Dad’s BBQ Sauce
Who doesn’t love BBQ sauce?? Honestly… It can be savory, sweet and smoky in the best way. A perfect compliment to a variety of dishes. Over the years I have had the pleasure of trying many different BBQ sauces and all of that sampling led me to finally create my own BBQ sauce recipe. I also had the pleasure of collaborating with a local area business on this recipe. Wild Witch Preserves in Batavia IL, I used their smoked chipotle cherry preserves in my sauce and it was… awesome! If you aren’t able to find that flavor, be sure to peruse their website as they make quite a few amazing flavors of preserves… Apricot works especially well in my recipe.
Berts BBQ Sauce along side Wild Witch Preserves Smoked Chipotle Cherry Preserves… YUM!
INGREDIENTS:
2 Tbsp butter
1 chopped red onion
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Cracked pepper to taste
1/2 Cup red wine
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1/2 Cup apple cider vinegar
12 oz ketchup
1/4 Cup molasses
1/3 Cup honey
6 dried prunes
8 oz chipotle cherry preserves or your favorite choice of preserves ( apricot works nicely )
DIRECTIONS:
Bring a medium saucepan to medium high heat and add your 2 Tbsp of butter. Once butter has melted add your chopped red onion and brown sugar, and sauté until lightly caramelized. About 5 - 8 minutes.
Add some cracked pepper and deglaze with red wine. Stir to combine and then add all remaining ingredients.
Stir all ingredients together and bring just to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Let BBQ sauce cool and then blend ingredients together with either an immersion blender or a regular blender will work just fine. ( Sauce is ready to use right away or you can let it sit overnight for better developed flavor )