20 March 2009

my mom's BBQ sauce

growing up, my mom made the best BBQ sauce.  as I have said before, my dad BBQ'd quite often, so I watched my mom make this sauce many times.  I never saw her use any sort of recipe, so I just assumed that it was a recipe that she had developed and tweaked over time.  I asked her a few weeks ago to send me the recipe because I wanted to make it for our cousins reunion.  I was shocked later when I got an e-mail from my day with a scanned in recipe card with the recipe in my late grandmother's handwriting.  it has been about a year since I lost my grandmother and seeing this brought such tears to my eyes.  just as I got my love of cooking from my mother, she got her love of cooking from her mother and I am eternally grateful for the wonderful gift that she has given to both of us.  I got to thinking after looking at the recipe for a while that I always type my recipes, I think it makes it easier to keep up with them and share them with others.  but now I see what a gift it was to see this in my grandmother's handwriting, I need to make it more of a point to write things in my own handwriting occasionally.


1 large onion, minced
1/4 cup bacon fat or margarine
1 can tomato sauce
2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup vinegar
tabasco, salt, and pepper to taste

  1. saute the onions in the fat.
  2. add the other ingredients and heat to boiling
juice from sweet pickles can be used instead of vinegar

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I was reading your blog this morning about your grandmother’s bbq sauce recipe and having it in her handwriting—I can’t tell you how much I could relate that. Mom will have been gone 2 years the 31st of this month and it seems like only yesterday she was here. Having her recipes in her handwriting and notes in her handwriting means the world to me. There are some of her dishes that I never quite got written down from her but there are some that I have almost mastered. Her spaghetti and her famous potato salad. I remember the first time I was making the potato salad after she passed away. Jeff came in the kitchen as I was mixing it up and I was in tears. Just missing her so much and asking her to help me make it taste just like hers and so upset that she wasn’t there to make it for us. I cherish those moments I had with her and I love that I have her dishes to help carry those memories. Don’t you just love how food always brings families together in some way. Have a great week and thanks for the stories. I love reading your blogs.