I love cooking and creating new things.  My family likes the same thing.  UGGHHHH!  So I have learned to compromise and when it comes to things like sauces I give them what they want–Sweet Baby Ray’s–and I get creative.

So today I’m giving a sauce “guide” because I have found certain combinations really good.

Basic Sauce:

• 1 cup of vinegar
• 1/2 cup of flavor (tomato sauce, curry paste mixed with water to make 1/2), peanut butter, soy sauce, apple sauce, beer or other spirits
• something sweet–brown sugar, honey, jams, maple syrup, molasses, chocolate
• a little oil/fat–I normally use olive oil–sometimes I infuse it with basil, lemon or garlic
• spices–salt, pepper, chili pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, curry . . .

Those are the proportions that I typically use–if I need more I double–but not the spices.  If I am going to be using this sauce in the crockpot I would make sure it covers at least 1/2 of the meat and flip during the cooking–the meat will have its own juices that will flavor the sauce–keep that in mind.

For chicken I love this lemon champagne vinegar and I garnish with basil.

For pork I like more of an apple infusion–so I use apple cider vinegar, apple sauce and pumpkin pie spice and a little melted butter.  I may put some crumbled pecans or walnuts as a garnish.  I also like peanut butter sauce on my pork–peanut butter, vinegar, and lots of spice.

With beef I enjoy a more traditional red sauce.  I use my own homemade ketchup, molasses, adobe seasoning, brown sugar and lots of onions, peppers, and celery!

I do marinate my meat in the sauce and then I grill for a longer time so the sugar doesn’t burn.  I dislike burnt meat!  and nothing makes me more crazy at dinner to see a bunch of kids picking off every brown bit off dinner!  I have cooked the meat in foil in the oven or on the grill which worked out well–then at the end I  put it on the grill to get the char lines.

Enjoy!