BBQ Sauce

Does anyone remember the local restaurant chain Rib-It. I loved their ribs, especially on Mondays for all you can eat. What made the ribs so good was their BBQ sauce. They even used to sell it in local supermarkets, and it was the only BBQ sauce we used at home. When Rib-It went out of business we struggled to find a decent BBQ sauce until Mom found her mother's (Mommom's) BBQ sauce recipe. Apparently we ate Rib-It's sauce because it was the closest tasting sauce to Mommom's.

Mom and I did some test batches, including a night where we made four different sauces and ate a LOT of chicken, and made some tweaks to the original recipe. I've also made some of my own "unauthorized" changes to get the recipe below. The recipe makes about a gallon of BBQ sauce, which I freeze in quart containers. I use so much I make three to four batches per year. You can easily half the recipe for a trial batch.


Ingredients

• 2 cups minced onion (about 1 large onion)
• 1 cup minced green pepper
• 1/2 cup minced celery
• 2 2/3 cup ketchup
• 4 cups orange juice
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 2 cups cider vinegar
• 2 - 8 oz cans tomato sauce
• 2 - 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes
• 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp Tobasco Chipotle sauce
• 1 tbsp liquid smoke
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 1 tbsp celery salt
• 4 tsp garlic powder
• 4 tbsp vegetable oil

Tools

• Knives
• Cutting board
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• 8 qt Stockpot
• 6 qt Stockpot
• Blender
• Wooden spoon
• Ladle

Instructions



Heat oil in 8qt stockpot and sauté onion, green pepper, and celery until soft (about 3 minutes). Add remaining ingredients and simmer for two hours. Liquify in blender and move to 6qt stockpot. Simmer until desired thickness (about an hour or two).
Then get to the grill and Enjoy!
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Stephie's Macaroni Salad

My number one, sure fire, guaranteed method of finding great recipes to cook is to ask my mom for her recipe. I know the recipe is extra special when she tells me she doesn't have it written down.

Mom's macaroni salad is legendary in the family. She brings it to almost every BBQ/get together we have all summer long and never there's never leftover to be found. Often, she makes a double or triple batch so Dad can have some for lunch.  Making the salad is fairly simple, but there are a couple tricks to making the salad truly excel. The first and most important tip is the salad needs to be made at least the day before you need it.

Ingredients

• 1 lb Creamette Elbow Macaroni
• 3 ribs of celery - diced
• 5 - 6 scallions - diced
• 1/2 pound cooked baby shrimp
• 2 cans crabmeat
• 1/2 can solid white tuna
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tsp celery salt
• 1/4 tsp celery seed
• Hellmann's Mayonnaise

Tools

• Pot for cooking pasta
• Colander
• Mixing Bowl
• Mixing Spoon

Cook the pasta until just done and rinse. Al dente pasta doesn't add here. Add the celery, scallions, shrimp, crabmeat, tuna and seasonings to the bowl. The second trick for the recipe is to add about a half can of crab juice.  Mix the ingredients in the bowl.

The last ingredient is the most important: mayonnaise.  Throw the Miracle Whip away and get the real stuff: Hellmanns.  Add in a couple large spoonfulls of mayo and mix.  You want to add just enough mayo so all the pasta is coated.  Put the salad in the refrigerator and come back tomorrow.

As the salad sits overnight, the pasta soaks up the mayo leaving the salad rather dry. Add more mayo and mix again until you have a nice sticky but not overly wet consistency.