Alabama white barbecue sauce

Perhaps the best barbecue cookbook in recent years is "Dr. BBQ's Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook" (St. Martin's, 2005) by barbecue champion Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe.

           

The book is full of all kinds of great recipes and insider tips to world-class barbecue. And Lampe clearly has spent his fair share of time on the road studying the techniques of the countryside barbecue masters.

           

Alabama white barbecue sauce is a prime example of a regional creation uncovered in his book. Lampe writes that white barbecue sauce is indigenous only to northern Alabama. Most people elsewhere have never even heard of it. He discovered the mayonnaise-based sauce at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama. You can order the sauce online, or make it yourself using Lampe's recipe below.

 

The restaurant's chefs simply dunk barbecued chickens in the sauce as soon as they're pulled off a wood fire, writes Lampe.

 

All barbecue sauces have a few basic building blocks: something savory, something acidic and something spicy. In this respect, white barbecue sauce is no different than the more typical red barbecue sauces.

           

The homemade version appears thin at first, but we discovered that it thickens up quite nicely if you leave it in your refrigerator for a day or two. So make sure you whip up a batch a couple days before the game.      

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well and refrigerate in a covered glass or plastic container for up to 1 month. Makes about 2 cups.