According to Lisa Fain, author of The Homesick Texan Cookbook, there's a long and celebrated tradition of cooking with soda in Texas, in sweets like cake and brittles but also in more unexpected places, like these Dr Pepper Ribs. More

You can call cherry a "secret" ingredient to this barbecue sauce. It adds a deep fruitiness that gets well embedded in the sauce. It's noticeable, yet a little hard to discern at the same time. The cherries are paired with ancho chili powder, which gives an earthy spice, along with the very distinctive white pepper. More

This isn't a sauce you'd baste on grilled chicken, but rather, as the name implies, it's used as a dip or topping. Tasted alone, it's harsh with a strong bite of vinegar and a heat that starts to border on excessive. Introduce it to pile of pulled pork though, and it's a match made in barbecue heaven. More

This "Memphis-style" is my favorite to make at home—it takes the aspects of sweet tomato-based sauces I grew up on, but by dialing back the sugar and amping up the vinegar, creates a sauce where seasonings and spice are more defined and achieves a pleasing balance between the main defining aspects of a barbecue sauce. More

Winter is a call for us to beef up the heartiness of just about everything. Though I'm not normally a huge fan of stout beers, when the frigid cold has set in, there's something appealing to drinking what feels like a meal in a bottle. I wanted to take that appropriate seasonal heaviness and apply it to a barbecue sauce. So I married the two to create a stout barbecue sauce. More

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Note: Philadelphia food writers Joy Manning and Tara Mataraza Desmond drop by each week with Meat Lite, which celebrates meat in moderation. Meat Lite was inspired by their book, Almost Meatless. If you doubt the merits of a stand-alone recipe... More