Rigil (Rigil5) Writes:
"Does anyone have a copycat recipe for Arthur Bryant's BBQ sauce? Iv been trying for years, the only thing I can say is the base is pickle juice, tomato sauce and some kind of oil/butter/lard. The spices are Paprika, Cayenne pepper and others. Please let me know any other ideas."
Comments
Try This
ARTHUR BRYANT’S BARBECUE SAUCE
1/2 CUP CIDER VINEGAR
1/2 CUP RICE VINEGAR
1 CUP WATER
1/2 CUP PAPRIKA
1/3 CUP YELLOW MUSTARD
1/4 CUP BROWN SUGAR
1/8 CUP KOSHER SALT
1/8 CUP WORCHESTER SAUCE
1 TABLESPOON GARLIC POWDER
A LITTLE BLACK PEPPER
1 TABLESPOON HOT SAUCE – CHOWALLA IF AVAILABLE
COOK UNTIL DESIRED THICKNESS. FINE TUNE FLAVORS BY ADJUSTING QUANTITIES.
With all respect Tom, Arthur Bryant’s Sauce wouldn’t have rice vinegar in it. I’m not saying it doesn’t taste like it, and I will certainly try it, but the origin of Arthur Bryants Sauce was from an area of Kansas City that would have never even heard of rice vinegar.
There’s one more ingredient needed – celery powder. When Mr. Bryant’s neice was mixing the seasonings by hand she occasionally would put too much of one thing or another in the blend, and on one occasion she overdid the celery powder.
What gives the gritty texture?
I made Tom’s recipe and it’s gritty. No gound up peppers in mine. It’s the paprika that’s making it gritty. Other than that it’s not to bad.
The gritty texture . . . I asked one of the AB’s people about that the last time I was there. He said it was ground-up dried peppers. Gotta work that in to the recipe somehow. Wouldn’t be the same.
Since I eat at AB’s regularly, I decided to make this recipe. While not exactly like the AB classic, isn’t half bad. I modified the ingredients just a bit to cut down on sugar and increase spicyness. My version follows and I think it is a closer match:
1/2 CUP BASAMIC VINEGAR
1/2 CUP RED WINE VINEGAR
1 CUP WATER
3/4 CUP PAPRIKA
1/3 CUP YELLOW MUSTARD
1/8 CUP BROWN SUGAR
1/8 CUP SALT
1/8 CUP WORCHESTIRE SAUCE
1 TABLESPOON ONION POWDER
1 TABLESPOON GARLIC POWDER
1 TEASPOON A LITTLE BLACK PEPPER
1 TABLESPOON HOT SAUCE- BRUCE’s LOUISIANA
Last week we got some mexican sauce which was called “achiote”
made with annato seeds. Seemed very similar, might be part of the graininess and taste of the never to be duplicated AB original.
The restaurant is a wonderful experience. Everybody was having a good time.
Last week we got some mexican sauce which was called “achiote”
made with annato seeds. Seemed very similar, might be part of the graininess and taste of the never to be duplicated AB original.
The restaurant is a wonderful experience. Everybody was having a good time.
When I lived in Chicago, a friend who went to school in KC used to drive to Bryant’s annually to refill a water-cooler bottle full of Bryant’s sauce. He said the secret ingredient was pig’s blood.
Are you kidding?!? really, pig’s blood? if so, it must be the best pig’s blood in the world? Why do so many people want to re-creat this sauce? when they can go to the store and buy it??
With all due respect, I tried both of the recipes and they were quite disappointing, I found them to be quite rancid.
I have been making BBQ sauces for just over 4 years now (Yes, I’m still learning) and I found that there was something missing (tomato sauce?) something of that nature, I have concocted something similar which uses almost the same ingredients but with tomato sauce.
I realize that Bryant’s has been around for(100 years?) but there has to be something missing, until I ever make it to KC I will get the “experience” and maybe then I will be able to put my finger on it…
I appreciate the input that everyone has posted, it was worth a shot trying it out.
I am good friends with Paul Kirk (KC Baron of BBQ) and he has ‘broke’ this recipe before, but would not disclose the whole recipe to me. But he did advise me that one of the main spice ingredients is crab boil spices. Sadly…I am still working on the rest.
He sells this sauce by the bottle. Pigs blood is not an ingredient. Tomato paste is an ingredient.
Brown sugar is just white sugar with either light or dark molases mixed in (thus light or dark brown sugar). For 1/2 cup light brown sugar add 1/2 tsp. molases and mix well (it really does eventually mix in). I live in Kansas City, MO.
AB’s sauce is not typical KC tomato based. It is vinegary. It has some tomato paste in it. If I used Patrick’s recipe, I would add 1 tsp. celery seed and 1/2 small can tomato paste. Celery seed is very strong so don’t use more. I am not the same Richard from comment 9.
The Travel Channel is showing a barbeque show featuring Arthur Bryant’s, which must be why all the interest. Starting with patrick’s recipe, use 1 cup apple cider vinegar. Who ever heard of balsamic or red wine vinegar in Kansas City in 1905?
Add 1 tsp celery salt and ground dried red cayenne or jalapeno peppers, about 1 tsp. And black pepper should be 2 or 3 tsp. There is your gritty quality. And 1/2 cup brown sugar. It is supposed to be vinegary so no more sugar. I also live on KC and am 87 years old. I know my additions to patrick’s recipe are the real deal.
