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For those that haven't tried it yet or thought of it...
If you marinade a flank steak in it, be prepared for epically good fajitas. What you'll want for this: Flank steak (half to 3/4 a pound; this is more than one normal adult person can eat to be honest, it could comfortably feed two old people or two kids, or one teenager) Shredded cheese of whatever you prefer Hot Salsa, to taste (if you don't like hot...well, don't use hot then. Habanero salsas work wonderfully) Taco sauce (the texture balances out nicely with the salsa; I used a mild taco sauce as it's all I can find here in the tundra) Sour cream (I was missing this  )
An Onion (cut into rings then cut in half) A Pepper (if you prefer; I didn't have any) Fajita tortillas (or whatever you plan on using as a food wrapping device) Couple teaspoons of oil Enough of The Sauce to marinade the steak overnight (or longer) Cast iron skillet (or something else that can get hot and hold it) Handful of chopsticks Alumnium foil I threw in a pound and a half flank steak into a marinade of The Sauce. It should marinade at least overnight. I marinaded mine around 24 hours. Took it out, rinsed it off, patted it dry. Since there's just me here, I cut it in half to a) better fit in my cast iron pan and b) because I couldn't eat it all even if I tried. It's important - you really, really should rinse it off and pat it dry before cooking it. If nothing else, you'll get a good reference for how the marinade reacted with it, vs what it looked like before. I threw my 12" skillet on the stove and set the burner for medium-high (my burner goes LO-2 ....8-HI; I set it at 7). I left it there for about 20 minutes so it'll be at temp when I get to it. In the mean time I left the meat out, so it could at least get nearer to room temp. Next time, I'll let it come all the way to room temp to see if that changes anything. If you have a spare cutting board, lay your chopsticks out on it in a grill pattern. You'll be resting the meat on it when it's done. If you don't have a spare cutting board, use a strip of foil. Fold the sides up so juice won't escape. Using a piece of foil, make a tent ot something to cover the steak with while it's resting. It shouldn't be naked for this step. When I was comfortable that the cast iron was at temp, using a set of tongs, I layed the steak into the hot pan, and made sure it had good contact all the way around. Let it sit there for at least 3 minutes. (you can play with the times here, to taste...I like mine around medium-medium well for this application, and 4-5 minutes seemed to work for me. YMMV!!!) DON'T TOUCH THE STEAK AT ALL. I mean it, not at all. Let it sit there. Don't fiddle with it. It's on autopilot right now. While it's sizzling away, break out your knife and start working on the onions. I cut it in half, cut those halves in half, then sliced the quarters. It might be easier to slice it into rings first, then cut the rings in half; up to you. If you have peppers, cut them up too. Whenever you're ready, flip that steak over in the pan. Marvel at the browning you've achived on the meat. Resume cutting veggies as needed. Make sure you have everything else prepped; the tortillas sohuld be out and if not already at room temp, getting there. The fixins' should be out on the table and ready to go. Again, don't touch the meat. It's on autopilot again. When you think the steak is done (you can press it and see how it rebounds, or you can cut a little piece of it off and see if it's the proper color, texture, etc...or, you can stick it with a thermometer if you're so inclined), turn the heat off on the stove, take it off the skillet and lay it down on the chopsticks. Cover it with the foil, and let it sit. In the still hot pan on the still hot (but not on) burner, pour in the oil. You won't need very much. Swirl the oil around so it's covering the pan, then toss in the veggies. Don't worry about the heat being off, there will be plenty of it left in the pan to finish cooking the veggies. Stir those veggies around so they don't stick and all that, and watch 'em cook up. This should only take a couple minutes, 5 at _most_. When you think the veggies are just about done, take the foil off the steak. There should be plenty of drippings. Move the steak to a cutting board, and AGAINST the grain, cut the meat into long strips.Cut those long strips into more manageable bite-size-ish chunks. Steal every 4th or 5th piece, because you're the King, and it's good to be the King, and all meat must pay the King tax. Marvel at the flavor. Once you're done cutting it all up, throw it back in the still-hot pan, with the veggies. Take it off the burner, and bring the whole thing to your kitchen table. There you go, the fajita sizzling steak experience, right in your own home. And...well, there you go. Make your fajitas as you normally would. The meat came out REALLY well, very flavorful. The marinade doesn't overwhelm anything but it's in play with this cut of meat. Oh, and bump 
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Ok, my first (half) batch of "The Sauce" is on the stove. AND, there is a 7lb pork butt in my oven. Tomorrow, life is good. My eyes are burning from the fucking vinegar though. Guys with womez in the house, heed the advice, cook this stuff outside.
