaspoon around the core. Presto, out it comes in a jiffy!

This time of year my thoughts are turning to canning

From now until well into October my thoughts are on canning.  What things I will be canning?  Where did I find the best deals last year?  Do I need to can more than last year?  And the ever looming WHAT IS THE YIELD OF CANNED FOOD WILL I GET FROM FRESH FOOD?

This is my fourth year canning.  Each year I seemed to can more & more, due my my growing children & how confident of a canner I have become.  I have to admit, I love it when my children say that they like my canned food more than anyone elses (i.e. can food from the store or school).  I know it's prideful.  But it does this mom's heart good.  I was never raised canning so it took a while for me to come around.  I know it is extremely hard work, but I am so glad when I hear those little voices praising my food.

While perusing through the homesteading books, I came across this little gem of knowledge:

Oooh boy!  I wish I found this a couple of years ago.  Their figures seems to be a couple of quarts off from I remember I did, but it is a good "ballpark" number.

So if it seems like my posts are few & far between during the summer months, you know what I am doing!  I'll be keeping you updated on canning recipes & tips.