Sauces of summer: Standout recipes for your barbecue
This summer is going to be saucy.
Searches for sauce recipes are spiking on Pinterest, where some of the top sauce searches are for classic BBQ, Cowboy Butter and Boom Boom Sauce.
"GMA" asked top pinners and celebrity chefs Marcus Samuelsson, Richard Blais and George Duran to share their favorite summer sauces.
These sauces are sure to make your soiree stand out.
Chef Richard Blais' Electric Cowboy Butter
What's better than butter? Celebrity chef Richard Blais of "Top Chef" and the Food Network fame shared his recipe for Cowboy Butter, one of the top sauces on Pinterest.
It can be used on anything from steak or anything that's grilled to seafood, corn or potatoes, Blais told "GMA."
Ingredients
2 sticks butter
1 splash soy
A drizzle of sesame oil
A pinch of cayenne or 1/2 chopped jalapeño
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped onion
2 cloves minced garlic
Juice of one lime
Dash of salt
3 shakes of black pepper
Directions:
Soften butter, fold in ingredients, chill.
Place pats of the chilled compound butter over hot grilled meats or seafood or lather on grilled corn.
Pinterest Picks
Avocado 'Bomb' Sauce
Simply Made Recipes' avocado sauce puts a saucy twist on guacamole and tops Pinterest's list for summer.
This sauce works as a dipping sauce, a creamy dressing for salad or to dress up steaks, chicken, the blog's creator Amber writes. "So easy to make, all you need is a food processor or blender. We LOVE this sauce, hence how it got its name as The 'Bomb' Sauce! Make this sauce your own by adding more lime, less cilantro."
It stays good in your fridge for around five days.
Ingredients
1 avocado
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 jalapeno
3 garlic cloves
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1/2 fresh squeezed lime
Pinch of salt
Directions
Gather ingredients, food processor, sealable container, knife and cutting board.
Wash ingredients well, especially the cilantro because it can hold in a lot of dirt. Cut lime and avocado in halves. Remove the avocado seed.
Scoop the avocado from its shell in put into the food processor. Add 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 jalapeno, 3 garlic cloves, pinch of salt and 1/2 bunch of cilantro into food processor. If you do not like heat, remove seeds of jalapeno beforehand.
Squeeze 1/2 lime into mix. Blend for three minutes.
Do a taste test. You may need to add more salt or squeeze more lime, depending on your personal taste. If you would like a thinner sauce, for a dressing possibly, add just a touch of water to thin out. Start with 1/8 cup of water but the water is not necessary.Blend another one to two minutes.
Pour into a container and eat up!
Explore more Simply Made Recipes here.
Sweet Chili Pineapple Sauce
Sweet chili pineapple sauce is another top Pinterest pick. The Flavours of Kitchen’s Subhasmita Panigrahi shared her recipe, which takes 20 minute to make and has a sweet and spicy kick.
“Once you try this simple homemade sweet chili sauce recipe, I am sure you would stop buying it from the store. Basic ingredients such as chili flakes, sugar, vinegar go into this beautiful sauce,” she writes on the blog. “The addition of pineapple gives the sauce a good kick.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 and 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup pineapple juice
1/2 cup rice vinegar or Apple cider vinegar
1 Tbsp garlic minced
1-2 Tbsp Red chili flakes (I have added 2 small dry Bird's eye chili while making flakes)
1 Tbsp Tomato Ketchup (optional)
1 teaspoon salt (more as per taste)
2 Tbsps cornstarch
4 Tbsps water cold
Directions
In a large heavy bottom pan add sugar, pineapple juice, vinegar and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil. Add chili flakes, minced garlic and ketchup. Boil on medium heat for five minutes.
Mix cornstarch and cold water. Lower the heat and stir in slowly, trying to avoid lumps.
Cook the mixture on low heat until it thickens and comes to desired sauce-like consistency. (The sauce will thicken when it cools down.)
Store cooled sauce in sterilized bottle. Refrigerate.
Explore more Flavours of Kitchen recipes here.
Marcus Samuelsson's Classic Barbecue Sauce
Chef Marcus Samuelsson of New York City’s Red Rooster swears by this barbecue recipe because you can make it up to a week ahead of time. Keep it covered in the fridge and heat before serving.
"It's great with brisket, but also try it with chicken, pork, meatballs or even grilled or roasted veggies," he writes in his cookbook "Off Duty" with the recipe.
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 red wine vinegar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 chopped chipotles in adobo
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
Pinch of cayenne
Directions:
Melt 1 Tbsp unsalted butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Add 2 minced garlic cloves and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Stir in half-cup ketchup, half-cup canned crushed tomatoes, half-cup packed light brown sugar, half-cup red wine vinegar, one-fourth cup fresh lemon juice, 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 chopped chipotles in adobo, 2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp grated fresh ginger and a pinch of cayenne.
Bring the sauce to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to about 1.5 cups, about 15-20 minutes.
Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed.
Reprinted with permission from "Off Duty" (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014).
George Duran's Guasacaca Sauce Recipe
The Food Network chef told us to "make a batch of my 'guasacaca' and tell everyone to drizzle it over everything -- meat, chicken, fish -- even vegetables and potatoes! Bask in their immediate adulation as you become a neighborhood hero."
Prep Time: 15 minutes / Stand: 1 hour / Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
2 green sweet peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped (1 1/2 cups)
2 ripe avocados, peeled and seeded
2 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch fresh parsley
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon kosher salt or 2 teaspoons table salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup olive oil
Desired grilled meat (such as skirt steak, ribs, and/or sausage)
Tostones
Put everything except the olive oil into a food processor and process until mostly smooth.
Add the olive oil in a stream with the processor running and process until smooth.
Let stand at room temperature for at least an hour for the flavors to blend. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Serve sauce at room temperature with skirt steak and tostones. Cover leftover sauce and store in the refrigerator (bring to room temperature before serving).
George Duran's Honey-Chipotle Barbecue Sauce
Makes about 2 cups.
Ingredients
1/2 cup honey
1 cup Ketchup
3 Tblsp. chipotle sauce
1/2 cup dark molasses
4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. liquid smoke
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Directions
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth, about two minutes.
