Kinda Carolina Rib Sauce


 
K Kruger

K Kruger

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
This sauce is kind of a combination of low-country Carolina and mid-state styles of sauce with a few other adjustments.

My friends and I are not fans of sweet thick sauces and I only sometimes use glazes on spares. I use the Rib Rub I posted under this heading (here), smoke low and slow, rest them, and serve this on the side for dipping. The oil in it smoothes the flavors. The smokiness of the ribs and the spices shine right through; it adds a little kick of heat, a nice note of fruity acidity, and a touch of sweetness.

[When I cook butt I use this sauce as a finishing sauce adding 1-2 T per cup of pulled pork. I add it as I pull it--no need to measure-just sprinkle what looks to be 1-2 T on what looks to be about a cup of pulled pork. Mix it in periodically during the pulling. The sauce balances the meat-bark-smoke well and if a sweet sauce will be served on the side really helps make it work better with the meat, imo.]

3/4 c apple cider vinegar, preferably unfiltered but the regular is fine
1/4 c plain (not seasoned) rice vinegar
6 Tbl Dijon mustard
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp pepper sauce like Cholula--my preference--or Tabasco
1/2 c vegetable oil
S&P to taste

Mix well, heat briefly, then add:

1-3 Tbl honey and
1 Tbl sugar

water


The honey and sugar are really "to taste" additions. I put a bit less in first and then taste and tweak accordingly. It depends somewhat on the fruitiness and acidity of the vinegars. Look to balance the acidity a bit and then add water, about 1/4 c at a time, till the acidity is softened. Adjust salt. I'm looking for just enough of sweetness to round out the sauce, not something cloying.



Kevin

On edit: clarity; added butt sidebar
 
Thanks Kevin,

This is just what I've been looking for.
I somehow missed this when you posted it.
Gonna do Spares this weekend and I'll
give a full report.

Jim C
 
Kevin,

yum, that looks pretty good....think that would go good on a picnic shoulder as well? I've been using a lot more honey in my sauces, 'cause a friend up the road has a half dozen hives or so and is producing some really good stuff (nice wildflowers around)...

chicken wings in the WSM this weekend, provided the weather isn't too nasty....
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rob D.:

yum, that looks pretty good....think that would go good on a picnic shoulder as well? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Absolutely.

And I'm a honey fan too. I made this last with mesquite honey--very good.
 
Sourwood honey is delicious and certainly traditional in the Alleghenies and along the Blue Ridge but hardly the norm in neighborhoods in other parts of the country where you'll find wildflower, clover, mesquite, hazelnut, orange blossom, acacia--among many others--far more common.

I'm having Q with a bunch of Indians on the Acoma Pueblo in about an hour. They don't leave the rez much so it's doubtful they've even heard of sourwood honey--but I'll ask.
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Kevin,

Made a batch of this sauce yesterday....haven't EATEN it yet (I'm doing ribs tomorrow), but I was surprised that the seemingly small quantity of mustard made it such a "mustard" sauce. I'm not complaining....I LIKE a good mustard sauce !

I'm salivating just writing about it ! Didn't add any more sugar, S or P; I'll wait and see what it tastes like after "curing" overnight.

I'll post my results after I get it slathered on my pork spares ! Thanks for the recipe !

Dean...
 
just wanted to chime in, i recently made this and tried it on PP. this mix is great for what it's supposed to do.
 
Well I'm now on my third batch of Kinda Carolina sauce, so I wanted to drop a quick Thank You. I've tried and enjoyed recipes several other "normal" BBQ sauces (to a Texas boy), and this is one that I like to keep bottled on hand. It has great flavor, but still it's light enough to go on more types of food than ketchupy sauces.

I originally made it to go with some spare ribs, and the wife liked it so much she actually used it as dressing on a spinach salad!
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It does have a nice balance of vinegar, honey, and mustard, so I see where she was coming from. Now I keep a woosty bottle of it in the fridge to shake onto just about anything.

I haven't done pulled pork since trying this, but I'm looking forward to giving it a run as a "finishing sauce" like you described.
 
I'm glad you like it, Benny.

Do try it as a finishing sometime, for butt. It works quite well.
 
Originally posted by Benny L.:
I originally made it to go with some spare ribs, and the wife liked it so much she actually used it as dressing on a spinach salad!
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It does have a nice balance of vinegar, honey, and mustard, so I see where she was coming from.
Click to expand...

Benny,

As I posted above, I made a batch, but I never used it....the ribs I was cooking came out so good....I just enjoyed 'em without any sauce !

Tonight, the wife had a dark green salad to go with the pastrami Reuben's we cooked...I said...."Hey, a guy posted on the Board about using KK's sauce as a salad dressing....let's try it out !" I hadn't added any of the honey, sugar, or S and P to the original post recipie....so she tasted it, and added some cheapo store-bought honey to the mix, and used that on the salad....AWESOME !!!!

Thanks, Kevin, for the original post....and thanks, Benny, for the idea of using it as a salad dressing, too ! Great eats !

Dean....
 
Kevin,

Tried this on my butt....great mustard-based sauce ! Posted comments in the "Barbeque" section....thank's much for sharing your knowledge of spices and flavors !

Dean...
 
Originally posted by K Kruger:

[When I cook butt I use this sauce as a finishing sauce adding 1-2 T per cup of pulled pork. I add it as I pull it--no need to measure-just sprinkle what looks to be 1-2 T on what looks to be about a cup of pulled pork. Mix it in periodically during the pulling. The sauce balances the meat-bark-smoke well and if a sweet sauce will be served on the side really helps make it work better with the meat, imo.]
Click to expand...

Just made the sauce tonight, great flavor. Really went well with Jane's Butt Rub. I added it as a finishing sauce and vacuum sealed to hold until Thursday. It then dawned on me that maybe I had made a mistake. The acid content might further cook/turn the meat mushy. I'm hoping the freezing process will stop or slow this. Its a done deal so I guess I'll find out Thursday. Kevin, am I correct to assume it would be better to use this finishing sauce the day it is to be served (e.g. thaw pp and then add sauce)?

Learned something interesting. Never spent much (read any) time tasting vinegar. Just followed the recipe. I only had an 1/8th cup rice vinegar and I knew Kevin had a reason to not simply have a full cup of cider vin. Tasted the rice vinegar to see what else I had that was close (white wine vin was close). Wow, rice vinegar really has a good flavor.
 
You didn't make a mistake although you certainly can wait to add the sauce after thawing.

If I am freezing thinly packed in vac bags I add the sauce ahead of time because I won't be thawing first; the bags wil go right into the water pot on the stove. Leftovers (already sauced), will hold just fine in the fridge for a day or two; no sign of mushiness. In either case, there isn't enough acid to affect texture and cold, especially freezing cold as you suspect, makes a difference too.

Glad you liked the sauce.
 
Loved the sauce, had a hard time not dipping and snacking too much.

Kevin, I read a thread of yours dated quite a while back about vinegars (cider v white). Do you make your own vinegars? I saw that you did rec'd flavoring already made vin (pineapple in rice vin). I started a thread in the recipe section asking about this and was hoping to get your opinion - if you have one.
 
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