East Carolina Vinegar BBQ Sauce and Mop
Sauces, Spreads, Dips & Dressings
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of distilled or apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon hot sauce
2 tablespoons sugar (white, light brown, or dark brown)
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons finely ground black pepper
Directions
Pour all the ingredients into a jar and shake. Let it sit for at least 12 hours to allow the flavors to meld. A week is better.
You can use it as a mop when you cook, you can use it as a finishing sauce when you serve the meat, or both. In the Carolinas it is usually used as both a mop and a finishing sauce.
To use it as both a mop and finishing sauce, warm it, pour a few ounces into a cup and paint it on the meat with a basting brush once every hour or so while it is cooking. If you use it as a mop, the sauce in the cup can get contaminated with uncooked meat juices on the brush. That's why you don't want to dip the brush in the whole bottle. Discard contaminated mop and serve untouched sauce at the table.
Notes
About the hot sauce:
Use the hot sauce of your choice. Texas Pete is big in North Carolina. I usually use Tabasco's Chipotle. And if you want something more interesting than crushed red peppers, get crushed chipotles. You can even make your own by smoking jalape–os split lengthwise until they are dried.
Optional:
Some folks like to add warm melted butter to this recipe for richness. Butter also helps release fat soluble flavors in the peppers. Up to a stick would be fine. Do it just before serving, and warm the sauce first so the butter doesn't harden.
Nutrition
Calories per serving 11
Saturated Fat 0 g 0 %
Trans Fat
Cholesterol -
Sodium 64 mg 3 %
Total Carbohydrate 2 g 1 %
Dietary Fiber 0 g 1 %
Total Sugars 1 g
Includes 1 g Added Sugars
Protein 0 g 0 %
Vitamin D -
Calcium 5 mg 0 %
Iron 0 mg 0 %
Potassium 12 mg 0 %
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.