A couple of years ago I began playing with a recipe for homemade barbecue sauce and managed to come up with one I really liked. I confess I deliberately added several ingredients which would enhance the flavour but be hard for people to guess – the goal being to make it my very own special sauce. It’s not hard to make but requires some time just to put all of the components together. People love it and I ended up sharing the recipe with a few people and will now publish it here at the end of this blog. I really do believe in sharing recipes!!
BUT – back to the easy one. My niece sent me a recipe she got from another relative for a much easier version over two years ago but I didn’t try it until this week. I must confess that, as usual, I adapted the recipe considerably to my tastes AND I’m really surprised at the great flavour with much less effort.
You, too, can adapt the barbecue sauce to your tastes. Too vinegary? Add another tablespoon of sugar and next time add less vinegar. Love the tang of the vinegar – simply add more but go a tablespoon at a time. Want it spicier? Add a little more hot sauce or, for real heat, a few red pepper flakes. Go easy though! One of the first inedible dishes I made many years ago was when I substituted red pepper flakes for chili powder!!
Smoked paprika is essential to the flavour of this dish and is a favourite spice of mine. Just the wonderful smoky smell of it makes me want to put it in something. It can be used in many places calling for paprika and comes in hot or sweet. I find you have to look at the can carefully to see if it is hot or sweet. I usually use the sweet variety and add the heat from other sources. It is not always found in the grocery stores around here so you may need to look for it at delis, butchers, or gourmet food places. The red can in my header picture is a brand of smoked paprika.
Pulled pork has become very popular in the last few years and is easier to make than some chefs/cooks would have you believe. This recipe rivals what you would get even if you spent all day at the barbecue slowly cooking the meat.
Use the most inexpensive roast you can find. The 3 lb. pork leg roast I used to test this recipe was well under $5 and would make 8 – 10 good sized buns. I highly suggest making the whole recipe and freezing the leftovers flattened (for easier and quicker thawing) freezer bag. A quick and easy dinner for another time.
We prefer pulled pork on soft buns – much easier to eat without everything squeezing out one end. I have served this at parties with small dinner sized buns to make them more appetizer/snack sized.
Serve with coleslaw – some people like to put the coleslaw on the bun.