Only BBQ Will Do

This weekend I spent lots of time playing catch up. With house cleaning and rearranging, with old friends, and it seems more often than not getting acquainted with my kitchen. I had plans to do so much since the weekend always flies by that I didn’t get to do. This blog being one of those things so just consider this a long over due post and weekend whip up all in one.

I”m always trying to think of new and exciting ways to keep my food tasting and making interesting and for some reason I was stuck on BBQ sauce all this past week.

I asked the question on my FAOF Facebook page..”Do you make your own sauce?” and got lots of “likes” but no recipes so I decided to try my hand at something different. I love Asian flavors and just knew that was the direction I wanted to go in so after a store run for a few extra ingredients I didn’t already have on hand this is what I came up with:

My Asian Style BBQ Sauce

1/2 cup ketchup

1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 Tablespoons molasses

3  heaping teaspoons light brown sugar

One teaspoon each of:

garlic powder

ground ginger

onion powder

ground mustard

black pepper

paprika

1/4  teaspoon sriracha (aka rooster sauce) You can always add more if you like it extra spicy!

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar

Stir to combine all and set aside if using immediately or cover and chill till ready to use.

 

I took this sauce and some skinless chicken thighs I’d gotten and made a very happy plate. I just season my  thighs with Creole seasoning, garlic powder, Lawry’s, and about a teaspoon of the sauce before searing on the  stove and then baking at 375 for an hour and a half, basting twice with the set aside sauce. Once about half way through and again about ten minutes before pulling my cast iron skillet from the oven. With a side of white rice..Sunday supper was set.

I still wasn’t satisfied. Although good as is this was not what I was hoping for. What I really wanted was a BBQ sandwich..a chicken  sandwich, but BBQ nonetheless.  That was my mission as soon as I got home Monday evening.

After making a fresh batch of sauce,  I took those same glistening thighs from my fridge and let them take a whirlpool ride in a hot crockpot. I added hot water to my leftover sauce for them to cook in (adding chicken broth for half def is a good idea as well..but I was out) and let them go on high for about 2 hours. This made them shred tender and much like the texture of pulled pork. Can you say yum?! By sight alone I was happy.  Then I looked up at the clock and realized a sandwich of this saucy caliber wouldn’t keep me happy to lay down on at that particular time of night. I really gotta work on time management sometimes when I cook  huh? Can’t help myself, when it hits me I just gotta do it.

Tonight’s dinner looks promising for sure.  I didn’t go all gourmet with my bread purchase but do intend of butter toasting some buns to hold a huge mound of BBQ Chicken goodness. You guys know though that this only started my wheels turning for accompaniments outside the realm of regular coleslaw.

So that’s my day’s question..To top or not to top? Coleslaw, relish, or some other version of the classic?  Share your ideas with me please in the comments!  (Pics to be added later)

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