The "Soss" History

As a country doctor back in the Sticks, I looked after one of the town's old barbecue cooks once when he got real sickly. He was a might grateful for what I did and one day, when I went by his little store to buy a ham, he up and asked me if I wanted the recipe for his top secret barbecue "soss." Well, I’d a been a fool not to jump at that prospect since half the county would have given their first born for a chance like that.

He walked me back into his little office, pulled the blinds and in a hushed-up voice said: "I'm gonna give you this recipe Doc, but you gotta promise you’ll never give it to anyone else till I'm gone." Then he quickly added: "'Ceptin your wife" and with a laugh, poked me with his elbow. I nodded with all the sincerity and appreciation I could assemble for the occasion so he sat down and wrote it out for me...and I still got it!

And through the last forty years or so, my wife and I have made up about a jillion batches of that "soss" and passed it out to all our friends who always asked for the recipe but understood why we couldn't just give it to them. But now the old Cook is gone and since my wife and I are getting on, we decided to have it made up for us so lots of people can enjoy it.

It's entirely different from the rows and rows of sauces that you can find in the stores. They're almost all made with tomatoes !! but this soss has NO tomatoes in it so it will not burn and leave a black crust on your food when you're doing serious grillin'. It's not "sugared up" either with molasses and the like but is surely tangy and spicy and makes meat, chicken and fish sit up and take notice. Try it on some barbecued pork ribs just to get the feel.

We hope y'all enjoy it and let us know how it's going.

Ole Doc Jack