River Run BBQ Sauce

I have a long and complicated history with Vermont. Most of it is good complicated. Not all of it, but enough. Part of it goes way back, before my time. I have a deep and abiding relationship with New England. My parents both grew up in Maine, and both have families that have been there awhile--my mother's family dates back to the 1600's and my father's the early 1700's. So it is not foreign territory. But when I started going to central Vermont I was in college, and it was in the context of my relationship with my then significant other, now husband. It has been one of the few constants in our life together, a place that we have shared since the beginning of our time as a couple--so that added to the complexity. Over the past 30 years, we have been raising our kids with what will probably be an equally complicated relationship with Vermont, but a perennially favorite spot for us all is Plainfield, Vermont.

One of the many things we have brought home from Plainfield is the BBQ sauce from River Run:
3 cups ketchup
1 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/4 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped (1/4 cup)
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup light brown sugar
Mix all ingredients together in a heavy-bottomed pot and stir until well combined. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to avoid burning the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 1 1/2 hours, stirring every once in a while. Cool, bottle, refridgerate. Delicious. Keeps forever.
Makes 4 cups.