Wedding Special Sauce~BBQ deliciousness.

I am a lucky Mom.  Two of my three boys are getting married this summer. Shane and Lynsey were married just yesterday in the family barn that my husband has been preparing for a few months.  Ryan and Sydney will be married in September in Utah. Better still is the fact that I get two girls in the deal as well as 2 puppies.
 When Shane and Lynsey got engaged, the boy asked me to make pulled pork sliders, deviled eggs, potato salad and baked beans.  I said " Sure, No problemo!  What the heck was I thinking?  We paired it down to the sliders and called it good.  And good it was!  I cooked  70 pounds of pork the week before the wedding and threw it in the freezer.  What a time-saver and lifesaver!  I still have a half-gallon of the Special Sauce in the freezer for later! Yum.

 The thing that makes the slider is the sauce!  I have experimented with lots of sauces and have come up with a great tasting, tangy, sweet sauce based on a recipe I found here.  It is a fabulous starting point for customizing your sauce to make it your own....and that is exactly what I did.  To make it exactly what I wanted I added some yellow mustard, a little bit more brown sugar, and the secret ingredient......strained homemade boysenberry jam!  To die deliciousness!  

Try it...you'll love it!

Wedding Special Sauce

adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Makes about 7 cups.

• 2 cups ketchup
• 2 cups tomato sauce
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cups red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 3 T. butter
• 4 t. hickory flavored liquid smoke
• 1/2 t. onion powder
• 1/2 t. garlic powder
• 1/2 t. chili powder
• 1 t. smoked paprika
• 1/2 t. celery seed
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 t. cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t. black pepper

1/2-3/4 cup strained boysenberry or blackberry jam. (Straining gets the seeds out.)

In a large saucepan, mix together the liquid ingredients. Add the spices. Mix well over medium heat. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir it every once in a while....it will stick to the bottom if you aren't careful.  The sauce thickens as it cools.

When cooled, the sauce can be frozen. Thaw in the refrigerator and use as needed.

Delicioso.  You can use apricot jam, orange marmalade, raspberry or marionberry jam, or anything else that suits your fancy to make it different. You can also adjust the spices to your own taste as well.