Balsamic BBQ Sauce

This has been my go-to BBQ sauce for over ten years. It was the first restaurant recipe I learned to make, featured on the menu at my all-time favorite restaurant, Animal. They served it in a more rustic style, but I started blending it smooth about five years ago and haven't looked back since. The balsamic component gives this sauce a rich, sweet flavor. It pairs wonderfully with BBQ, and I must emphasize how incredible it is on meatloaf. I discovered the recipe in the cookbook that ignited my culinary passion, "Two Dudes One Pan" by Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo of Animal. This cookbook emphasizes creating big flavors in a small kitchen and under time constraints. By the way, if your cookbook doesn't have spots on its pages like mine, it's not worth keeping.

Ingredients

1 cup ketchup

1 12-ounce bottle lager-style

beer (1/2 cups).

1 cup balsamic vinegar

1 red onion, diced

1 garlic clove, very finely

chopped

1 cup packed light brown

sugar

3 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons grainy

mustard

1 to 2 teaspoons Tabasco

teaspoon Worcestershire

sauce

⅛ Cup water.

Directions

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and whisk them together. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer until it thickens, which takes about half an hour. I typically place the pot on the smallest burner and sometimes position it so that the burner heats only one corner of the pot. As recommended in the cookbook, I like to partially cover the pot with a lid and let it slowly simmer for 3-4 hours..