Ky Colonels Secret Pork BBQ Sauce

This is Kentucky barbecue through and through: thin, vinegar-forward, heavy on black pepper, and not a drop of tomato or ketchup in sight. It’s a mop sauce designed for basting pork from start to finish, layering flavor with every pass of the brush.

The sauce base is mostly water and vinegar, which keeps it thin enough to soak into the meat rather than sitting on top and burning. Butter, onion, garlic, Worcestershire, hot sauce, chili powder, dry mustard, and red pepper flakes all simmer together for 5 minutes, then the whole batch rests overnight so the flavors meld and mellow.

That overnight rest is a must. Freshly made, the sauce is sharp and disjointed. After a night in the fridge, everything comes together into a unified, balanced heat.

Chef Tips

• Make this a day ahead. The overnight rest transforms the flavor from raw and vinegary to smooth and complex.
• Warm the sauce before basting. Cold sauce drops the temperature of the meat surface and slows cooking.
• Start basting from the very beginning and keep at it throughout the cook. This sauce builds flavor in thin, accumulating layers.
• Three teaspoons of black pepper is intentional and correct. Kentucky barbecue is meant to have serious pepper bite.

Variations

• Add a tablespoon of bourbon for a more distinctly Kentucky character.
• Increase the hot sauce for a spicier mop, or reduce it for a milder baste.
• Use this on chicken, ribs, or pork shoulder. It works on anything you’re cooking low and slow.