Gluten Free BBQ Sauce

Creating a list of things I want to cook has inspired me. When I thought about the slow roasted shoulder of pork I was going to cook, I found myself craving a rich, sweet BBQ sauce to mix with the shredded meat. In my previous glutinous life as a Product Developer for Burger King, we ate lots of American food, all in the name of research, of course. One of my favourite things was Pulled Pork. Slow roasted melt, in the mouth shredded pork in a dark, rich BBQ sauce served in a freshly baked crusty baguette... thank goodness I can eat this just without the bread of course!

With the nights drawing in, and in the need for comfort food I scoured all my recipe books for a BBQ sauce recipe. Discovering a deficit, I looked online and discovered a) how easy it is to make and b) that it is naturally gluten free. I mention it being gluten free in particular because most of the sauces on the supermarket shelves contain gluten, and this is mainly because they contain malt vinegar and soy sauce. Home-made versions can thankfully be adapted, although strangely most of the recipes were already safe to eat.

Anyhow, what follows is my recipe for BBQ sauce, pulled together from a bunch of online recipes and uses tamari (the gluten free Japanese soy sauce) for that intense umami taste. It really is a versatile sauce – sticky and intense as a dipping sauce, or turn it into a flavoursome cooking sauce by add more tomatoes. I used leftover pork and black eye beans to make a stew-y thing served with white rice, and crème fraiche with the last of the chives from the garden under the snow.

But tell me, have you ever made BBQ sauce? What do you do with yours..?

Gluten Free BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
Half a red onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 tsp smoked paprika
A sprinkle of chilli flakes to your taste
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp fennel seeds
40g brown sugar
4 tbsp ketchup
Half a can of tomatoes
Dash of tamari (Japanese soy sauce)

Method
Heat the oil and gently saute the onion until it begins to caramelise.
Add the garlic and cook for about a minute.
Mix in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a simmer.
Cook for 5 minutes until you have the desired consistency.
That's it! Use drizzled over slow roasted pork, in sandwiches, or as a stew base.