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North Carolina is known for its wonderful pork BBQ.  I went to University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and must say it is my favorite style of BBO.  What makes it so special is the sauce.  There are actually several types of North Carolina BBQ Sauces.  This is a recipe for my favorite North Carolina BBQ Vinegar Sauce that is typically found in the Western portion of the state.

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Experts will tell you that there are two main types of North Carolina BBQ, Eastern and Western.  Personally I like to call them Eastern and Middle.  The Western style, my favorite is based right in the middle of the state.  Right outside Greensboro is the small town of Lexington, in my mind the leading BBQ place in the state.  There are several good places in town but I always go to Lexington Barbecue.  My sauce is loosely based on what is served in most Western/Middle North Carolina BBQ places.

The Eastern style sauce is more vinegar and hot sauce.  It will make your mouth pucker.  The Western style is cut with some ketchup and sugar so it is sweeter.  However, this is still strong and tangy stuff.  For many people, North Carolina BBQ Sauce is simply too intense.  However, Fun Diego Family loves it.  I turned my California wife onto it and she will accept no substitute.  She will only eat at a BBQ place that has North Carolina BBQ sauce as an option.

In terms of other differences between Eastern and Middle/Western North Carolina BBQ, Eastern cooks a whole hog while Western does just the pork shoulder.  When we make this at home we always do just the pork shoulder, for obvious reasons.  Beyond just pork BBQ we use this sauce for many other recipes.  For example this is a a key component in our savory sloppy joes.

Making this sauce is super easy.  Basically you just combine the ingredients in a pan and let it simmer.  We usually use the apple cider vinegar jar to store the sauce.  It will keep for months, but we tend to go through it pretty fast.

We are fans of Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar.  We usually double the recipe and use an entire 32 ounce bottle.  We simply pour the sauce back into the bottle and keep it in the refrigerator to use on all kinds of recipes.  Of course the best recipe for this is our North Carolina Pulled Pork which can be done on either a smoker or in the oven.

Cole Cooks: Big Green Egg North Carolina Pulled Pork

The Big Green Egg is perfect for cooking North Carolina pulled pork.  We add our rub and use our classic North Carolina vinegar sauce.  This recipe is easy to prepare but it does take an entire day of cooking. Go To Recipe Much of my family is from North Carolina and I attended the University […]

Cole Cooks: Sous Vide North Carolina Pulled Pork Recipe

We love North Carolina style pulled pork.  This is a tangy version of BBQ that features a spicy vinegar sauce.  Traditionally this is cooked for hours on a smoker.  However, visiting friends in North Carolina we found a way to do this in the oven.  We took is a step further and created this version […]

North Carolina BBQ Vinegar Sauce

David Cole

A North Carolina BBQ Vinegar Sauce in the Western or Middle North Carolina style.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 2 Tablespoons ketchup
• 2 Tablespoons hot sauce Texas Pete, Franks, Crystal
• 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

 

• Combine all ingredients in a pan. Whisk to dissolve salt and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Let cool and store in a jar.

Notes

Heating is not necessary. In a pinch you can simply add all the ingredients to a jar and shake.

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