Spicy sauce

I made this today, to go with some ham that I boiled this morning.

It is more or less based on a recipe in the old Readers Digest classic, 'The Cookery Year', page 119, barbecued spare ribs.

I mixed together 4 tbsp clear honey, 3 tbsp soy sauce, some passata (about 1/2 a small carton, maybe a little less), a few drops of Lea and Perrins, a squeeze of tomato ketchup, some garlic puree, a pinch of mustard powder, some smoked paprika, salt and black pepper go easy on the salt), the juice of an orange, a little bit of the water I boiled the ham in (it wasn't too salty) and 4 tbsp white wine vinegar.

This all went into a saucepan heated to boiling and then simmered for ten minutes.  When I tasted it was a bit 'catch-in-the-back-of-the-throat-ish' so after some umming and ahing I added a splash of cola (not diet) and it transformed the sauce into something gorgeous.  We had it on slices of ham, new potatoes, cauliflower and runner beans, like a gravy.

It was so good, I thought I would share . . .


In the original recipe, one would have spare ribs cut into single ribs, roasted in a pan for about 20 mins until the juices are running.  Then pour over the sauce and cook it all, uncovered in a moderate oven until the sauce has thickened and the meat is almost falling off the bones.
That's very delicious too.