The word barbecue or BBQ in short comes from the spainish word Barbacoa, in which big pieces of meat and vegetables are cooked in a pit in the ground over hot coals. This tradition still remains in mexico with the same name. American Barrbecue tradition is vast. A barbecue expert with experience is called a pitmaster. Each region has it own techniques, ingredients and type of sauce. Some of these sauces are only for basting the meat while cooking. Some of them are used as a dipping sauce. Some can be used for both. Some regions dont even use a sauce.
Some of the most common ingridients is an American style Barbecue sauce are Ketchup, garlic powder, ginger powder, dry herbs like oregano, thyme etc. Along with other ingridients like vigenar, sugar and chilly powder and alchohol. Most of these sauces are kind of hot and sweet sauce that go realy well with meats.
Below given is a recipe for a basic barbecue sauce.