I can't wait to try this, it looks and smells awesome. |
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Just put a batch on and all I can say is damn thats a lot of salt 
When it came to a boil it looked plain evil. But it has a good taste strong on the clove though. Update I cooked it about 6 hours. covered and let it sit outside. The reduction was about right went from7.25 inches in the pot to 4.75 inches. Over the 6 hours I tasted every hour or so and was sure that it was first to much salt and then to much clove and later to much pepper. This morning after cooking and cooling it taste good. Strong but good. It taste to me like Worcestershire sauce without the anchovies I have a cook book Brennan's of Houston in your kitchen by Chef Carl Walker which by the way is worth the price for just the turtle soup recipe . It has a recipe for Worcestershire sauce and it does have some of the same spice but not in the same proportion. Anyway I cant wait to try it. Next time I will try finer ground pepper. It made enough to fill one fifth wild turkey bottle one gallon vinegar bottle and one medium Louisiana hot sauce bottle. |
| I am amazed at the change in taste from week to week. This sauce seems to separate after sitting a while but one shake of the bottle and its back. It also is getting more mellow and sweeter . Last night I had some avocado with salsa and tomatoes added some sauce and a splash of olive oil and it was damn good. |
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I am amazed at the change in taste from week to week. This sauce seems to separate after sitting a while but one shake of the bottle and its back. It also is getting more mellow and sweeter . Last night I had some avocado with salsa and tomatoes added some sauce and a splash of olive oil and it was damn good. That's how it does. I'm using a batch right now that is about 3 years old, damned good! |
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I am amazed at the change in taste from week to week. This sauce seems to separate after sitting a while but one shake of the bottle and its back. It also is getting more mellow and sweeter . Last night I had some avocado with salsa and tomatoes added some sauce and a splash of olive oil and it was damn good. That's how it does. I'm using a batch right now that is about 3 years old, damned good! Wow, I need to make up a whole drum of the stuff if I want to try it after 3 years. I've been through about 4 gallons so far, and I think my first batch was less than 6 months ago. I do share with friends and nieghbors though.
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-snip- It is an excellent marinade. I like to stick chicken breasts in a big freezer bag and fill it up with the sauce the night before and barbeque them the next day. Good stuff. This thread will never die. Never. Never ever. Ever? No. |
It's a beautiful, cool, late summer day. Perfect for opening up all the windows and cooking up a batch of "The Sauce" Last time, I only did a half recipe, and kept wondering (as I stunk up the house) how it could possibly taste any good, or whether it was all some cruel joke. This time, I'm doing the FULL recipe.
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I made The Sauce for the first time yesterday to drizzle over some pulled pork (my first time trying to smoke something, too). Works great with the fatty pork. It definitely stinks the hell out of the house though - my poor kitty was sneezing every time I came inside to stir the pot.
How thick is everyone reducing their sauce? I cooked it for about 6 or 7 hours and it stayed fairly thin, but looking at some photos from here it seems like folks are getting a much thicker product. |
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I made The Sauce for the first time yesterday to drizzle over some pulled pork (my first time trying to smoke something, too). Works great with the fatty pork. It definitely stinks the hell out of the house though - my poor kitty was sneezing every time I came inside to stir the pot. How thick is everyone reducing their sauce? I cooked it for about 6 or 7 hours and it stayed fairly thin, but looking at some photos from here it seems like folks are getting a much thicker product. It's fairly thin, at least it is when I cook it (around 8-10 hours). It's not like ketchup thick or anything. It's not stink...it's vinegar, then pepper, then the allspice and clove
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GOOD STUFF!!!
