Barbecue Sauce #3, Different from 'Tex-mex' or "American Southern'

Jan 29, '09 I reported on my first barbecue sauce experiment, "David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number One" (http://davidvirgil.blogspot.com/2009/01/simple-computer-logic-tricks-used-to.html ).

After this I created a "David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number Two". The recipe for this was:

David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number Two

tomato paste 8 oz tomato sauce 6 oz
water 1T
sugar (cane sugar type) 2.5 T
salt high quality pink sea salt crystals 1T
garlic 2 cloves crushed
paprika 1T
black pepper 1.5T fresh ground
onion 3T flakes
cayenne powder 1t
celery seeds 1T
mustard powder 1t
oil organic clarified butter 1T, Red Palm Oil 1T
worcestershire sauce 1T
vinegar 1T (brown rice vinegar)
liquid smoke 1T
apple cider 3T

Note: T = tablespoon, t=teaspoon

I used this barbecue sauce #2 to cook some Pork ribs. I concluded that this "David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number Two", is similar to "David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number One"; it is like a 'light' or 'lite' version of "Number One". I was attempting to transform "Number One", which I felt tasted 'Tex-Mex', into a sauce that tasted 'American Southern', but all I succeeded in doing was creating a "Tex-Mex Lite".

Then I moved on to creating "David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number Three", during the evening of Thursday March 12. The recipe for "Number Three" is as follows:

David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number Three

Tomato paste 8 oz tomato sauce 6 oz
water 0T
sugar (cane sugar type) 3 T
salt high quality pink sea salt crystals 2T
garlic 3 cloves crushed
paprika 2T
black pepper 2T fresh ground
onion 1 real live onion chopped/ground
cayenne powder 3t increased from 1t
celery seeds replaced with poppy seeds 2T
mustard powder 3t increased from 1t
oil organic clarified butter from Whole Foods, 3T
worcestershire sauce 4T increased from 1T
vinegar 1T (brown rice vinegar)
liquid smoke 2T
apple juice (changed from cider) 3T

I marinated a Pork chop, bone in, bought at Whole Foods, in "David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number Three" for 20 minutes. Then I baked the chop for 400 degrees for 30 minutes in the oven, turning and basting after 15 minutes. Then I put the pork chop in the iron skillet and sauteed it for 2 minutes on each side not moving it. Then I simply broiled it over the oven flame, for 1 minute on each side, not moving it. Then I served it with barbecue sauce that had been cooked in the skillet, and some clarified butter that I melted on top of it. When eating it, I sliced it into pieces and rubbed it in the sauce, and sprinkled it with some high quality sea salt.

The result was maybe my best yet. For some reason "David Virgil Barbecue Sauce Number Three" did not taste as spicy and Mexican as "Number One", which surprised me given how "Number Three" differed from "Number Two" and "Number One" in terms of ingredients. "Number Three" did not taste like "American Southern", and also it did not taste like "Tex-Mex". It tasted different from the both of them, but it tasted excellent; I felt as if I was eating something very healthy and digestible, as healthy and digestible as the healthiest fruit or vegetable.

I felt as if I was eating something created by a lost civilization which would have greatly excelled both Mexico and the American South, but which somehow became a civlization lost to history.

In "Barbecue Sauce Number Three", I to a large extent, gave up on trying to change the Tex-mex "Number One" into 'American Southern' type sauce by decreasing the bitter/sour ingredients and increasing the sweet tasting ingredients, as this attempt had simply produced a light version of "Number One" which was "Number Two", which tasted like 'Tex-mex Lite'--spicy, garlicky and salty even if milder than "NUmber One".

In "Number Three", I simply jacked up the ingredients that I felt like jacking up. Before a glass of wine I plotted out some increases in some favored ingredients; after a glass of wine, I increased these favored ingredients even more.

I could tell simply from smelling "Number Three", that a major distinguishing factor that distinguishes 'Tex-mex' barbecue sauce from 'American Southern' barbecue sauce, is that 'American Southern' barbecue sauce has alot more Worcestershire Sauce in it.


@2009 David Virgil Hobbs