It’s a common misconception that barbecue is a distinctly American thing, though it is very highly-revered in American culture. However, today, I feel like challenging your taste buds and your culinary sensibilities a little bit by infusing some multi-cultural influences in barbecue recipes. These are trending, and not just my own ideas, these are some of the top BBQ recipes trending right now.
Before I do that, though, let’s clarify a little bit about where barbecue comes from. People tend to think of it as a sauce, but it actually stems from a cooking method in South and Central America during the arrival of the Spanish. This cooking method, called barbacoa, revolves around smoking meat over an open fire, the smoke being a major component in infusing flavor. This is different than traditional flame roasting or broiling, and was the predecessor to many modern grilling, smoking and char broiling techniques we enjoy today. Tired of the history lesson? That’s perfectly all right, let’s talk about some barbecue!
For those who like things spicy!
If you prefer a spicier barbecue, you understand how challenging it is to actually get this right. Many hot barbecue sauces available off the shelves have little in the way of flavor aside from a rather overwhelming vinegar flavor, and a taste of burning.
I recommend a Jamaican – style jerk sauce. Jamaican jerk is a traditional mix of spices used for a spicier grilled steak, but it also works excellently as the main focus of a barbecue sauce recipe. Start with your typical tomato sauce, pepper, a little bit of chili powder, but also incorporate some jerk rub, onions, shallots, a little bit of Dijon mustard, a dash of distilled vinegar and, believe it or not, some soy sauce. But this boiler and then simmer for several hours, and maybe add just a pinch of cornstarch is a thickener when you go to let it sit.
This is excellent for beef, pork and even chicken, believe it or not!
Staying sweet!
Would you think of a sweeter barbecue sauce, you may think of something like the “Carolina Sweet” or honey barbecue, and these are delightful and I love them, but I want to make a different recommendation.
Anyone who’s ever had teriyaki knows that it’s a delightful sauce, but did you know that it marries well to a traditional barbecue sauce recipe? Start wants more with a traditional barbecue sauce, with pepper, chili powder, onion, tomato sauce and a little bit of vinegar, and at a healthy dose of a thinner, sweeter teriyaki as well as a little bit of white apple cider vinegar. Double down on a little bit of freshly-cracked pepper, and you have a wonderful sauce that goes amazingly with both pork, chicken and steak. But, what about seafood?
For the seafood lovers…
I confess to not being the biggest fan of seafood, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t indulge in the occasional unique fresh catch recipe. If you want the barbecue fish, you are going to want a dryer, more savory barbecue sauce.
This is where I, the first time in history, give out my own personal barbecue sauce recipe. I didn’t formulate this were seafood, but actually chicken, but discovered that it goes excellently for shark Bay, swordfish, salmon or even tuna steak.
Start the sauce from scratch, with diced cherry tomatoes, and trust me, you want the sweet acidity of cherry tomatoes rather than blander beefsteak tomatoes. But in half again the sugar you usually would, don’t worry, we’re going to counteract that. Mix in some garlic, a little bit of ground cumin, black pepper and chili powder, to taste. Now, here is my secret ingredient, and you’re not going to believe it until you try it. Coffee. Not instant coffee, not coffee grounds, and you don’t need fancy coffee. Plain old-fashioned, medium roast coffee! Brew enough for two large cups of strong, black coffee, and put it in a saucepan to cook down a little more. Stir this into your barbecue sauce once you’ve got into a roiling boil.
About 20 minutes before you take it off the burner, add Mediterranean Sea salt to counteract the sweetness, and just a tiny bit of oregano. Sick in with a pinch of cornmeal, and let it stand for about a half an hour. Keep it at a steady, low heat as it thickens, but not enough to discourage the thickening and condensation.
Will my recipe make it to the list of top BBQ recipes in the future? Let us know if you tried my recipe, let us know if it pairs with anything I haven’t thought of!
On a rather crazy but truthful note if all this food intake has caused you gastric problems then leading doctors suggest you use Vermox.