Last year my mesquite-loving husband bought a tabletop grill. It’s been the hit of the household ever since. It uses less charcoal (but still gets insanely hot), takes up less room, easily fits food for our family of four, and is fully portable. So much so that our teenaged son takes the grill to school every Thursday and sets it up in the parking lot at lunchtime, hosting a tailgate potluck for friends who bring grilling goods.
I know the fire’s important. And a good cut of meat is essential. But for me, it’s all about the sauce. Elemental, finger-licking, Texas-tangy sauce. Who can eat ribs without it? And a sauceless brisket? I don’t think so. This is the year I master that secret component, and now I have the tools to do it. James Beard nominee and chef/owner of Austin’s Franklin Barbecue (winner of Texas Monthly‘s Best Barbecue Joint), Aaron Franklin is my new go-to guy for all things saucy.
Coffee lover that I am, I’m starting with Franklin’s Espresso Barbecue Sauce. Because, as he says in the recipe headnote (below), “the sauce was a way to capture that experience of being awake in the depths of the night watching a fire.”
What’s more elemental than that?
— Shelly
“Nowadays various recipes for coffee barbecue sauces are floating around. But when I first came up with mine, it was an original and inspired distillation of my life at the time. I was working at Little City coffee shop, starting to get geeky about coffee and even geekier about barbecue.
“An all-nighter on a brisket cook was inevitably accompanied by strong coffee, and it didn’t take a genius to notice the affinity that starlight, the sweet roasted aromas of good espresso, and the homey aromas of wood and smoke have for one another. If these smells go so well together in the middle of the night, I thought to myself, their flavors should just as easily merge into a sauce. And the sauce was a way to capture that experience of being awake in the depths of the night watching a fire.
“It didn’t turn out to be that easy to bring the flavors together. The first time I made the sauce, I used a little Krups espresso machine that a guy I worked with at Little City had given me. And the sauce seemed great to me. Then I tried to refine it, but when I forced a taste of the “improved” version on Stacy, she told me it was nasty and that I needed to hang it up. Then I went back to my original recipe with a few, small tweaks, and it was a go.
“It’s important to note that there is no substitute for the espresso in this recipe. If you don’t have access to an espresso machine, I would take some of the warm sauce to a reputable coffee shop, get them to pull a shot for you, and mix them together there. I know it sounds weird and may even be slightly embarrassing, but the results are worth it. A freshly pulled shot with a good cream brings much more to this recipe than a stale or cold one. I prefer a medium-roast, Central American bean (Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica). The brisket drippings are a matter of taste, but I believe this sauce needs the beefiness to make it taste right.” — Aaron Franklin
Franklin Barbecue
A Meat-Smoking Manifesto
by Aaron Franklin and Jordan MacKay
Photography by Wyatt McSpadden
Ten Speed Press
- 1½ cups ketchup
- ½ cup white vinegar
- ½ cup cider vinegar
- ¼ cup dark soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons (1½ ounces) freshly pulled espresso
- Brisket drippings, for flavoring
- Mix the ketchup, both vinegars, the soy sauce, garlic and onion powders, and sugar together in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium
- heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, stir in the espresso, and then add the brisket drippings to taste. Let cool, then transfer to a jar, bottle, squeeze bottle, or however you want to store it. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
- 1¾ cups ketchup
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons water
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ¼ cup plus 1½ teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons plus 1½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon chile powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 1½ teaspoons coarse black pepper
- Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan and warm gently over medium heat, stirring occasionally. There is no need to bring the mixture to a boil, as the idea is just to warm it enough to melt and integrate the ingredients. Once you have done that, remove from the heat and let cool. Transfer to a jar, bottle, squeeze bottle, or however you want to store it. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Reprinted with permission from Franklin Barbecue by Aaron Franklin & Jordan Mackay, copyright © 2015. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Photography by Wyatt McSpadden © 2015
The post Barbecue Sauce appeared first on Cookbooks365.