Speechless BBQ Sauce

Shermaine Lei Ray

Boom! Boom! Boom! July 4th reminds me of fireworks and my family's traditional barbeque. It is actually a new tradition in the family; we started cooking out on July 4th as a whole family six years ago. Each year, we all ride down to Charlotte, NC, and just have a good time. Everyone brings whatever they feel is needed and what they think would contribute to the barbeque. In these past six years, July 4th has been a holiday that I always look forward to because I'm able to see cousins, aunts, and uncles that I have not seen in a while.

On my father's side of the family, the brothers usually have a lot of competitions, ranging from all types of physical activities such as potato sack races to numerous hours of playing horse shoe. While all of this goes on, my aunts will be sitting just gossiping and talking about whatever comes to mind.

The only person out of sight is my dad, carefully watching over the grill as if it would run away if he took one eye off of it. Once the food is ready, he yells, "IT'S READY! COME AND GET IT!" Everything suddenly stops, and we go eat.

The first time we had the cookout, after grace was said, my dad walked in with a huge pot of barbeque sauce labeled "Speechless." He announced that it would leave everyone speechless about how great it was. Just as he said, everyone was speechless. All we saw and heard was each and every person licking and sucking on their fingers to get the last drop of their barbeque sauce.

I never knew what the recipe was and neither did anyone else. My uncles would nag and bug him for the recipe and even threaten to reveal some unwanted childhood secrets. He wouldn't even tell the first ingredient.

This secrecy eventually ended last year (2007) when he finally told me what's in the barbeque sauce: white vinegar, cider vinegar, red pepper flakes, Worcestershire sauce, and Tabasco sauce. It is one of the best barbeque sauces I've ever tasted, and I intend on helping him cook it this July 4th.