White BBQ Sauce..............

Here's good recipe.
 
http://www.southernplate.com/2008/10/alabama-white-barbecue-sauce.html

So in a nutshell, Alabamans like sweet, creamy salad dressing on their BBQ.

Alrighty then. Diff'rint stokes for diff'rint folks.

It's used strictly on chicken.  I suppose it would be pretty good on some varieties of fish as well, but the Alabamans use it on yardbird.  They smoke or grill the chicken, and while it is still hot, they dunk the meat in the white sauce allowing it "absorb" into the bird.  When used properly, it's not a bad thing.

The best known brand in the south is probably Big Bob Gibson's.  Bob has a couple of restaurants in Decatur, Alabama and just opened one up in Monroe, North Carolina.  I've never been to any of his restaurants, but I'm told that the white sauce they serve in house is much better than the bottled version they sell in stores and on-line.

The best bottled version I've tasted comes from Jack's out of Memphis.  Yeah, it's still salad dressing, but it has a nice tang that you expect from a Barbecue Sauce, not unlike what you'd get from a tomato or vinegar based sauce elsewhere.

Buddy

Mayonaise...not happening in this joint!

I just saw it on TV today.  The show was about Alabama BBQ (chicken).  The show was called Country Cooking, but it looked like the America's Test Kitchen show (it was the same people).

I had it once in Montgomery. I hated it.

I never tried that, but I've tried this, and I have to say it's really damn good. More of a marinade than a bbq sauce, though.

Mosca


I never tried that, but I've tried this, and I have to say it's really damn good. More of a marinade than a bbq sauce, though.

If it comes from the Cornell School it should be good. That's what they use on Cornell Chicken:
 
 Cornell Chicken BBQ Sauce
(enough for 10 halves)

1 cup cooking oil
1 pint cider vinegar
3 Tablespoons salt
1 Tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
Beat the egg, then add the oil and beat again. Add other ingredients and stir.
Brush sauce on the broiler halves every few minutes during cooking.
The recipe can be varied to suit individual tastes. (Adjust salt quantity or eliminate to meet
individual health needs and taste. BBQ chicken basted frequently during cooking
will be saltier than chicken that has been lightly basted.)
Leftover sauce can be stored in a glass jar in the refrigerator for several weeks.
 
 

My Alabammy grandmammy never inflicted this on us at her Sunday suppers in Inglewood... and for that I'm thankful.

On the show they put it on after the chicken came off the grill.

plb


On the show they put it on after the chicken came off the grill.

The only thing thats sounds good in that recipe is the salt and pepper...eewwwwwww

Buddy, when I had it they'd put it on the pulled pork. I couldn't eat more than the first bite.

Michael Hoffman


Buddy, when I had it they'd put it on the pulled pork. I couldn't eat more than the first bite.

 
That's why they call it "Cornell Chicken BBQ Sauce!!!" It's for CHICKEN, not pork or beef!

Michael Hoffman


Buddy, when I had it they'd put it on the pulled pork. I couldn't eat more than the first bite.

Michael, whoever served you white sauce on pulled pork had no idea what they had or how to use it.  My heart goes out to you for your suffering and I hope you never go through that ordeal again.

To those of you who are rejecting white Barbecue Sauce out of hand without ever trying it in its proper milieu, shame on you.  Last time I checked, this website was dedicated not just to the preservation of existing Roadfood icons, but also to the idea of exposing folks to new and different regional foods with which they might not otherwise be familiar.  White Barbecue Sauce is just that kind of regional specialty.

Now, if you've tried it and don't like it, then so be it.  Nobody has to like everything, and I'm certainly not the Taste Police.  But if you've never even tasted white sauce and are criticizing it based solely on its ingredient list, then your credibility around these parts is shot to heck my friends.

