House Tangy Carolina Sauce

Growing up in the Piedmont Triad area of NC (just west of Raleigh), we were accustom to tangy Carolina sauce with our pulled pork.  We usually smoke whole hogs back home and pair the meat with a vinegar/tomato/chili pepper type of vibe, mostly because it cuts the juices and the fat making the pork easier to digest, and of-course, it’s delicious 🙂  This is usually the way of sauces throughout the western regions of NC, we also make BBQ slaw that is vinegar based and pink in color which is heavenly on a soft yeast roll with 4-6 ounces of freshly pulled pork (and of course some sauce)

You can’t be at a church pic-nick all day, Tailgate or Birthday party and have a pig pic’n (what us North Carolinians call a BBQ when it’s whole hog, which it usually is), without some good juice thats acidic and got some kick!  Unless you want to take a nap from eating more than your fill of BBQ (which, lets be honest – that’s pretty standard, I mean someone stayed up all night smoking the poor thing so we can’t leave any behind amiright?)!

So it is with this upbringing and I kinda don’t know how to do it any other way …  That’s I bring to south Florida our Carolina Tangy sauce, which we serve with all Meal Prep Pulled Pork Plates as well as our lunch and dinners which are accompanied by our baked mac n cheese.  I realize that we all have different tastes and i for one am happy that there is so much diversity within all foods and their various accoutrements.  But try this one out for me before you knock it (theres always the more pedestrian – sweet and smoky. You won’t hurt my feelings at all if that’s your preference).  But please know you can also use it for finishing Grilled Chicken, Shrimp, Pork Chops and more.  We do everything but put it behind our ears back home, so enjoy!

-Chef B

PS – Just in case there are some true purists out there – back home everyone basically just calls it “Sauce”.  Mainly because everyone or every family has a person who makes his or her version of it for their BBQ.  So the texture, color and thickness can range widely, but the foundation is usually always the same, Vinegar, Chili Peppers, Tomato, and Usually some Brown Sugar, the rest is up to you (the home cook or the pit master) to decide on how to finish the profile and body of the Juice/Sauce.  Much like how Tamale fillings and sauces vary greatly from household to household throughout latin America, same this with Garam Masala / Curries in India and neighboring countries.  Everyone has their own style and lots of love always is the main ingredient I would have to say 🙂