Guiding principals: tangy, sweet, spicy, smokey, complex. Great on everything, but made for the ribs.

Ingredients:
(2) 46 oz cans tomato juice (only salt added) OR fresh tomatoes: see notes below
1-1/2 cup white vinegar
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp sweet hungarian paprika or better yet, smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground chipoltle pepper
2 tsp salt
2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
12 cloves garlic, smashed (see this video for easy peeling)
1 Tbs liquid smoke (see note below)
1-1/2 cups honey
and maybe 1 tablespoon Tabasco Hot sauce (the original red only)

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients, except for honey, liquid smoke and Tabasco in a large pot.
2. Simmer for hours and hours until very thick, stirring occasionally, more so as it thickens.
3. Add honey and simmer another 30 minutes, stirring more frequently to prevent burning.
4. Remove bay leaves.
5. Taste and add Tobasco Hot sauce if you see fit.
6. Add liquid smoke.
7. Transfer to a blender and puree well.

Yields about 3 pints

Notes:
To substitute fresh tomatoes for canned juice, use six pounds, cored and skinned. See the videos below.
The initial simmering will take 6-8 hours.
Halving the recipe will halve your simmer time.
Adding the liquid smoke in the beginning can greatly diminish it’s flavor so it’s better to add it at the end when the simmering is done.

Regarding liquid smoke: I use Wright’s Hickory or Mesquite Liquid Smoke. The labels list no illegal ingredients. I emailed the company to be sure and they confirmed the legality. Find the exchange below.

My inquiry:

I am on an extremely strict diet that does not allow me to have any forms
of refined sugars, gums or starches.

Do either your hickory or mesquite liquid smoke products contain any forms
or refined sugar, gum or starch?

Thank your for your help.

Sincerely,
Paul Stocker

Their reply:

Dear Mr. Stocker,

Wright’s Liquid Smoke is a natural product that gives foods a charcoal broiled taste.

It is made from hickory wood that is burned in an enclosed unit.
As the smoke rises it is captured in a condenser, allowing the smoke to cool.
The cooled smoke forms water droplets (condensation).
The condensation droplets are collected in a pan, filtered and placed in 55 gallon drums.  The drums are taken to the production filling location where it is filtered for a second time and transferred to the filling line.
The bottles are filled, capped and labeled.  They are then placed into shipping cases ready for distribution.

It contains no salt, carbohydrates, sugars, gum, starches, food additives, colorings or carcinogens. It is designated “natural” by the FDA.

—

Some other liquid smoke brands do contain illegals so read carefully.

Here’s an article on Slashfood about liquid smoke.

In the interest of full disclosure it should be noted that the gold standard for investigating a processed food as set forth by Elaine Gottschall is to get a physical letter from the company on official letterhead with a person’s title and signature. By this measure, my investigation fails as I conducted it by email. Given this specific product and that most communication now takes place electronically, I am personally comfortable with the validity of the email exchange. You will have to decide for yourself where your comfort lies.

If you want to omit the liquid smoke, but keep the smoke flavor, two options come to mind:

• Increase the smoked paprika
• Smoke some onions or other vegetable on your grill and use them in the sauce (Thanks to Marilyn on the BTVC-SCD group for this suggestion).

Video:
How to smash garlic.

This short video shows you how to remove the skins from tomatoes.

Making ketchup from scratch. Same method, slightly different ingredients.

For more of my videos, including higher quality versions, visit my YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/eatingSCD

Ingredients:
1 lb raw almonds
1 large egg white + a pinch of salt
2 tsp salt
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp homemade garlic powder
1/8 tsp chipotle powder
1/16 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 300°.
2. Dry roast almonds for 10 – 15 minutes or until their jackets start to split.
3. Allow almonds to cool completely.

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 300°.
2. Whisk egg white with a pinch of salt till stiff peaks form.
3. Add salt, paprika, garlic powder, chipotle and cinnamon and whisk to combined.
4. Fold in almonds and toss till well coated.
5. Line a large pan with parchment paper and spread coated almonds one layer thick.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. When nuts are completely cool, store in an airtight container.

Keeps for months.

Yield: one pound.