I've tasted White Barbecue Sauce.  When it's made and used properly, on the right meat (pretty much exclusively chicken) it's pretty darned good.  It adds moisture, and a rich, creamy tang to a piece of grilled or smoked bird.  In fact, it's not too dissimilar to the flavor imparted when you use buttermilk as a marinade for chicken.  I know a lot of champion pitmasters who swear by buttermilk as a marinade and there are just a handful of folks on these boards who are qualified to argue with them.

I work every year at the Barbecue Sauce Store at the American Royal Barbecue Cook-Off in Kansas City.  We get hundreds of sauces donated to us from all corners of the United States.  I encountered white sauce for the first time about five years ago.  Frankly, at first, I had a similar reaction to many of you.  I thought, "What in the heck is this stuff?  It's got to taste like salad dressing.  That ain't Barbecue."  The difference between me and you naysayers is that I was at least open minded enough to taste the stuff before I wrote it off.

Some versions were better than others.  One brand had a nasty rancid oil taste.  Another was just flat out bland.  The best of the bunch, as stated in my previous post in this thread, was Jack's BarBQue out of Nashville (earlier I said they were in Memphis-sorry, my goof). It has a nice tang with some horseradish overtones.  Jack's also makes a pretty good mustard based sauce.  Their red sauces I can take or leave.

But see, I know all that because I tried those sauces before I commented on them.  See how that works?  I don't always agree with Michael Hoffman about the appeal of certain foods (among other things).  But at least I know his distaste for, let's say Chicago style hot dogs for instance, comes from the experience of trying the item before he decides he doesn't like it.  I can respect that.  Someone who decides something is no good without even tasting it has no credibility as far as I'm concerned.

All I can say is, it's a good thing your mommas forced you to eat solid foods at a certain age, otherwise a lot of you would still be eating strained peas and mashed carrots out of them little bitty jars.

Buddy

There are some threads in here that extol the virtues of Cornell BBQ Chicken. Where are those proponents now? I've never eaten Cornell Chicken since I don't live in that part of the world, but next time I get a Hankerin', I'll whip up a batch of the above recipe and give it a try.
Here's some of the threads:
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=26275&high=Cornell 
http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/tm.aspx?m=198224&high=Cornell

I have no experience with Cornell BBQ Sauce or the finished chicken.  And while I'm sure it is wonderful stuff, based on the recipe and the instructions for use, it would seem that this is more of a marinade and/or basting sauce.  The white sauce described in this thread is a finishing sauce, not meant to be used until the chicken is fully cooked and just before it is ready to be served.

Buddy

Buddy,  you are correct.  The Cornell sauce is for marinading and basting.  By the time the chicken is  ready to eat, there is no need for any sauce to be put on it as it is so full of flavor.

I made the Gibson recipe years ago when I heard about it.
Put it grilled chicken....meh....haven't made it again.

Foodbme

Michael Hoffman


Buddy, when I had it they'd put it on the pulled pork. I couldn't eat more than the first bite.

 
That's why they call it "Cornell Chicken BBQ Sauce!!!" It's for CHICKEN, not pork or beef!

I was talking about pulled pork at a barbeque place in Montgomery, Alabama. Do try to pay attention.

Cornell chicken and the white bbq sauce are not the same. I've never tried the white sauce, so I can't comment on it, but the Cornell chicken is really good. Yes, it's something of a marinade, but you also baste the chicken while it's roasting.

Try it, you might like it. You definitely won't hate it, it's not that polarizing a set of flavors.

The problem I'd have with the Cornell sauce is the instruction to put it on "every few minutes"while roasting

I have eaten the Cornell Recipe for chicken since I was a kid- being raised in Upstate NY and having relatives in the Syracuse-Cazenovia area, it was pretty much the BBQ sauce for chicken.
 I use the Cornell recipe as a marinade before grilling, minimum of 2 hours max over night, and then baste every time the chicken is turned. I would never put a red sauce on chicken....too sticky.
I too, was skeptical of the Alabama white sauce, but have an open mind and a son who really LOVES mayo, I thought it may be worth a try- but remember the chicken is cooked only with S&P, a little cayenne and then it is smoked- sauce is put on AFTER the bird comes off the grill.

