Grandpa Joe's Italian Kitchen
  • Home
  • Blogs
  • Recipes
  • Vegetarian Recipes
  • Blog History
  • About
Grandpa Joe's favorite
Texas Barbecue Sauce

The is the original recipe for the barbecue sauce served at
Sonny Bryan's in Dallas, Texas.

About this recipe

We lived in Dallas for two years, just long enough to become indoctrinated into the world of Texas barbecue.  Thirty years ago, one of the more popular places to enjoy Texas BBQ was Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse.  I'm told it still is.  In the early 80s, their recipe for BBQ sauce was published in one of the Dallas papers.  It's been in my collection and my "go to" barbecue sauce ever since.

Ingredients

  • 5 parts catchup
  • 2 parts Worcestershire sauce
  • 2 parts whole lemon, peel and pith removed
  • 2 parts onion, coarsely chopped
  • 2 parts water
  • ¼ part brown sugar
  • ½ part meat drippings (if available)

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a boil, cover, and let simmer for thirty minutes.
  2. Strain to remove bits of lemon and onion.
Picture
Texas Barbecue Sauce over a Barbecued Country Pork Rib sandwich (made with fresh Ciabatta) and fries.

Notes

  • I frequently add a sliced jalapeno pepper to give the sauce some extra spice.

Posted: April 2014; picture added: April 2015.