July 08, 2006
Viniger Barbecue Sauce
Here's another barbecue sauce recipe the wee wifey sent me. It's a lot simpler than last weeks, and will not be as unusual outside of its home territory of North Carolina.
2 c Cider vinegar
2 T Sugar or brown sugar
2 t Salt
1 t Fresh ground black pepper
1 t Cayenne or hot red pepper
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir to dissolve
the sugar. Serve at room temperature or chilled. The sauce keeps
indefinitely.
The instructions she found are not complete. First of all, the ingredients should be combined at least a day ahead of time so the viniger has a chance to absorb them. The serving instructions merely hint at the fact that this is a finishing sauce to be served with slow-grilled meat, rather than to be used while cooking. If you wish to use it that way, omit the sugar. This results in the Eastern North Carolina hog baste. In the western part of the state, conversely, they add ingredients, starting with ketchup and sometimes including mustard, whatsthishere sauce, liquid smoke or grilled onions. If you really want to get creative, we're experimenting these days with smoked sweet paprika. Substituting it for the cayenne pepper would be subtler than throwing in that smoke stuff that always talks back to me.
Eastern NC sauce: use "Texas Pete", a quart to a gallon of viniger; molassas; crushed red peppers
(for appearance) and black pepper. You adjust the spiciness of the meat with the amount of sauce you use. Add this to the chopped pork along with salt and black pepper. Add a little at a time and taste it until you think it is "just right."