Mr. Hawthorne Uses Storebought BBQ Sauce And Rosie Makes Her Own BBQ Sauce For Her Boneless ChickenThighs. And The Hawthornes Are At Odds.

Mr. Hawthorne and I went to Harris Teeter Monday to pick up a few items. I had pulled a package of chicken thigh fillets out of my deep freeze and wanted to do a barbecue chicken. By the way, we'd bought the chicken thighs on sale (I know. Big surprise.) and they were $1.99/pound for boneless thighs. I was stunned when Mr. Hawthorne went to the pickle and ketchup aisle and started checking out Barbecue Sauces. Why? Oh why, Mr. Hawthorne? I was going to make a barbecue sauce on my own, so I didn't know why he was picking out commercial sauces. He said he wanted to "experiment." Whatever. I wanted to make my own.

My ingredients: 1 heaping TB minced garlic (about 4 cloves) 3/4 cup chopped onion (1 medium onion) 1 15 oz. can tomato sauce 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup cider vinegar 1/4 cup molasses 1/8 cup dark corn syrup 1/4 cup Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce 1 tsp ground mustard seeds 1 tsp hot paprika 2 tsp Stubb's Hickory Liquid Smoke Saute the onion and garlic in 1 TB olive oil over medium heat for about 1 minute. Turn heat to low and add in rest of ingredients. Barely simmer for about 1 hour, uncovered, occasionally scraping down sides, letting the sauce thicken and the flavors develop.

Onions and garlic in olive oil for about 1 minute over medium heat, stirring.

Tomato sauce went in.

Brown sugar.

Cider vinegar.

Molasses.

Dark corn syrup.

Lea & Perrins.

Ground mustard seeds.

Hot paprika.

Hickory Liquid Smoke.

Barely simmer over very low hear for about an hour, uncovered, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom and sides. You want to let the sauce thicken and the flavors develop. Brush the barbecue sauce over the meat during the last 15 minutes of cooking.

Before cooking his boneless chicken thighs,

Mr. Hawthorne seasoned them with salt and pepper, Cajun seasoning, and Creole seasoning. Here's the extent of Mr. Hawthorne's "experimentation." After about 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven, he poured on Jack Daniel's BBQ sauce. These went back in the oven for 15 more minutes.

Before cooking, I seasoned my thigh fillets with salt and pepper, cayenne, Old Bay seasoning, and a few drops of Texas Pete and Stubb's Hickory Liquid Smoke. After cooking the thighs for 30 minutes, I brushed on my BBQ sauce.

During the last 15 minutes of cooking, Mr. Hawthorne peeled and sliced some apples, sauteed the slices in butter, and added a bit of cinnamon and sugar.

And he sauteed some asparagus spears.

Mr. Hawthorne's BBQ (or I should say, Jack Daniel's BBQ) on the left. Rosie's on the right.

Here's my plate with both BBQ's on it. Mr. Hawthorne's chicken is top left. My chicken is top right. I thought the Jack Daniels was a good barbecue sauce, but it had a monotone flavor of hickory smoke. The hickory smoke permeated and I felt it left it a bit one-dimensional. I liked my BBQ sauce better. It had a dimension of flavors and a complexity to it, plus I liked the heat of the hot paprika and the Texas Pete and the cayenne. Mr. Hawthorne stubbornly refused to try mine since he knew the Jack Daniels was better. Silly man. You know, I could have made mine more like the Jack Daniels. I could have poured the whole bottle of Hickory Smoke into the pan.

Dixie is happy. No other puppies here and her Mama and Daddy are finally back home.

And don't ask me about the two recipe cards below. Yes I know there are two. And if I knew how to fix it, there'd only be one. So don't ask me. Damn computers.