Double-Bourbon BBQ Sauce with Dark Molasses

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

A thick, glossy, deep-mahogany barbecue sauce built the way a serious smokehouse would: the bourbon goes in twice. The first pour gets reduced hard with onion and garlic until the raw alcohol edge burns off and only oak, caramel and vanilla remain; the second, off-heat splash at the end puts the whiskey aroma right back on top. Blackstrap molasses and dark brown sugar give it body without turning it candy-sweet, cider vinegar keeps it lively, and a little chipotle and smoked paprika stand in for a pit you don't have. Makes about 3 cups — enough for two racks of ribs, a big batch of wings, or a month of burgers.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 small yellow onion, grated on a box grater or minced very fine
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 cup bourbon (a mid-shelf, higher-rye bottle works well)
• 2 tbsp bourbon, for finishing

• 1 1/2 cups ketchup
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 3 tbsp blackstrap or dark molasses
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup water, plus more as needed

• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• 1/2 tsp chipotle chile powder
• 1/4 tsp ground allspice
• 1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the grated onion and a pinch of salt and cook, stirring often, for 6 to 8 minutes, until the onion has collapsed, lost its raw smell, and just begins to take on colour at the edges of the pan.
2. Add the garlic and cook 45 seconds, until fragrant. Stir in the tomato paste and cook 2 minutes more, scraping constantly, until it darkens from bright red to brick and smells toasted rather than tinny.
3. Pull the pan off the burner (important if you're cooking on gas) and pour in the 1 cup of bourbon. Return to medium-high heat and simmer, stirring and scraping the bottom, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the liquid has reduced to roughly 1/4 cup and looks syrupy — the alcohol bite should be gone and what's left should smell like oak and caramel. Don't rush this over high heat; scorched bourbon tastes acrid.
4. Add the ketchup, cider vinegar, dark brown sugar, molasses, Worcestershire, Dijon and 1/2 cup water. Whisk in the smoked paprika, mustard powder, black pepper, chipotle powder, allspice and 1 1/4 teaspoons salt.
5. Bring to a bare simmer, then reduce the heat to low so only a few lazy bubbles break the surface. Cook uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes and scraping the corners of the pan, until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon and a spatula drawn through it leaves a track that closes slowly. Keep a splatter screen or a partly-ajar lid over it — molasses sauces spit.
6. Off the heat, stir in the finishing 2 tablespoons of bourbon. Taste and adjust: another teaspoon of vinegar if it reads flat, a teaspoon of brown sugar if the molasses is too assertive, salt in 1/4-teaspoon pinches until the flavours snap into focus.
7. For a silky, restaurant-smooth sauce, blitz with an immersion blender for 20 seconds or pass through a fine-mesh sieve. Cool to room temperature — it will thicken noticeably as it cools; thin with water 1 tablespoon at a time to the consistency you want. Transfer to a jar and refrigerate.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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