I just had some again last night drizzled over BBQ-smoked and shredded pork. In fact, I'm having more of the same for lunch leftovers today. I'm using a batch that I cooked up over 3 years ago. It just gets better with age. "The Sauce" is so good, I find myself going back to it over everything else, especially for pulled pork. This is definitely a recipe for the ages! Thanks again for sharing it, TCN! |
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Quoted: I made The Sauce for the first time yesterday to drizzle over some pulled pork (my first time trying to smoke something, too). Works great with the fatty pork. It definitely stinks the hell out of the house though - my poor kitty was sneezing every time I came inside to stir the pot. How thick is everyone reducing their sauce? I cooked it for about 6 or 7 hours and it stayed fairly thin, but looking at some photos from here it seems like folks are getting a much thicker product. Mine reduced by 35%. In other words, when done, I had 2/3 of what I started with. Still fairly watery. Not "thick", like when you think of sweet BBQ sauces. More the consistency of a marinade. I don't concentrate so much on the cooking time, because it can vary with evaporation rates. I think last year it took about 6hrs to get that 35% reduction. This year (full batch) was closer to 10hrs. I'm just careful not to burn it. I make marks with a Sharpie on a wooden spoon to figure out the 35% reduction. |
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copied, tagged, etc... Gave my smoker v1 to a friend at the begging of summer, piddling with smoker v2, will probably be finishing it in a week or two including burnout. This might be a good thing to try when I do. Isn't the traditional way to do a sauce like this is to put the pot on the top of the fire box to simmer all day while the meat cooks? |
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Started my first batch. Problem is, if I leave it for more than 20-30 minutes without a stir, I get the nasty "soup skin" on top. Guess I have to keep on top of it. Also, it seems to be reducing too fast. I don't think the heat is too high, it's steaming and smoldering a bit, but not bubbling... ETA: The first page says a full batch calls for 44 oz's tomato juice, and the third page says 56 oz's. I'm going with 44 oz's for a full batch. Is this right? |
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Started my first batch. Problem is, if I leave it for more than 20-30 minutes without a stir, I get the nasty "soup skin" on top. Guess I have to keep on top of it. Also, it seems to be reducing too fast. I don't think the heat is too high, it's steaming and smoldering a bit, but not bubbling...
ETA: The first page says a full batch calls for 44 oz's tomato juice, and the third page says 56 oz's. I'm going with 44 oz's for a full batch. Is this right? The big cans in the supermarket are 46oz, so it'd be 46 + 6 + 6...or 58oz all told. Don't sweat it too much - I think with 58oz it's a little too tomato-y? But that's just my tastes. You can always splash in some more tomato juice. Don't worry about the skin, either. I'd leave it going for an hour+ at a time, come by, stir, repeat until done. The skin re-incorporates really fast into the sauce, so it won't hurt anything. |
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%&*#... @$#& !!!! OH, I am so glad I cooked this outside. I don't think a lot of you are putting it into LARGE pots, but increased surface area increased the reduction rate. My nose ran for almost 8 hours - from when I pored in the pepper, till 30 minutes after bottling. Every time I stirred the pain came back in my sinuses. So I did my first batch today - screwed up the reduction. I think the goal was to reduce it down to fit back into the vinegar bottles, but 6hrs of hard simmering (and having a bad mark on my spoon) and I had less than 1 gallon of "sauce" (started with 44oz of tomato). Anyway, sauce concentrated is still not very thick. Will see how it mellows, but looking forward to marinading with it - a bit strong for dipping. Tastes good though - in your face spicy (tomatoes are overwhelmed by other ingredients). |