A mayonnaise-based barbecue sauce cut with white vinegar, lemon juice, black pepper, and horseradish — tangy, fatty, and sharp where traditional red sauces are sweet. Specifically designed for smoked chicken, where its acid and fat balance cuts through the smoke and enriches the dry poultry. The signature sauce of Northern Alabama pit cooking.
White sauce is Northern Alabama's most distinctive culinary marker. In Decatur, Huntsville, and Birmingham, Black pit cooks had been using vinegar-based white sauces for smoked chicken long before Big Bob Gibson's restaurant popularized the name. The acid-over-sweet preference in Northern Alabama pit cooking is a Black regional flavor philosophy distinct from the sweet tomato-based sauces that national BBQ culture defaulted to.
Apple cider vinegar base provides acetic acid with evidence for glycemic modulation and gut health support. Traditional mayo-based versions are high in fat — making with avocado oil mayo significantly improves the fatty acid profile without altering flavor. A condiment, not a food — the nutritional benefit comes from what it is paired with.
Combine: 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1 tablespoon prepared horseradish, 2 teaspoons black pepper, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cayenne. Whisk until smooth. Rest for at least an hour before use — the flavors need time to integrate. Apply to smoked chicken in the final 10 minutes of cooking or serve as a dipping sauce.
Free, no account needed to ask.