Smoky BBQ Sauce & Pulled Pork Sammich

I ran out of BBQ sauce before my latest batch of pulled pork was done. What's a girl to do? Make her own. Or in this case, be incredibly manly, and also make his own. So, that's what I did. And it turned out pretty well.

I started by hydrating some smoked medium hot chilis I picked up in Kensington market a couple weeks ago by soaking them in in half cider vinegar and half late autumn riesling (sweet white wine) for 2 hours. I forget what the peppers are called. Morenos maybe? Maybe not. Anyways, I chopped them up in my food processor and started them on the stove with the other ingredients.

I used Barbados style molasses rather than your regular fancy old fashioned kind. It is significantly runnier and I added water to give it a smoother consistency. The sauce was already quite strong, so a more flavourful liquid isn't needed. It was a bit chunky, so I used an immersion blender to make it as smooth as possible (still has a few small chunks). I imagine a bit more water would have evened it out a bit, but I don't mind a chunkier sauce. It turned out quite spicy, smoky, dark in colour, mildly sweet, more acidic, and generally packed with flavour. No ketchup or liquid smoke needed.

With my first BBQ sauce made, it was time to test it out. What better than on a pulled pork sammich? I loaded up a whole wheat Italian roll with a healthy slathering of sauce, old cheddar, cucumber, tomato, spinach and, of course, pulled pork (sauteed). I'm salivating just thinking about it. Sooooooo good! This is making a victory lap for lunch tomorrow.