The Hungry Canary

Adapted from Ideals Family Cookbook · Beatrice Branch

Barbecue Sauce

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Ingredients

  • 1 pint (2 cups) cider vinegar
  • ½ cup salt (original amount; extremely salty, use sparingly)
  • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp celery seed
  • 1 Tbsp red pepper (type unspecified)
  • 2 Tbsp black pepper
  • Unstrained juice and pulp of 4 lemons
  • About 1 cup grated fennel bulb (replaces 1 large grated onion; approximate)

Directions

  1. Combine the cider vinegar, salt, sugar, celery seed, red pepper, black pepper, lemon juice and pulp, and grated fennel in a saucepan.
  2. Stir and bring just to a boil. Remove from heat immediately; do not cook down.
  3. Allow to cool promptly, transfer to a clean covered jar or food-safe container and refrigerate.
  4. Let the sauce develop its flavor for at least one week in the refrigerator, shaking occasionally. Brush onto meat or poultry as it cooks, using a clean brush and separate portion to prevent cross-contamination.

Cookbook source

“Barbecue Sauce,” contributed by Beatrice Branch to the Ideals Family Cookbook. Beatrice describes it as suitable for any meat or fowl and applied with a pastry brush during cooking. The original uses 1 pint cider vinegar, ½ cup salt, 1¼ cups sugar, 1 teaspoon celery seed, 1 tablespoon red pepper, 2 tablespoons black pepper, juice and pulp of four lemons and one large grated onion. She brings the ingredients just to a boil, cools them and stores them in a covered quart jar for a week, shaking occasionally. The original states refrigeration is unnecessary and that the sauce keeps on a pantry shelf.

Hungry Canary substitutions

Onion: Replace one large grated onion with approximately one cup finely grated fennel bulb, adjusting for the bulb size. Red pepper: The original does not specify whether this means crushed or ground red pepper; choose a suitable type for readers who tolerate it. Salt: One-half cup is indeed the printed quantity, which makes this an intensely salted basting sauce; do not treat it as a ready-to-pour table sauce without tasting and testing.

Historical storage versus modern preparation

The original explicitly claims room-temperature pantry storage in a closed jar after brief boiling. That historical instruction is preserved here as documentation, but it is not a validated shelf-stable canning procedure. Because the adapted sauce contains fresh fennel and lemon pulp, refrigerate it and do not rely on pantry storage. A shelf-stable adaptation would need a separately tested formulation and preserving process. Use clean utensils and do not return a brush that has touched raw meat to the storage jar.