What about the ’sage’ flavor it has a lot of. I see no sage in the recipe listed. That’s what I like sooo much of in AB original sauce!
Well, dang.. i just threw away the bottle but the last thing listed is LARD… When you see the large bottles in the store, there are several layers. I’m not sure why, but when A. Bryant’s was sold to a corperation the taste has not been the same. In my opinion. Plus, the size of the sandwiches are smaller. don’t eat at any of the stores except the one at 18th and Brooklyn
two attempts with bryants rub and bbq on ribs – first time just the rub, second time just the sauce – both times discarded ribs as the paprika and cayenne pepper in the rub and sauce were over bearing (paprika listed as no. 1 ingredient) and left an very unpleasant after taste. rub and sauce consigned to the trash.
will not recommend
Normzack, guess that why there is about 100 BBQ places =)
Oh yeah, TRY THIS:
2 cups water
1.5 cups white vinegar (that’s right, you fancy bastards!)
1 (8oz) can tomato paste
1/4 cup lard
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp ground celery seed
2 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp dry mustard
‘Nuff said, end of the thread!
I was there just yesterday and there is definitely cumin in there. I couldn’t put my finger on that taste until I remembered that, to me anyway, cumin tastes like B.O. smells (haha). Hand-ground Cumin & celery seed (or at least rough ground) would also add to gritty texture as well. By far, the best ribs I’ve ever had. Now…onto try Memphis ribs!
Well, obviously, personal tastes vary…A LOT! And regionally, people tend to like what they grew up on and have already cultivated a taste for.
I don’t have such preconceived notions. Being from L.I., NY, I did not grow up on BBQ. I have lived in VA for the past 30 years and learned to enjoy BBQ. I have also eaten at ABs and loved it. I am searching for a great sauce and can’t stand commercial sauces found in stores which are so sweet they reek of sugar. I will have to make it myself. Even if I were not a type 2 diabetic, I don’t like sweet stuff as part of a meal except for side dishes (e.g. cranberry relish), dessert, or snacks. So I was encouraged to see that there are BBQ sauces that are vinegar based rather than molasses based (yech) or corn syrup based (double yech) .
I realize it only sheds partial light, but the bottle of Arthur Bryant’s Rich & Spicy Sauce says the ingredients in the bottle are:
INGREDIENTS: WATER, TOMATO PASTE, BROWN SUGAR, VINEGAR, MUSTARD (VINEGAR, WATER, MUSTARD SEED, SALT, TURMERIC, SPICES), SEASONING (SUGAR, MUSTARD FLOUR, SPICES, DRIED GARLIC, DRIED ONION, SALT, SODIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVATIVE), SPICE.
I don’t know if what they put in the jars differs from the sauce at the restaurant (other than the sodium benzoate), but clearly if the recipe doesn’t have tomato paste and brown sugar (not molasses, then it can not be correct.
I tried all of these recipes, I don’t think any are all that close. I’ve been working on this for three months and have sampled about a gallon on sauce, and today, July 31, 2011, I think I have come up with the closest yet (according to my taste buds). I’d love to hear comments or suggestions:
Mark Socha’s recipe:
1/2 cup distilled vinegar (all other recipes use too much)
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup paproka
1/4 mustard (this is what gives it the orange color, and I believe to be the secret ingredient)
1/8 cup kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup lard
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cummin
Cook over medium heat, bring to a boil, let cool.
This recipe is so close it’s not even funny. I read everyone’s suggestions on ingredients. Someone said Arthur Bryant once bragged that his sauce was not tomato based. But the bottle says it has tomato paste. And lard.
But, the sauce has changed over the past 30 years. When I first tried it, it was not thick, but runny, and if you got some under your fingernails, you couldn’t wash it off, it had to wear off. Back then it was a lot more orange in color. It was a lot spicier in 1980. But for the most part, except for the texture, it has stayed mostly the same. My recipe is similar to the old, original.
I’d love to hear comments.
Great job, I feel like I’m back in KC. Is there anyway to get it a little thicker?
To get this thicker, try 1 cup of water rather than 1.5 cups, or a little tomato past
Mark! I just tried this recipe with a few little tweaks but it was PERFECT!
I added 2 teas. Of tomato paste a tablespoon of brown sugar, and a teas. Of chayenne ( like things on the hotter side) I did a cup of water instead of 1.5
All I all It was thick and beautiful and exactly like AB’s
I think I’ll be making it for a long time! Thank you!
Thanks. My daughter makes her own cloths (shirts, dresses, etc). It costs more for her to do that, plus the time, than it would to go out and buy the cloths. She asked me the other day, why don’t you just go out and buy the sauce. I asked her why she doesn’t go out and buy her cloths.
End of conversation.
Why do I think that I am tasting tumeric, which I love, by the way…?
I do believe we have a close recipe here. I first posted in 2007. And getting rid of the exotic rice and balsami vinegars is a great start. People ask why we just don’t go buy it…..well they just don’t understand that for some people, they have an innate desire to duplicate a good recipe. It’s sort of all about the challenge, I think. Having a son who lives in KC, I always have a bottle. They are given to me at various Christmas and birthdays, but it’s still fun to try to come up with a close recipe. But believe me, knowing the origins of Arthur Bryant at 17th and Brooklyn in Kansas City…..it was a pretty simple recipe. It may have changed some through the years but it’s still the best I’ve ever had. However, everyone has different tastes.
Bill Smith