I decided I wanted my own whiskey sauce, rather than using what I found in the grocery store. If you are looking for a good grocery store whiskey sauce, Rufus Teague’s is excellent. Much better than Jack Daniels.
Regardless, I wanted my own as part of my recipe stash. So, I spent some time today working on it until I got what I wanted. This sauce is not at all sweet or syrupy. It’s a bit thinner than what you’ll get in the grocery store. It has layers of flavor ….. you can taste the corn from the whiskey, there’s lots of savory, there’s and underlying maltiness, and a robust sense of molasses. It tastes like Tennessee sauces from the 1800’s must taste in my imagination.
My inspiration was the Tennessee Hollerin sauce on the public side, but I wanted something a bit different, so I started playing around with it this morning. The first batch I made with ketchup and didn’t like how sweet it came out. The second batch I used half a cup of Black Swan original by Max Good plus 2 oz tomato paste and 1 oz honey and 1 oz of water. This gives us a cup of "ketchup", but it is much more savory than traditional ketchup. I also amped up the maltiness with more malt vinegar, definitely wanted that in there and not having ketchup meant I had less vinegar, as well. It’s even got a bit of heat to it!
Here’s the final recipe
1 1/2 cups Tennessee whiskey or Kentucky bourbon (I used Kirkland’s Tennessee whiskey 4 year aged)
1/2 cup Black Swan original BBQ sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 oz water
1 oz honey
3 tbsp malt vinegar
4 tbsp dark molasses
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
a couple dashes of Wright’s liquid smoke (I know, but I didn’t have a smoker running today)
First, reduce 1 cup of whiskey at a low boil in a sauté pan (it goes much faster that way)
Then mix in everything else above
Now bring to a simmer and keep it there cooking for about 30 minutes. Get it reduced by 1/4 to 1/3.
Every 2-3 minutes scrape the sugars from the edge of the sauté pan left behind as the sauce is reducing and incorporate them back into the sauce.
Once it is reduced to your liking, let it cool. Pour into a 2 cup container of some sort, seal it up, put it in the fridge and save it for some great BBQ action :-)
All the ingredients ready to go
You really should have a bit of whiskey yourself while cooking this. It’s medicinal.
Getting the whiskey heated up to reduce
What it looks like when you’ve reduced your whiskey
Everything else (except molasses) mixed together.
Yep, I like Brer Rabbit molasses
All in the pan, ready to cook it down
Just finishing up. You can see where I’ve been scraping the sugars off the side of the pan.
In a jar and headed for the fridge. It will be really good tomorrow.
Regardless, I wanted my own as part of my recipe stash. So, I spent some time today working on it until I got what I wanted. This sauce is not at all sweet or syrupy. It’s a bit thinner than what you’ll get in the grocery store. It has layers of flavor ….. you can taste the corn from the whiskey, there’s lots of savory, there’s and underlying maltiness, and a robust sense of molasses. It tastes like Tennessee sauces from the 1800’s must taste in my imagination.
My inspiration was the Tennessee Hollerin sauce on the public side, but I wanted something a bit different, so I started playing around with it this morning. The first batch I made with ketchup and didn’t like how sweet it came out. The second batch I used half a cup of Black Swan original by Max Good plus 2 oz tomato paste and 1 oz honey and 1 oz of water. This gives us a cup of "ketchup", but it is much more savory than traditional ketchup. I also amped up the maltiness with more malt vinegar, definitely wanted that in there and not having ketchup meant I had less vinegar, as well. It’s even got a bit of heat to it!
Here’s the final recipe
1 1/2 cups Tennessee whiskey or Kentucky bourbon (I used Kirkland’s Tennessee whiskey 4 year aged)
1/2 cup Black Swan original BBQ sauce
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 oz water
1 oz honey
3 tbsp malt vinegar
4 tbsp dark molasses
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
a couple dashes of Wright’s liquid smoke (I know, but I didn’t have a smoker running today)
First, reduce 1 cup of whiskey at a low boil in a sauté pan (it goes much faster that way)
Then mix in everything else above
Now bring to a simmer and keep it there cooking for about 30 minutes. Get it reduced by 1/4 to 1/3.
Every 2-3 minutes scrape the sugars from the edge of the sauté pan left behind as the sauce is reducing and incorporate them back into the sauce.
Once it is reduced to your liking, let it cool. Pour into a 2 cup container of some sort, seal it up, put it in the fridge and save it for some great BBQ action :-)
All the ingredients ready to go
You really should have a bit of whiskey yourself while cooking this. It’s medicinal.
Getting the whiskey heated up to reduce
What it looks like when you’ve reduced your whiskey
Everything else (except molasses) mixed together.
Yep, I like Brer Rabbit molasses
All in the pan, ready to cook it down
Just finishing up. You can see where I’ve been scraping the sugars off the side of the pan.
In a jar and headed for the fridge. It will be really good tomorrow.
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