Alabama White Sauce BBQ

Name: Alabama White Sauce BBQ
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 cup mayonnaise; 1/3 cup Honey Hibiscus Vinegar; 1 Tbsp honey; 2 Tbsp prepared horseradish; 1 tsp ground mustard powder; ½ tsp salt; ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper; ¼ tsp ground ginger; ¼ tsp of Kashmiri pepper; ¼ tsp garlic powder; ¼ tsp Smoked Pimentón Paprika; 2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce

Prep Time

15 minutes

"I love a good regional recipe and was recently introduced to Alabama White Sauce just in time for grilling season. This BBQ sauce stands in contrast to others both in color and taste—it is built on a mayo and vinegar base with spices to produce a tangy (rather than sweet, tomato-based) BBQ sauce.

Traditionally used to finish smoked chicken this BBQ sauce is versatile and can be used to marinade, baste, or simply dip. Very nice to drizzle on fried green tomatoes as well. I’m more of a weeknight griller than a true BBQ’er so I have found that using this sauce as a marinade for chicken makes the absolute moistest grilled chicken I have ever had."

Author:

Rodrigo Vargas founder of American Vinegar Works

Ingredients

1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup Honey Hibiscus Vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp prepared horseradish
1 tsp ground mustard powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp of Kashmiri pepper
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp Smoked Pimentón Paprika
2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce

Directions

In a medium bowl mix vinegar and honey together until honey is fully dissolved.
Add all other ingredients and whisk until the mayo is well blended with all the spices (no mayo lumps).
Allow sauce to rest in the fridge at least 15 minutes—this will give time for the spices and horseradish to flavor the liquid. You can then adjust seasoning by adding more salt and pepper as needed.
The sauce is now ready to use as chicken marinade (15 minutes at least), to brush onto/finish chicken on the grill just before it is done grilling, or for drizzling on cooked chicken or fried foods like fried okra or fried green tomatoes.

Recipe Note

Make Ahead: Giving the sauce a night or a few hours to rest in your fridge will help improve flavor. This is because it gives time for the spices and horseradish to penetrate the mayo/vinegar mix.

Grilling Temperatures/Burning: If you are using the sauce to marinade you will want to be careful about your grill temperature and be a bit more attentive to how your chicken is progressing. The sugars in the honey and the fat in the mayo will burn more easily than a wine-based marinade. This means you will definitely get those grill marks but you want to be careful not to let them get too dark or it will contribute a burnt, instead of smoked flavor. You can control for this with lower temperatures and more monitoring and flipping.