Barbecue sauce adds a tasty tang to barbecued meat. Barbecue sauce comes in a variety of flavors and textures, thick, thin, spicy, smoky, sweet - the list goes on. Delicious versions of barbecue sauce are readily available at the supermarket or can be mixed up at home by barbecue loving cooks. Barbecue sauce can be used with many different types and cuts of meat and poultry.

Ribs, chicken breasts, steak, hamburger and pork chops are just some of the types of meat that taste great when slathered with barbecue sauce.

American barbecue sauces are generally built on three bases: tomatoes, mustard or vinegar. However, most of the favorite barbecue sauce brands in the country are tomato based. In fact, the first brand of commercial barbecue sauce sold nationwide, launched in the 1950s, was tomato based.

Most of the barbecue sauce we find at the supermarket is tomato based. Tomato based barbecue sauce should not be used until the barbecuing is almost finished. Tomatoes contain natural sugars, and the heat from the fire will cause the sugar in the sweet barbecue sauce to caramelize and burn the meat, ruining the taste.

Mustard based barbecue sauce makes a great complement for pork. The mustard flavor is lessened when the barbecue sauce is cooked, so the flavor of the sauce does not overwhelm the meat. Unlike the tomato based version, mustard based barbecue sauce can be applied to the meat during or even before the barbecuing.

Vinegar based barbecue sauce is quite popular in North Carolina. Like mustard based sauce, the vinegar based barbecue sauce can be used on the meat at any time during the barbecuing. Herbs, spices and other ingredients are added to the vinegar base.

The exact combination is often a cook's closely held secret, but common ingredients of vinegar barbecue sauce are salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic, nutmeg, whiskey and brown sugar.

When selecting a barbecue sauce, try to choose a type that enhances the flavor of the meat but does not overpower it. Some like to offer a variety of barbecue sauce at the table that diners can add to the dish themselves. That way they get the exact amount of barbecue sauce that they like.