Carolina BBQ sauce

[johngalt]

I see a lot of recommendations for ketchup. I did see a lot of recipes had a 1 to 1 ratio with the vinegar, I was wondering if that was too much.

Some recipes implied that adding ketchup was committing some sort of sacrilege.

Next time I'll add ketchup and remove the cayenne pepper.

 

[johngalt]

Instead of cayenne used smoked cumin. Trust me on this. No need for ketchup, use whole peeled tomatoes instead. YMMV.

I was thinking about canned tomato sauce or paste instead of ketchup. Cumin could be good, it adds some flavor, where cayenne just adds heat.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

The advantage of ketchup is you get tomato and sugar with one pour.
If I'm in a hurry, I use it.
So how do you offset sweet?
Sour of course. Vinegar.
Otherwise I prefer brown sugar and tomato paste.
And I use a bunch of cayenne pepper.
The style I've morphed to over the eons is a Texas Sweet and Sour Type.
And mine is pretty spicy!