Melt butter in a large stockpot and sauté onion, garlic and celery until tender but not brown. If you prefer a smooth sauce, a hand blender can be used at this point, but this is not required.
Add remaining ingredients. Simmer over very low heat until thick. Use only a few drops of Mesquite or Hickory flavored liquid smoke. Be extremely careful in adding this as it is very overpowering and a few extra drops will ruin the sauce.
Recipe may be doubled, tripled, etc. for the quantity desired. Store in refrigerator.
Note: If you want to make this in a larger quantity for canning, omit the butter and the sauté step; simply combine ingredients and proceed as above. Ladle into clean canning jars while still hot and process pints or half pints for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath canner.
Submitted by: CM
