As in all of my posts, if you need to follow a recipe exactly, this blog will frustrate you.  Quit reading it now.  My recipe measurements are only suggestions - please modify the ingredients and amounts as you see fit.  If it works, Great!  If it sucks, that's not my fault - you've been warned....

Sweet Sriracha Barbecue Sauce

I recently went to a barbecue joint in Tampa, Florida, and they had an item on the menu that included a sweet sriracha-honey barbecue glaze for chicken wings.  I'm not a big fan of chicken including their wings and other various parts (where the heck do "nuggets" come from?), but the sauce sounded intriguing.   I got the wings just to try the sauce, and it was amazing.  Note - the sauce is great on chicken, but not on beef or pork.

So, here is how to make the sauce (or at least a start).

Most barbecue sauces start with a base (such as ketchup, tomato sauce, vinegar, etc) then add ingredients and flavorings.  This type of sauce is tricky, because it doesn't really have a base - you have to create a base from several different ingredients.

Since this sauce includes raw brown sugar, honey, and molasses, you have to use a double boiler, otherwise you'll get a sticky mess of goo.  If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a large pot of water with a smaller pot floating on top of it.  The main idea is that you don't want the ingredients sitting directly over the heat source.

I start with soy sauce - not a huge amount, maybe a cup or so.  Then, add some honey and let it heat up so it's easy to stir.  You can add a few tablespoons of white vinegar to emulsify everything (make it all stick together) or not - the vinegar actually doesn't work as well in this recipe as the Sonny's Barbecue Sauce recipe (see earlier post).

Then add a little Sriracha sauce.  There are several different brands of Sriracha sauce.  Basically, Sriracha is a Korean hot sauce.  The actual Korean brand of Sriracha sauce can be identified by a rooster on the bottle, and is hot but a little bitter.  The American version (that I like better) is made by Texas Pete, and branded as "Cha" sauce.  It's a little sweeter, not bitter, but a little hotter than the Korean version.

Next, add a few tablespoons of brown sugar, and stir it until dissolved - this will take a while.  Don't use an immersion blender, although that is my favorite kitchen tool - using an immersion blender will make sriracha cool-whip - I already made that mistake for you.

Now, add a little molasses,  And by "little", I mean a little.  A little goes a long way - you just want to add enough to add some smokey flavor - like a teaspoon.  Molasses has a very distinct and strong flavor profile, so be very careful - add very small amounts until it tastes right.  You shouldn't be able to taste the molasses directly in the sauce.

Now you have a base for the sauce.  From here, you just adjust the ingredients.  If you want it a little hotter, add some more Texas Pete "Cha" sauce.  If you want it sweeter, add a little more brown sugar.  You don't want to add much honey, as that will create a thick sauce that will stick to the back of your throat - it's not very pleasant.  If you need to make it thicker, add sriracha sauce and brown sugar.  If you need to make in thinner, add white vinegar and a little sugar.

Keep stirring and adding ingredients until the mixture starts to bubble a little - definitely not a full boil though - the sugar will form a brick when it cools.  Also, be aware that as it slowly boils and cools, the molasses will become more prominent in the flavor profile, so another reason to not add too much molasses.  The sweetness will also become more concentrated, so be careful to not add too much brown sugar.

If you have a better recipe, please post back!