Three interesting bbq sauce recipes from 40 or so years ago

[Mosca]

I find these pretty interesting because there’s no added sweeteners. Back when I clipped them, I was just interested in the recipes, but now I’m just as interested in where they came from.

Pittsburgh (these are from The Post Gazette) has a minor regional bbq style called Monongahela style, where the sauce is savory rather than sweet, and the ribs are grilled rather than slow cooked; the Basic American Barbecue Sauce would fit that style.

The Hot Mexican Barbecue Sauce subs out some of the savory stuff for what looks like chopped tomatoes and a chili pepper; it doesn’t say what kind of pepper, but a Serrano or jalapeño is probably what they had in mind. I remember my frustration at the time of finding anything remotely ethnic, or even less than 100% mainstream Pittsburgh, in the groceries. “Ribs” meant country-style; if you wanted “chili peppers” you usually wound up with pickled jalapeños in a jar.

The third one made me laugh! That’s Cornell chicken! The proportions are slightly different, but it’s the same recipe Meathead has reverently championed on this site, in his book, and in his e-book, Barbecue Chicken Made Easy! If you’ve ever gone to a church chicken bbq, you’ve probably eaten Cornell chicken! That recipe is from the mid 20th century, late ‘50s according to Meathead.

I’ll probably take a half an hour and mix up the first one; I have everything on hand, and if it’s no good I’m only out half an hour and a couple bucks.

The Mexican sauce doesn’t interest me, it’s a non-starter; there’s nothing there. And anyhow, chili powder and cayenne are completely different; chili powder has cumin, which completely changes the sauce, even in small amounts.

I’ve made Cornell chicken a few times. It’s a bit bland, but good. It’s important to dry brine your chicken first with that one.

[Jerod Broussard]

I've never done the Cornell thing, but just waking up and laying in bed reading it, I thought it pretty funny that right off the bat they gave an egg back to the chicken.

[Michael_in_TX]

The Mexican sauce doesn’t interest me, it’s a non-starter; there’s nothing there. And anyhow, chili powder and cayenne are completely different; chili powder has cumin, which completely changes the sauce, even in small amounts.

I had the exact same thought. In fact, I think I mentally screamed in guajillo. Yeah, standard chili power or cayenne....that's a range!

[captainlee]

You are digging up the oldies but goodies.

[Mosca]

Just the ones that are interesting.

Newspaper recipes and community cookbooks were pretty much the only way to get recipes that weren’t your mom’s or your grandmom’s. I had a lot of clipping of stuff that interested me, bbq stuff, grilling stuff, and chili.

[Finster]

My first thought was "oh cool. A vintage recipe"
my second thought was "damn, you graduated high school 40 years ago"
My third thought is " now I'm depressed" 🙁🙄🤣🤷♂️

[Draznnl]

My thoughts were more like, “that’s not so long ago.” Followed by, “damn, I’m old.”

[Mosca]

Try 51 years ago.

[Meathead]

Fascinating. I love looking at old recipes.

[Mosca]

Thanks, I’m always glad to contribute! I have a few more to post, what I’ve been doing is copying them into Paprika, and using the clipping as the photograph to go with the recipe.

[jfmorris]

That first recipe looks interesting to me too. The ketchup likely has sugar in it, but at least it’s not adding another slug of brown or white sugar.