When I was asked by a friend to cook pork barbecue for his wedding reception party, I decided I wanted to offer a choice in sauces other than my Blackville Pork Barbecue Sauce, which is a golden blend of vinegar, mustard, ketchup and spices. I intended to trade some of Enoch's Dry Rub with my friend Steve, who makes a pretty good Eastern North Carolina style sweet/spicy pepper-vinegar sauce, but Steve was out of the country for a few weeks, so I decided to come up with my own.
Steve's sauce is really a little too sweet for my personal taste, so I decided to use half and half apple cider vinegar and apple juice for the liquid. I used crushed red peppers as the main pepper source, then let inspiration take over.
As I pulled the meat after cooking, I sprinkled it liberally with this sauce, then let the guests take whatever sauce they liked to dress their plates. It was enormously successful! As I wandered through the dining crowd I was gratified to hear the usual arguments about which sauce was better. People are passionate about their prejudices concerning what a proper barbecue sauce is, so if this sauce was being defended against my Blackville Sauce by vinegar sauce factions, then I knew I had done well. The compliments poured in for both sauces, so now I have a two sauce arsenal.
Here's what's in it (makes about a gallon):
Simply mix everything together. If you mix it in one
container and want to divide it into other containers, be careful to shake it
often, since the solids will settle out quickly and you will end up with one
container with nothing but cider/juice and the other with all the peppers.
Mix with pork before serving, then offer as a sauce at service.
This also makes a nice basting liquid while cooking pork.