Put A Bite Into BBQ Flavor Using This Popular Cocktail Ingredient

Life is about balance, and in few aspects of life is this more true than food. We're lucky enough to experience not just one type of taste, but five distinct varieties: salty, sweet, umami, sour, and bitter. None of them are all that satisfying by themselves, however. When you combine these different sensory components of taste, that's when delicious happens. Angostura bitters, long the powerhouse ingredient in innumerable cocktails, adds this balance to BBQ dishes. Having a potent ingredient up your sleeve to contrast, complement, or cut through other flavors can be a powerful tool when experimenting with food. Barbecue is often sweet, salty, tangy, and umami, so being able to add a slash of bitter flavor can elevate sauces, marinades, and rubs to the next level. 

Bitters were originally developed as a medicinal, alcohol-based tincture, as was Angostura bitters which was created in 1824 by Dr. Johann Siegert, a German doctor living in Angostura, Venezuela. Since the family business moved production of the tincture to Trinidad in 1875, the product has cemented itself in not just cocktails, but Trinidadian cooking to this day. Taking a leaf out of the Trinidadian cookbook, you can use Angostura bitters in more than just cocktails, instead harnessing its taste to balance sweetness, counter acidity, add punchy flavor, and create depth in many barbecue dishes. Angostura bitters is pungent and intensely bitter-sweet with a concentrated baking spice, root, herb, and fruit rind flavor. These flavors are all delicious with fatty barbecue meats, and a little goes a long way in adding warmth and complexity.

Adding a bit of concentrated spice, herb, and bitter flavor to BBQ is not a novel idea, and many home pitmasters have been doing so for a long time already with common ingredients like Worcestershire sauce. There are a few ways to integrate Angostura bitters into your cooking to get the most out of it. You can use it to elevate homemade barbecue sauce by adding one to two tablespoons to the onion and garlic base as it sautés for a more mellowed and integrated flavor. Or, simply add it to the finished product for a punchier result (this also works with pre-made grocery brand BBQ sauce).

You can also add Angostura bitters to your BBQ in a few other ways. Add a few tablespoons to your pulled pork sauce, or toss a couple of teaspoons into the mixing bowl when you make burger patties. Even light meats like chicken can work with bitters, just by whisking a few teaspoons into soy-based marinades.

Aside from adding bitters to the cooking phase, you can even spruce up simple condiments like ketchup or mustard by mixing a few dashes into the sauce directly to lend an extra pop of flavor. Sweet sauces in particular can be an enjoyable matchup to Angostura bitters, meaning that hot honey and maple drizzles are other delicious options. As in cocktails, bitters are also effective for balancing acidity, meaning you can add Angostura to vinaigrettes, balsamic glazes, or salad dressings.