Any recipe for barbecue sauce is bound to be contentious, no matter the formula. That’s because there are as many versions of this master sauce as there are Southerners willing to defend them as definitive. Whether thick or runny, tomato-based or vinegar, all Southern barbecue sauces get their complex flavor by playing on the contrasts between spicy and sweet, tangy and smoky. I’m nonpartisan enough to appreciate them all, but of course I’m partial to the western Tennessee strains—one sharp and vinegary, the other sweet and tomato-thick—I grew up on. With tomato, vinegar, and a dash of mustard, this all-purpose hybrid version offers the best of all worlds.

　　

Ingredients

makes about 3 pints

　　1 tablespoon olive oil

　　1/2 onion, diced

　　2 garlic cloves, smashed and minced

　　4 cups ketchup

　　1/2 cup water

　　2 cups distilled white vinegar

　　1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce

　　1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

　　1 tablespoon Colman’s dry mustard

　　1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes

　　2 teaspoons sea salt

　　1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

　　1/2 lemon, cut in half

　　

Step 1

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook and stir for about 5 minutes, until soft and golden. Add the garlic and cook and stir for 1 minute more. Pour in the ketchup; then rinse the bottle with the water to capture the remaining ketchup and add it to the pan, stirring to mix. Add the vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, mustard, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper and stir to mix. Squeeze the lemon juice into the sauce, add the squeezed halves, and stir.

　　

Step 2

Bring the sauce to a low boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens and reduces slightly. Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, and remove and discard the lemon halves. Refrigerate in an airtight container until ready to use, or for up to 3 weeks.

　　Reprinted with permission from Sara Foster's Southern Kitchen: Soulful, Traditional, Seasonal by Sara Foster. Copyright © 2011 by Sara Foster. Published by Random House. All Rights Reserved.Sara Foster is the owner of Foster's Market, the acclaimed gourmet take-out store/cafés in Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and the author of several cookbooks including The Foster's Market Cookbook, winner of the Best Cookbook Award from the Southeast Booksellers Association. She has appeared numerous times on Martha Stewart Living Television and NBC's Today show. She has also been featured in magazines such as More, House Beautiful, and Southern Living, and is featured regularly in Bon Appétit.