Get Saucy This Holiday Season with Doc J
We’re not talking about cranberry sauce…we celebrate the holidays with barbeque sauce. Hmmm? So what is the connection? Doc J’s Heat and Air’s co-founder, Julius Warren, is the grandson of Major Latimer, who opened and operated Latimer’s Barbeque Restaurant in the 1940s. For over 40 years, Latimer’s Restaurant, located at Pine and Greenwood Street, was a Tulsa favorite for barbeque. Local grocery stores sold Latimer’s barbeque sauce. Growing up, most family members worked as cooks, servers, or entertainers in the family restaurant. Julius did odd jobs, including starting the wood fire that smoked meats.
Every December, we make 10 gallons (or more) of homemade barbeque sauce, which we give as gifts for customers, friends, and family. Some years we generate enough heat from cooking to turn on the air conditioner.
Cleora Butler (local caterer in Tulsa) and Major Latimer inspire the sauce. In the 1980s, Ms. Cleora Butler wrote a cookbook called Cleora’s Kitchens, which contains her prized recipes and tells the story of her family’s settlement in Oklahoma. Cleora’s parents, the children of formerly enslaved people in Texas, came with other formerly enslaved people in covered wagons for free land. These early settlers built Black towns and successful businesses. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Black community of Greenwood was called the Black Wall Street of America. In 1921 a terrible Race Riot destroyed much of the Greenwood community. The year after the riot, 1922, Cleora moved to Tulsa to help rebuild from the ashes. People quickly recognized Cleora’s unique culinary gifts. She catered to the Tulsa Opera Guild and the Greenwood Jazz Street dances.
We can’t give out our secret recipe; we can share that we use apple vinegar, whole onions, and garlic (no powders). Many barbeque sauce lovers think that it goes with absolutely everything!
BARBEQUE SAUCE VARIATIONS
Here are some significant BBQ sauce variations you can try:
add Worcester Sauce to give a darker musty tone that goes well with dark meats,
add small amounts (to taste) to red spaghetti sauce when the sauce tastes a little bitter,
mix with Mexican mole sauce for a tangier, more lively favor,
mix 50:50 with mayonnaise for a zippy spread for hamburgers and sandwiches.
Have fun making your sauce. Add other spices, herbs, and additions to make it your own. Above all else, take time and enjoy the holiday season.
Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, Feliz Navidad
Cheers, Deborah Jenkins and Julius Latimer-Warren