Barbecue Sauce Where Did It Come From

11/12/2009 - Food and Drink No one really knows when, or where, barbecue sauce originated. Although some say Christopher Columbus brought it back from Hispanola in the late 15th century, and it's derived from barbacoa, an Aztec dish, still served in Mexico today on holidays and special occasions, the Chinese and Japanese versions of barbecue sauce predate the Aztecs, and Columbus, by centuries. Most probably, it was invented before recorded history, when our hunter-gatherer ancestors began growing snatch crops, and discovered spices. Where ever and when ever bbq sauce entered culinary history, it has become a staple condiment around the world.

To most North Americans, barbecue sauce is red and sweet, and found on the shelf next to the ketchup. In South America, it's called chimmi-churri, and it's green and chunky. In fact, barbecue sauce comes in a rainbow of colors and flavors. There's a yellow version, with a mustard base, made famous in South Carolina, introduced by German immigrants in the 18th century, in Texas you can find brown bbq sauce, a mix of Hungarian, German, and Mexican influences. In certain parts of Alabama, you can enjoy a white, mayo based sauce. In Tennessee, Jack Daniels Whiskey is a primary ingredient, and, in Louisiana, the home of Cajun cuisine, a variety of spicy peppers are included. In England and Australia, it's simply ketchup and Worcestershire sauce, in Asia, tomato paste and corn syrup are used as a base, and in India, yogurt. Some are thin marinades that soak into the meat, some are thick and gooey, used as a glaze. Around the world, some kind of barbecue sauce is used on a variety of beef, pork, lamb, venison, goat, and poultry dishes.

If you're a vegetarian, try barbecue sauce on eggplant, tofu, soy burgers, beans, potatoes, rice cakes, or brown rice. It's a good way to enhance the flavor of some rather bland vegetarian dishes, and whether you use your own recipe or buy it off the shelf at the local market, the vast majority of barbecue sauce doesn't contain meat or meat by-products.

There are so many great recipes for bbq sauce, many of them handed down from generation to generation, that it wasn't mass produced or marketed in the U. S. until the 1950s, although tobasco based Louisiana hot sauce, was available regionally in the '20s.

We may never know where barbecue sauce originated, but it seems to be a world-wide culinary
phenomenon, and, in one form or another, a tasty, welcome addition to the dinner table.