Homemade BBQ Sauce

No. Everything goes into a blender and is blended smooth, and that is the entire method. Simmering it gently for a few minutes is optional: it thickens the sauce a little and softens the raw edge of the vinegar and mustard, but it is ready to use straight from the blender.

In the last few minutes of cooking. There is a cup and a half of brown sugar in here on top of the ketchup, and sugar scorches over direct heat long before most meat is done. Cook the meat through first and glaze it at the end, or simply serve the sauce alongside.

Not at this quantity. The recipe leans on 2.5 tablespoons of dry mustard for a lot of its bite, and jarred mustard is mostly vinegar and water, so swapping it spoon for spoon would thin the sauce and dull the heat. Use it sparingly if it is all you have and expect a milder result.

Apple cider vinegar is the usual choice for barbecue sauce and gives a rounder, slightly fruitier tang. Plain white vinegar works too but is sharper, so start with a little less than the half cup called for and taste before you add the rest.

The heat comes from the hot pepper sauce and the black pepper, and the recipe uses only two dashes of the sauce, so it starts mild. Add more a dash at a time and blend again, since it is far easier to raise the heat than to pull it back. For a milder version leave the hot sauce out and keep the paprika for colour.

Keep it in a sealed jar in the fridge. It is never cooked, so treat it as a fresh sauce rather than a preserve and use it up within a couple of weeks. The flavour is better after a day, once the mustard and vinegar have settled together.