Homemade Apple and Chilli BBQ Sauce

This sauce came about when we were serving a whole hog roast at the Storås Festival. We needed a barbecue sauce that could be made in quantity, had a clear flavour of its own and worked with pork without becoming overly sweet.

After a few rounds of testing, I settled on this mixture of apple juice, tomato, chilli, cumin and coriander. It still works equally well with slow-roasted pork neck, spare ribs, burgers and other grilled meat.

Ingredients – makes about 1 litre

• 1 litre apple juice
• 300 ml ketchup
• 100 ml Heinz chilli sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp dried coriander leaves
• 6 cloves garlic
• 3 shallots
• A little neutral oil for frying
• Salt and black pepper

The chilli sauce used here is tomato-based chilli sauce, not Asian sweet chilli sauce.

Method

1. Roughly chop the shallots and garlic. They do not need to look pretty; they will be strained out at the end.
2. Heat a little oil in a saucepan. Cook the shallots over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the garlic for the final minute.
3. Pour in the apple juice and boil uncovered until reduced from 1 litre to about 700 ml.
4. Add the ketchup, chilli sauce, brown sugar, cumin and coriander. Simmer uncovered until you have about 900 ml to 1 litre of sauce. Stir regularly, especially towards the end.
5. Strain the sauce and season with salt and black pepper.
6. Let it cool slightly before pouring it into a clean container. Remember that it will thicken as it cools.

Adjust the consistency to suit the job

For brushing and use as a regular barbecue sauce, I keep it fairly fluid. If you want it as a glaze, reduce it a little further. Brush it on towards the end of cooking; the sugar can burn if exposed to strong heat for too long.

Reduce it to about 500–600 ml for a stronger, thicker sauce that works particularly well with burgers or spare ribs. Watch it carefully towards the end, as it can go from the right consistency to burnt very quickly.

What does it go with?

• Whole hog roast or slow-roasted pork neck
• Spare ribs
• Burgers
• Grilled or oven-roasted chicken
• Pulled pork on good bread

Storage

Cool the sauce quickly and keep it in a clean, airtight container in the fridge. Use within about a week, or freeze it in smaller portions. This is a regular barbecue sauce, not a preserved sauce intended for room-temperature storage.