As the story goes…
Many years ago this recipe was pirated by Papa Kanaga’s brother, Lavern. He was a cook in the Army and enjoyed putting a recipe together for people to enjoy. Lavern ate at a certain restaurant once and fell in love with their BBQ sauce. He asked the chef if he would consider giving him the recipe, to which the chef declined. No matter what Lavern said, the chef would not part with his recipe. Lavern was not to be denied. He would watch the back access to the kitchen where they took out their garbage. When the trash contained things that looked like BBQ sauce ingredients, he wrote down what he thought was in the sauce. I’m sure he had to work out the quantities, but eventually came up with a really good rendition of his favorite sauce.
When Nana tried it, she loved it. After telling her how he came by the recipe Lavern gave it to her after she promised she would never give it out to anyone. She did let me have it after I came back from Okinawa, but told me I couldn’t give it out. After many years of keeping it secret, I think it's time to share it, so use it in good health and think about Uncle Lavern skulking around the alley in search of his treasure. I wish we had video of that!
In a stock pot combine:
1/2 Gallon vegetable or canola oil
(reserve about 2 cups)
1-1/2 Gallon Ketchup
2 Qts. Mustard
4 Ozs. Tobasco sauce
8 Ozs. Liquid smoke
1/2 C. (or 1 sm. can) Paprika
1/2 C. Brown sugar
1/2 C. Apple cider vinegar
In a large skillet:
Pour in the 2 cups of reserved oil
3 Cloves Garlic minced fine
(or 1t. garlic powder)
6 Medium Onions minced fine
1 t. Salt
1 t. Pepper
If you have a food processor, it is the best for mincing. With the chopping blade, turn on and drop the garlic down the feeding tube, this minces quite well. Open and put the peeled, quartered onions in and pulse several time to get all the chunks. Process just a few seconds for a fine mince.
Cook the onions and garlic until done. Add to stock pot and simmer for about an hour.
This sauce is good on all meats and is a unique addition to chili beans, sloppy joes, etc. Serve warm or cold - I know people who like it by the spoonful.
(not me of course, no not ever…!)
If you want to bottle this sauce:
Just simmer long enough to heat through. Ladle into jars leaving 1/2-3/4 inch headspace. Close with prepared lids and place into pressure canner.
Follow manufacturer’s instructions for exhausting air in canner. When weight is in place bring up to 10 lbs. pressure and process for 15 minutes. If you are doing quarts, process at 10 lbs. for 25 minutes.
Sherry Kanaga Harmon
“Granny”
