Just What Dr. Bubba Ordered

It’s no secret that I love Dr. Pepper. I would even go so far as to call myself a complete soda aficionado. I like to think that as an adult I don’t drink as much soda as I did when I was a child but what can I say? It’s in my blood. No seriously. It’s in my blood. That’s right. My blood is carbonated. Haha. No, just kidding. If that was true then I’d be dead and this would really be a cool blog, then. Besides, my body heat would diffuse the bubbles before they hit the bloodstream.

But seriously, folks. Soda is another family culinary icon at our house. Remember George Bailey, that loveable banker who had many friends and helped many under-privileged people finance homes in Bailey Estates? His friends all called him Jimmy Stewart. (Papa Dollar, meet Mama Dollar. Wouldn’t that be nice if it were true?) In the movie, George worked the ice cream counter in front of a pharmacy. That was my grandfather and his brothers. They grew up working the counter, cooking the hamburgers and mixing the sodas by hand.

Growing up, every Saturday was Hamburger day. You could tell my grandfather still had the skills from his days at the pharmacy. Of course. there were always potato chips, Jell-O, salad, ice cream and, of course, two large ice chests full of soda. If memory serves me right, (it never does) I would eat two hamburgers, a handful of chips, lots of Jell-O and at least 4 cans of soda.

There’s not a whole lot that can’t be done with soda. I once took a pear, peeled it, cored it, cut it in half and soaked it overnight in a bowl of Sprite with a few drops of mint extract and green food coloring. The next day I let the pears drain and dipped them in some chocolate sauce. Once the chocolate set, I topped it with a scoop of mint-chocolate chip ice cream. Mmm.

One of the best examples of cooking with soda, however comes from none other than the Maestro, herself - Julia Child. I read somewhere (there’s that reliable memory again) that, while filming an episode of her famous, and very live, show, she did something that simply showed her coolness under pressure. They had gone to a commercial break, and one of the stage hands had gone onto the set to talk to Julia, taking with him his can of Pepsi. Towards the end of the break, the stage hand left, but forgot and left his Pepsi on the counter, in full view of the cameras. It wasn’t noticed until Julia was back on the air. She simply picked up the can and said, “Sometimes I like to add some Pepsi to the sauce and give it a nice sweetness,.” Or something like that. (And memory strikes out again. Rumor has it that if he doesn’t find his groove, Whitey’s gonna send him down to Triple-A).

Anyway, so imagine my joy when I discovered that someone, somewhere thinks like me. (wonder if she’s cute?) I saw an ad for Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce. I just had to have some. Unfortunately, this being Utah, I couldn’t find it anywhere. I even tried the Jell-O aisle. Then I thought, what am I doing? I’m a chef! I felt like Hermione Granger wondering how she’s going to light a fire when she doesn’t have a match. Like Ron told her, “Are you, or are you not, a WITCH!” Well, no. I’m not. I’d be a wizard. But you get my point.

So I experimented at least 3 times. Nothing. Just horrible messes. I finally gave in to what I knew was the problem. Ketchup. I can’t stand ketchup. I do everything I can to stay away from it. There’s so many different kinds of sauces and condiments out in the world, why waste good food on ketchup? But I was not having success with my Dr. Pepper BBQ sauce. I gave in. I had no choice. Plain tomato sauce just wasn’t cutting it. And wouldn’t you know it, ketchup saved the day. Well, saved the sauce anyway.

But I wasn’t quite satisfied. I had nothing to compare against my sauce. But I have such wonderful friends! One friend sent me a message saying she had seen the sauce at a particular supermarket. So there I went, and there it was in all its Dr. Pepper glory. (They also had A&W!) I bought a bottle and some country ribs. I get home and got cooking. I seasoned the ribs and got them nice and brown. I poured in a can of beef stock, covered and turned the heat to low. They’re simmering for an hour. Nice and tender. I dish it all up with potatoes and coleslaw, badda bing, badda boom, badda BBQ. I give everyone a sample of both mine and the bottled sauces. (Well, my brother doesn’t count really. He’ll eat anything…really) The consensus? No comparison. My sauce was best. Not that my sauce was spectacular or anything like that. It’s just that the bottled stuff wasn’t that good. It was too thick and too full of preservatives among other things.

So, here it is:

One 20 oz bottle Dr. Pepper (the new Cherry Dr. Pepper would work or even A&W)
½ C lemon juice
1 C ketchup
1 tsp fresh minced garlic
2 T dry chopped onions
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
¼ tsp Tabasco sauce
1 tsp dry basil
3 T Worcestershire sauce
2 T steak sauce (like A-1)
½ tsp liquid smoke

Combine everything together in a sauce pan. Slowly bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat and let simmer for 30 minutes. If you like the sauce a little thicker you can add some corn starch mixed with a little water.