I’m vegetarian. BBQ sauce might seem irrelevant to me. It’s like the time my grandpa snatched the bottle of A-1 off the table (I was putting it on a baked potato). When I reassured him that it was okay, it was vegetarian, his reply was this: “I don’t care! It’s steak sauce! It’s just not right!” (Actually, my grandpa is a pretty sweet man, despite his aversion to vegetarians. He also told me once that he would disown me if I snuck any of that tofu stuff into his food).

Back to the sauce. Recently, I have been cooking with (and drinking!) more bourbon. It really has grown on me. So, I decided to give my go-to bbq sauce a boost. I slather this sauce on extra-firm tofu before baking it at 400 degrees. I also mix the sauce with canned pinto beans and toss them in the same oven, for some impromptu baked beans.

Make a batch. Put it on whatever you like. Enjoy!

Bourbon Maple BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup bourbon
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/8 cup blackstrap molasses
• 1/8 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon veggie worchestire
• 2 cans 15 oz. tomato sauce

Instructions:

1. Finely dice the onion.
2. Heat oil over medium heat in a medium-sized saucepan and add the onion. Cook until soft and beginning to turn a carmel color — about 10 minutes.
3. Add all the dry spices and stir. Heating spices in oil helps them “bloom” and develop more robust flavors. Cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by 1/4.
5. Taste and adjust seasonings. The nice thing about this sauce is that you really can tinker around with it, until each batch tastes just right in the moment.
6. Enjoy!