Jim has chersihed this reicpie fron the UK Department of Agriculture and hopes you will enjoy trying it the next time you grill out!
Kentucky Traditional Semi-Hot Barbecue Sauce
This is a semi-hot basting sauce for barbecuing chicken that has enjoyed wide popularity in Kentucky for many decades. Across the state, groups barbecuing chicken for community cookouts, festivals, picnics, and reunions favor this recipe over any other. I first enjoyed this sauce on chicken barbecued at a Kiwanis community picnic on a Fourth of July in Breathitt County, Kentucky.
John W. Tuttle recommended this and a few other recipes for chicken in a 1955 circular he authored for the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, titled "Delicious Kentucky Barbecued Chicken" (Circular 535). According to family members, the basic recipe originated with Mr.Tuttle’s great-aunt in Pulaski County, Kentucky. He “tinkered with it” a good deal, ultimately creating his own recipe. In the circular, the recipe is titled “Kentucky Barbecue Sauce”, but some favor the more descriptive name, which has been around for a while now.
Ingredients for this sauce are given in a quantity for 3 or 4 chickens.
2½ c water ¼ c cider vinegar 1 t powdered mustard
I T sugar 2½ t salt 2 t chili powder
2½ t black pepper ½ t Tabasco Sauce 2 T Worcestershire Sauce
2 T butter ¼ onion chopped 1 clove garlic, crushed
Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a rolling boil to mix, and allow the mixture to stand overnight so the flavors may blend. This is called a semi-hot sauce because it’s not actually hot. However, it may be made hot by adding more Tabasco sauce or cayenne pepper.
I like the chicken cut into small pieces, but quartered is fine. After the fire has burned down to a bed of coals, place the chicken on the grill, skin side up. This seals the cut side so that the natural juices won’t escape. Cook as far from the hot coals as possible. Mr. Tuttle liked to cook chicken eighteen inches from the coals for 1¼ to 2 hours, depending on the size of the chicken and hotness of the fire.
The cut-up chicken can be marinated in the sauce for some time before cooking, and that would be a good start. But most cooks know that consistent, frequent basting is necessary for this thin sauce. The sauce must be kept warm and vert well mixed during basting. Baste just before turning the chicken–about every 5 to 10 minutes, and turn the chicken frequently. For truly wonderful chicken, baste the pieces repeatedly during the entire barbecuing period, particularly the last 30 minutes. If you cook the chicken very slowly and baste religiously (i.e. more than you’ve ever basted in your life), you’ll be richly rewarded!
Try to resist changing anything about this sacred recipe until you’ve tried it. I began enjoying it in 1973 and have been spreading the word ever since. Perhaps you, too, will pass it on.
Recipe and directions from circular 535A. Comments are mine. Jim Deaton, Lexington, Ky. September, 1988.
Marilyn, Owner & Chef