East Carolina Mop Sauce

Ribs and pulled pork are rich, and the best way to balance the silky, fatty meat is with acid. Along the coasts of North and South Carolina, in East Carolina or the Low Country, as the locals call it, they figured this out a long time ago. They developed a simple vinegar-based sauce—probably the oldest barbecue sauce in the nation. The original was probably just vinegar with hot peppers and black pepper, and some pitmasters use only those ingredients to this day.

Low Country vinegar sauce is used on naked meat without a rub, and it does double duty as both a mop and a sauce. A mop is brushed on the meat while it cooks to cool it and flavor it. Because it is so thin, it penetrates as the meat dehydrates during cooking.

The best sauces are made with distilled white vinegar, not apple cider vinegar. I tried my recipe with both, and I like the distilled better. If you want to use cider, feel free. For people like me who love vinegar and a bit of heat, this simple sauce is all you need on chopped or pulled pork. Many of you will find it a bit severe, but it is really worth a try.

Makes about 1½ cups

Takes about 30 minutes

• 1½ cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar (granulated white, light brown, or dark brown sugar)
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons finely ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (see Note)

Pour all the ingredients into a jar with a tight-fitting lid; shake well. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours (a week is better) to allow the flavors to meld.

Note: Texas Pete Hot Sauce is big in North Carolina. I usually use Tabasco Chipotle Sauce. And if you want something more interesting than run-of-the-mill red pepper flakes, use crushed chipotles.