REC: Dr. Pepper Barbecue Sauce

[pckouris]

Mudbug: And the pictures will appear in the message? I'm not sure how to do that.

 

[pckouris]

I like to go with consul's idea of brown sugar instead of molasses.

 

[texasgirl]

I put the first recipe together and poured it over pork ribs, let it set for about 10, just long enough to get the grill hot. DH, brushed the sauce on while cooking. These were awesome. The flavor is good and there is just a subtle sweetness, not too much like some bbq sauces out there.

 

[VaporTrail]

(lots of spooky chanting)
Behold! Thread Necromancy!
Anyway, Iteration Three:

Here is the recipe as it stands now, for about one cup of final sauce:

• 2 cups Dr. Pepper
• 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1/4 cup onions, finely diced
• The juice and zest of one lemon
• 3 ounces (1/2 of a small can) of tomato paste
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (I'd definitely cut this back for next time.)
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. fresh-ground pepper (I used white pepper)
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
• 2 tsp. garlic powder (more or less to taste)
• 1 tsp. dried basil

First, saute the onions in a little of the oil in the pan you'll simmer the sauce in (no need to dirty extra pans). After they're browned a bit, turn the heat down, add the rest of the oil, then the Dr. Pepper. Then add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Let it simmer until reduced to desired thickness (about one cup or so). Let it cool, then puree it nice and smooth with a stick blender or a stand blender. This will also emulsify the sauce so the oil stays integrated.

And my attempt at Iteration 4:

1 16 oz bottle of Dr Pepper (or 2 cups)
1/4 cup Vegtable Oil
1 Tsp Onion Powder
3 TBsp ReaLemon
3 oz Tomato Paste (half a small can)
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Dried Basil

That's the plan anyway, I don't have a blender (that works) currently, so I've substituted for whisk friendly emulsifying, and all-pantry building.

Going to go buy a Brisket and marinate that sucker in this tonight. Might do a rub too, might not...

Will post when I've got results.

 

[VaporTrail]

All right, plans and actuality have diverged somewhat. I decided to make extra of the sauce, so I started by doubling the above... But then before I wound up adding everything to the pan I was going to simmer it in, I realized that the pan wasn't big enough. so I decided I'd leave out a can (3 cans=36 ounces, 16x2=32... figured 3 cans was close enough for government work...) of the DrP out and add it in later. Well, later never came in this instance.

Before the sauce came off the heat I started in on the tasting. Tasted very sweet by itself, but there was something missing. A couple of things really, so I figured what the heck, guess and add. So I added 1/4 c. of apple cider vinegar (1/8 c. for the non-doubled recipe) and a bit of salt to taste.

And so Iteration 4a stands at:

1 12 oz can of Dr Pepper (or 1 3/4 cups)
1/4 cup Vegtable Oil (this I would cut back on next time)
1 Tsp Onion Powder
3 TBsp ReaLemon
3 oz Tomato Paste (half a small can)
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Black Pepper
2 Tsp Garlic Powder
1 Tsp Dried Basil
1/8 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
Salt to taste.

A problem I had with the sauce was that it was very oily. This either needed to be hit hard with a blender of some kind or simply cut back quite a bit. As it was, I just ran a spoon over the top of the container I had the sauce in after letting it set for a while to get rid of the excess.

The meat was brisket, and the marinade was as written, and as a rub I used Emiril's Original Essence (as that was all I had handy at the time). Cooked at about 1 1/2 hours per pound at 255.

The meat was all right by itself, but the sauce had me worried that it would be too sweet. Until it actually hit the meat. In combination with the meat the sweetness mellowed out quite a bit, and the two worked very well together.

 

[justplainbill]

Nice that you came up with a substitute for catsup. Next I'm hoping you'll come up with one for Dr. Pepper. I own Cadbury Schweppes stock but prefer to use more basic ingredients.

 

[suziquzie]

Maybe some chili sauce?

 

[justplainbill]

Despite having pepper in it's name, my recollection is that Dr. Pepper is somewhat like RCC or Pepsi.

 

[Cajun Cook]

Hi Darren, I do a version of this that is not to far off what you are doing. Talk about nummy **** good!

Jim

 

[kitchenelf]

Despite having pepper in it's name, my recollection is that Dr. Pepper is somewhat like RCC or Pepsi.

Dr. Pepper is like Cheerwine. I have done the same thing with Coke for years. I taught my son to make this when he was very little and he was quite proud of himself - this recipe can even be simplified to equal parts of Coke and ketchup for the VERY young.

I also would assume that this really isn't a marinade - more of a bbq sauce to use at the end of the cooking period. The sugars caramelize and give a great flavor. If put on too soon they tend to burn. Just my 2 cents. I love, love, love the addition of the vinegar as that's what we do here in NC.

 

[VaporTrail]

The marinade was actually a Dr Pepper marinade I found on the site... Guess I didn't make the link big enough...

The marinade I used is here.