Sunlite Kentucky Black Sauce for Lamb and Mutton

This sauce is indigenous to a small area of western Kentucky around Owensboro, just west of Louisville. It’s a fascinating blend of mostly vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, and it is designed to go with the specialty of the region, slow-smoked mutton.

Once upon a time, in the 1800s, Kentucky was the largest lamb-producing state. It has now fallen to number thirty-four. But the tradition of slow-smoked mutton lives on in dozens of barbecue joints and church socials. The cuts of choice are shoulder and rear leg.

Sweet sauce would be all wrong. This thin, tart sauce cuts the rich taste of lamb fat, which is more intensely flavored than beef, pork, or chicken. The sauce is used as a baste because it is thin and penetrates the dried meat surface. It is also used as a finishing sauce.

Some places, like the Moonlite Bar-B-Q Inn, the most famous of all the western Kentucky barbecue joints, have two slightly different recipes, one for basting and one for serving. So I set about trying to reverse-engineer them and create one sauce that does both.

Makes 3 cups

Takes 25 minutes

• 2 cups water
• ½ cup Worcestershire sauce
• ½ cup distilled white vinegar
• 7 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1¼ teaspoons lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Mix all the ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for 10 minutes. Separate a portion of the sauce to use as a mop for slow-smoked mutton or lamb shoulder while it is cooking. Serve the other portion of the sauce as a dipping sauce on the side.