Damien Mulley

First let me say what an honour it is to be guest blogging on such a prestigious blog! Never mind following someone as infamous as The Swearing Lady! I don’t know where to start!

My name is Deborah and I am primarily a food blogger at The Humble Housewife, but I also contribute to The Frugal Tiger, a blog highlighting ways to save money in daily life. Like the Swearing Lady, I too hate my online name. I picked it for the sheer irony, I am neither humble nor a good housewife, but alas it has stuck, and invites a whole host of fundamental Christians to my site, which needless to say can be quite a treat!

Originally from Clonsilla, I left Ireland in 1989 and spent 11 years in the states and 5 years in Belgium to return in 2005 with my American husband! I learned lots of dubious things during my time in America. For instance, did you know World War II started in 1941? Me neither, but apparently the Michigan Department of Education seems to think so! That aside, I did learn some important life lessons, one of them being the art of grilling – or barbecue as we might call it here.

Granted, the weather of late has not exactly been conducive to barbecuing, but that’s something an indoor grill pan can easily remedy! Since coming back to Ireland I’ve been greatly disappointed with the barbecue selection. Anything pre marinated at the Butchers is either bright pink or brown, neither colours I prefer to see on my meat! In the states I always bought KC Masterpiece, a standard Barbecue sauce from Kansas City, Missouri, the self-proclaimed Barbecue capital of the world. My husband is from St. Louis, not so far away so I guess I’ll agree with said proclamation.

I found a couple of barbecue sauces in the supermarket including a nefarious Heinz version and knew there was nothing I could do but come up with my own. After months of experimenting I have finally found the perfect blend. It’s based on a St. Louis recipe, but I feel that real barbecue should be smoky, hence the smoked paprika. It’s aptly called two brew barbecue sauce! I have been told this is so good I could market it, but instead I think I’ll share it, so the rain soaked bloggers of Ireland can get a real taste of barbecue. It’s sweet, spicy and smoky – what more could you want?

Deborah’s Two Brew Barbecue Sauce

Ingredients:

2 cups* tomato ketchup

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup strong brewed coffee

1/2 cup lager

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp ground cumin

1-2 tsp chili powder, to your taste

1 tsp smoked paprika**

Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for about an hour until slightly
reduced and thickened. Store in an airtight container in the fridge and use
within a month.

* 1 cup = 8 fluid ounces / 237ml

** If you can’t find this, leave it out, don’t substitute normal paprika

Well, that’s just great you say, but what on earth do I do with it?

You can use it to marinate drumsticks, chicken fillets, pork chops, chicken wings, steak, ribs, or whatever meat you like.

This is great with steak, albeit in small amount. Of course I suppose it could really enhance a bad steak!

For perfect ribs, I boil the ribs for a couple of hours, until the meat is fork tender, then marinate in the sauce for about twenty minutes and grill, basting with the sauce.

Add a few ounces to your chili to get a nice hint of sweetness, and add a lovely smokiness.

Make a barbecue chicken pizza!
Instead of tomato sauce, use barbecue sauce as the base, top with a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese, red onions, fresh coriander and cooked chicken. Divine!

Use it as a dipping sauce with chicken nuggets.

The possibilities are endless!

So Damien wanted something different, and I daresay he got it. I’d say it will be while before there’s another recipe on his blog. Thanks for having me Damien. I hope people will try this delicious sauce. It could revolutionize our perception of grilling – ok, maybe not, but it’s worth a shot!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 12:35 pm and is filed under blogs, irishblogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.