Grandma’s Barbeque Sauce
My grandma Thelma was your stereotypical grandma physically speaking. She always seemed to have an apron around her waist. She always wore polyester. She always smelled like food. She was a pleasantly plump, five foot tall, grey haired dynamo in the kitchen and my grandfather was and still is quite the opposite of her physically but, boy howdy, did he enjoy everything that woman turned out. If there was a church event, Grandma was recruited or volunteered to cook or bake. She cooked over camp stoves, in the confines of campers and even made a cooler for a long days’ drive seem like a gourmet rest stop. Some of these things I know from first hand experience. Others I’ve been told over the years.
Funny thing is, many of the foods I so fondly remember my Grandma for are things I couldn’t even imagine eating today because I‘m just more health conscious than I was at fifteen. Oh, wow, she made this potato salad and then she’d layer it with a sweet minced ham concoction. I don’t know how she did it and I haven’t had ham for decades but if she walked into my kitchen right now, I would dutifully sit down and eat a couple helpings of that with a smile on my face.
Grandma was especially good at making pies. But the thing I loved so much about her watching us kids when she was making pies was that she’d take the left over pie crust dough and make mini cinnamon rolls out of them. She’d roll out the dough, sprinkle just the right amount of cinnamon and sugar on top, cut it into mouth-sized pieces, put these bits of heaven in a glass baking dish with melted butter on the bottom and pop them in the oven for a few minutes. I burnt my tongue many times shoveling those savory little morsels into my mouth on account of the fact that I’ve never been particularly good at exercising patience.
One of the recipes I do use often is her barbeque sauce. My mom used it while I was growing up. I started making it in my early 20’s, I’ve passed it onto a nephew of ours and my husband will even quadruple the recipe, simmer it a little longer on the stove for a thicker consistency and pour it into jam jars to keep in the fridge. We put it on chicken before baking it in the oven, put it over green beans, our veggie patties. I’m not a big fan of store bought condiments when I have a recipe that’s tried and true. I know exactly what’s going into this and it really only takes a few minutes to make up your own and store it in the fridge.
Grandma’s barbeque sauce
Grandma’s Barbeque Sauce
½ C oil
¾ C onions, diced
¾ C ketchup
¾ C water
1/3 C lemon juice
3 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
3 Tbsp mustard
2 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
Put oil and onions in a saucepan and cook on the stove over medium heat until tender. Stir all remaining ingredients in, increase the heat and simmer 15-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens to desired consistency.
Viki
I am a Clark County native. I am Level 2 WSET (wine and spirit education trust)-certified and enjoy pairing wine with my passion for travel and fondness of food. My most prized possessions are the memories of places I've been with my husband, the chance encounters we've been blessed to have along the way and my carry-on bag. I can often be seen around town and in tasting rooms with our two beautiful, double-Merle Australian shepherds, Challenge and Baby Girl.