BBQ Sauce for Gift Giving or Keeping

Last weekend.....I think I mentioned....we had our neighbourhood pot luck BBQ and I brought over slow cooker BBQ brisket.  It is so easy I am embarrassed to tell you just how easy...it certainly does not warrant a recipe.  Take (1) 4 lb brisket and toss it in the slow cooker.  Pour over a half bottle of your favourite BBQ sauce and let it cook for 8 hours on low heat.  (I let mine cook over night while we were sleeping....I'm so lazy) Remove the cooked brisket and shred the meat.  Clean out the slow cooker and pitch out the liquid....there will be a lot of fat released from the cooking and you probably would like to get rid of that....I know I would.  Toss the shredded meat back into the slow cooker along with the remaining half bottle of your favourite BBQ sauce and let sit in the slow cooker on low or a keep warm setting if you have it.  You can add more BBQ sauce if you like it to be more saucy.  Serve on a split roll with coleslaw.  YUM.

Now this is the BBQ sauce we used.  I have made it in larger batches and canned it along with a few other different flavours to give away for Christmas gifts.  It's a nice gift for someone that you know who likes to grill!  The year we did this for gifts, DH made little wooden crates to hold a row of the four different flavours we made and we printed labels for the tops of each jar with the names of the flavours on it.  This time I just poured the batch into a recycled BBQ sauce bottle and threw it in the fridge.  Oh, and we added a 'saucy' little label....just for kicks.

 Smokey BBQ Sauce 
(Adapted from a copy cat recipe found on the internet many years ago)

1 cup ketchup
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp liquid smoke
Add all ingredients to a pot except the liquid smoke.  Bring to bubble and lower heat to simmer for 30 - 40 minutes to thicken the sauce.  If it become to thick, you can thin is out with a splash of red wine vinegar. Once it has been cooked down, stir in the liquid smoke.   Seal while hot in canning jars with the boiling water batch method to keep for long periods or for gift giving......or keep bottled in fridge for immediate use.