How to Make Barbecue Sauces

Sauce is barbecue’s lifeblood. This statement might be disputed by a few ornery Texans (who would argue that the essence of true barbecue is long, slow cooking and wood smoke). For the rest of the world it simply isn’t barbecue without the sauce. But what sauce? Sauces vary from region to region, stirring strong emotions when local traditions are violated. In the United States alone there are more than 700 commercial barbecue sauces, and I’ve sampled hundreds more abroad. So, picking a few sauces to include here was a bit like naming the ten best rock songs of the century. Entertaining, but all but impossible.