Southern Cola Barbecue Sauce-Secret Recipe Club

It is time once again to post the recipe for this month’s Secret Recipe Club.  This month I was assigned This Mama Cooks on a Diet.  Although Anne-Marie has been blogging since 2004, her blog was new to me.  Her tag line is Healthy Recipes & Lifestyle Tips for Busy Moms, and her blog is packed with just that.

I found many healthy recipes that I will be making such as Maple Roasted Vegetables, Maple-Sugar Ginger Roast Pork, Chicken, Sweet Potato and Apple Skillet and many others.  Because I planned to make some oven-barbecued, country-style pork ribs, the recipe I chose was Southern Cola Barbecue Sauce.
 
However, before we go there, I must share a great tip that Anne-Marie posted about making dips with World Harbors Marinades.  This is one of those “slap yourself upside of the head and think why didn’t I think of that” ideas.  The basic idea is to mix equal amounts of the marinade and sour cream, Greek yogurt or tofu sour cream to make a somewhat healthy dip.  I tried this with some World Harbors Maui Mountain Sweet ‘n Sour sauce that I had on hand and loved the result.  Now I know just what to do with those little bits of different sauces I seem to accumulate in my refrigerator.  I will use them to help the veggies go down.

Now on to the real recipe.  Because she is trying (as am I) to avoid high fructose corn syrup, Anne-Marie used a product called Pepsi Natural.  I looked everywhere and could not find it.  Since this recipe was posted in 2009, I suspect that Pepsi Natural didn’t “make the cut”; and like many healthy products that we say we want and then don’t buy, it was discontinued.  Since my hubby MUST have a can of Pepsi each day, we always have it on hand.  I just “bit the bullet” and used that.  The lemon and orange juice gave the sauce an underlying citrus “spark” that I really liked.

In her post Anne-Marie mentions the difficulty of finding commercial barbecue sauces without high fructose corn syrup.   Bull’s-Eye B B Q Sauce does not list high fructose corn syrup on it’s label.  This product is made by Kraft and should be nationally available.

I used one cup of the sauce to marinate the country-style pork ribs, for about 8 hours.  I baked the ribs in a 375 degree oven for about 1 1/2 hours, basting with the reserved sauce every 15 minutes.  I also turned them at that point.  I put the ribs on a broiler pan (both pieces of the pan sprayed very well with non-stick spray).  I did begin to get a little char on the pork towards the end of the cooking time.  Next time I will pour about a cup of water in the bottom of the broiler pan when I put the ribs in the oven.  I served the remaining sauce at the table to pour over the ribs.

Southern Cola Barbecue Sauce
adapted from This Mama Cooks on a Diet
1 c. Pepsi
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. orange juice
2 T. Worcestershire sauce
1 c. ketchup
2 T. dark brown sugar (I just used light)
2 T. light molasses (spray your spoon with non-stick spray for easier measuring)
1/2 t. grated lemon peel
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/2 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. onion powder
salt and pepper to taste (I didn’t use these)

Combine all ingredients.  Place about 1 cup in a plastic bag and use to marinate pork, chicken or beef several hours or overnight, turning often.  Put remaining sauce in a container and refrigerate.  Remove meat from refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking to remove the chill.  While meat is resting, pour reserved sauce in a small, heavy sauce pan.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat, and simmer about 20 minutes, stirring often, until sauce has reduced and thickened somewhat.  Remove some of the sauce to brush on meat while is baking or grilling.  Serve remaining  sauce on the side.  Any remaining sauce can be refrigerated up to 2 weeks.