I posted a down-sized version of Julia Child’s Cranberry Relish, which I have been making since the mid-80’s, on Monday.
I have been making a version of this recipe since I was in college in the 1970’s, and giving it as gifts for almost as long.
It is sweet and tangy, and can be a bit zippy, depending on those last two cups of ketchup; but this time, even though it really is pretty much wonderful just as it is, I am using it as a piece of a new sauce…
Holidaze Barbecue Sauce; which I will post about tomorrow.
INGREDIENTS
•2 (50.5 oz) jars ketchup
•1 bottle 78 spicy ketchup (2 cups)
•3 cups brown sugar
•2 cups cider vinegar
•3 tbsp Colman’s dry mustard
•4 tsp garlic powder
•4 tsp onion powder
•2 tsp dried shallots
•1 crushed red pepper
•1 tsp Seasoned Salt
•1 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1/2 tsp paprika
•1/2 tsp black pepper
•1/2 tsp curry powder
•1/2 tsp Cayenne
•1/2 tsp turmeric
•1/4 cup lemon juice
•1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
•2 tbsp Cajun Power Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce – or your fave hot sauce, to taste
•1/4 cup Sherry Peppers Sauce*
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Note: if you want a less zippy sauce, use two cups of regular ketchup in place of the 78 Spicy ketchup.
Neat trick: once you’ve emptied your ketchup bottles into your six quart slow cooker (best method) or big, heavy bottomed pot; pour a bit of the measured vinegar into each ketchup bottle, close the cap, and shake to get any leftover ketchup bits out of the bottle. Then pour that into your pot.
Stir all of the ingredients together in your slow cooker until pretty well blended, the brown sugar won’t be totally absorbed yet, then cover and cook on low for nine or ten hours – I usually toss everything together at night, give it a couple of stirs, and then let it cook overnight.
Next, increase the temperature setting to high and cook for another six or seven hours stirring every now and then, until the sauce is a deep maroon red.
Transfer to prepared canning jars and process in boiling water for 15 minutes, if using 12 ounce or pin jars, or 25 minutes, if using quart jars.
For this batch, because it was just a step in the process, I ended up with three quarts, one 24 ounce jar, one 12 ounce jar, and one half-pint jar.
If I was making this as a regular batch of sauce, I would get about eleven 12 ounce jars (the most convenient size for using and for giving, I have found) and one half-pint jar.
Note: if you don’t want to use a slow cooker, you can make this in about two hours in a large, heavy bottomed pot, but you will have to stir that sucker every five minutes or so to keep it from burning on the bottom.