I've only had white sauce on pork.  I've had it at Hawg Wild in Clarkesville GA and at Miss Myra's in B'ham AL and I love it completely.  I'm sure it's just fine on chicken, but on pulled pork it's heavenly.

BuddyRoadhouse



Now, if you've tried it and don't like it, then so be it.  Nobody has to like everything, and I'm certainly not the Taste Police.  But if you've never even tasted white sauce and are criticizing it based solely on its ingredient list, then your credibility around these parts is shot to heck my friends.

I, for one, am not seeking "creditability around these parts", whatever that is as pertains to this site. All I know is, two of my most hated ingredients play a huge part in that evil stew: mayo and vinegar. So yeah, not only will I never taste it, I'm rejecting it out of hand, and will never allow it within 10 feet of a piece of chicken destined for my mouth. I'd throw up the contents of my stomach if I bit into chicken slathered in mayo-based salad dressing. There's your credibility, bub.

Michael Hoffman

Foodbme

Michael Hoffman


Buddy, when I had it they'd put it on the pulled pork. I couldn't eat more than the first bite.

 
That's why they call it "Cornell Chicken BBQ Sauce!!!" It's for CHICKEN, not pork or beef!

I was talking about pulled pork at a barbeque place in Montgomery, Alabama. Do try to pay attention.

I did pay attention. You were in "Their" World & in "Their" World, that must be what they do, I guess. They obviously thought you were one of "Them"! Funny, ya'll don't type Southern!

BTW, CORNELL CHICKEN is NOT MAYO BASED!! I hate its taste, although I worship CORNELL College Of Agriculture [ I am from Yale, 8 years, undergrad  '82 & grad , so shall leave you with this piquant mystery!!] For fairness sake, it is 1 cup oil, 1 cup cider vinegar, 1 egg yolk, and poultry seasonings. NOT emuslified into mayo but plain. I live next door to CU, have been a part of it for decades, eaten & disliked its chicken, know/knew the people who invented it , the whys & wherefores it got invented etc. Regardless, the chicken dressing is NOT mayo based.

Taste is entirely subjective. I am reading absurd statements here, hopefully made as hyperbole and fun.

For example, I have lived in SPIEDIE land for decades, and rivalry runs hot between LUPO'S & STATE FAIR brands!! Not only have I never been able to develop a taste for the SPIEDIE marinade, Binghamton Style [though I love charbroiled meat], both brands taste like bad Italian dressing with poor quality oil, rancid garlic flakes and stale herbs to me. I would NEVER say this to lovers of those 2 brands for fear of hurting their feelings, just as I would never say that pulled pork is the vilest abomination one may commit to a beautifully raised and cooked pig and its musculature.

 Muscle meat and layers of fat are meant to be savoured, in my book, tissue by tissue, from skin to bone, muscle group by muscle group. Each type fat has its own liquid crystal properties & membrane attributes & needs to be cooked to different temperatures and degrees of tenderness.

But that merely is my opinion, and not something I would dream of imposing on the world as an omnibus POV, one that should be accepted as as an axiom, a self-evident truth. That  HOWEVER,  MIGHT be interpreted as the tenor of some posts upthread. "If it ain't good enough for me, that MUST BE THE GOSPEL TRUTH FOR ALL." I find myself perturbed.

pimple2


I find myself perturbed.

Ahhh, you'll get over it.

enginecapt

BuddyRoadhouse

...But if you've never even tasted white sauce and are criticizing it based solely on its ingredient list, then your credibility around these parts is shot to heck my friends.

...I'd throw up the contents of my stomach if I bit into chicken slathered in mayo-based salad dressing. There's your credibility, bub.

I think you mean "Bud", short for Buddy.  I'm not sure who this "bub" dude is, but he sounds like a fine fellow and an excellent judge of character.

Buddy
(or Bud, if you prefer)

Oh jeeze, another Hoffman.