Victorian BBQ Sauce

I’ve said before that I don’t really like to cook, but I forget how much I enjoy canning. I think it has something to do with the fact that cooking and cleaning lack permanence. The husband can pour a concrete foundation without worrying that someone will come along and dismantle it an hour later. I prepare a meal and it’s gone within minutes of him sitting down to dinner. Canned food gets eaten eventually, as well, but at least for a while, I get to admire the fruits of my labor lined up neatly on the pantry shelves.

I made a triple batch of Victorian BBQ sauce yesterday. I started out by raiding our neighbor Mike’s rhubarb patch. I used to have a really nice rhubarb plant that produced abundantly, but it died of some black fungal infection. I put in two other rhubarb plants (in a different location). One of them tends to bolt and go to seed immediately and then do nothing for the rest of the season. Cutting off the seedy stalks doesn’t seem to help. The other one, right next to it, grows anemically. Both get a large helping of chicken manure every year. I put in a third plant on the other side of the garden. It’s growing well, so I have hopes for a reliable future supply. It should not be this hard to grow rhubarb.

Mike’s rhubarb plant needed some thinning and he told me to take what I wanted. My friend Marcie also has a huge rhubarb patch, so I got some from her, too. After running town town for an appointment and errands, I spent the afternoon chopping up rhubarb, onions, and raisins and cooking them into a lovely sauce.

I’ll pour a jar of this over a pork roast and let it cook all day in the crockpot. This is also supposed to be good on chicken. I ended up with 11 pints—enough for us and some to share.

One side benefit of canning is that my kitchen tends to be extra clean during canning season because I am constantly wiping everything down.

I discovered that Monday morning is a great time to go shopping. All the stores were empty, including Costco. I avoid town on the weekends if I can, but even weekdays during the summer can be nuts during tourist season. However, it makes sense that we would have fewer tourists earlier in the week.

It’s supposed to be much cooler today than yesterday. I might get a few tasks done in the garden, but I’ve also got to spend some time today getting ready for the serger class.