Alabama White Barbecue Sauce
Today, I’m bringing you a real rarity. In fact, it is pretty much unheard of outside of North Alabama. White BBQ Sauce, even my husband (who is from a town in Georgia only four hours away) had never heard of it. A lot of folks in south Alabama have never heard of it.
This is truly a regional thing, but also a regional requirement. EVERY BBQ restaurant in North Alabama features white bbq sauce on their menu, their meats, and their tables and North Alabamians eat it with everything from french fries to bread to chicken and ribs. This unique, tangy flavor is the perfect compliment to just about everything.
Personally, I like to use so much that my food is swimming in it. How about we make up a batch for you?
I’m going to preface this by saying I am completely biased – keep reading and you’ll understand why. You see, a new restaurant has opened in Athens, Alabama. Hickory Barn BBQ, located on Highway 72 West, serves up classic southern BBQ with credentials.
Having been deemed worthy of the Jack Daniel’s Grand Champion in their BBQ Cookoff, Bill and Stacey Davis decided to open up shop and bring you the same great meats which have been served at competitions and privately catered affairs for nearly a decade.
With a menu of smoked chicken, pulled pork, made fresh sides, desserts from scratch, and the meatiest and most tender ribs you’re likely to ever have, this is a BBQ experience not to be missed.
As if the award winning food wasn’t enough, the atmosphere alone is worth the short drive. Authentic antique signs, recycled barn wood and galvanized tin line the walls. Vintage Coca Cola machines which Bill has collected since childhood serve to further the old fashioned atmosphere along with glass bottled drinks served from a large galvanized tub of ice. Walking into Hickory Barn is taking a step back in time, but likely with better food.
Hope to see you there soon and don’t forget to try Hickory Barn’s Signature BBQ Sundae!
~Christy
Hickory BBQ
10047 HWY 72 W
Athens, AL
Posted by Christy Jordan
on Oct 17 2008. Filed under FEATURED Southern Favorites!, Sauces/Other, Southern Classics.
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There is a Big Bob Gibson’s in Monroe, NC. They have the best grilled corn. I’ve tried the White Sauce and like it. Glad to get a recipe for it!!! I see that you are visiting in NC. Not to start a fight, but NC Eastern Style BBQ is the best!!!!! Had some for lunch today!!!!
I’m drueling thinking of the old (& new is not bad) Greenbrier’s!
Lol Heidi, I’m with you all the way! I always take folks to the old Greenbriar and that is my personal favorite. I’ve only eaten at the new one once and honestly never did understand why they were so bold as to name it Greenbriar to begin with. You know folks who don’t live around here and are reading this are probably confused as all get out! lol
Gratefully,
Christy
This white BBQ sauce sounds good and I will definitely try it. But one question…is this just a dipping sauce? When I think BBQ sauce I think of the kind you spread on the meat before taking it off the grill.
I use it for dipping but other folks here have said they use it for marinating and basting as well.
Hope this helps!
Christy
Well I have to agree with Stephanie up at the top post.. this is what I make for slaw dressing,, I just don’t put vinegar and lemon juice in it.. I use one or the other and I don’t p ut that much pepper in.. but thats coleslaw dressing at my house.. but from now on I will just call it white BBQ sauce too, haha.. and I am pretty sure that you are in good company calling it White BBQ sauce because I think Paula Deen makes this the same way and calls it white BBQ sauce but I would have to get up and look through cookbooks and I am too tired to do that… we will all just use it, no matter where we are from…
hugs
Jo in Sapulpa Oklahoma
I never heard of it until I moved to Florence Alabama. I get it at Ricks Barbecue, always with smoked chicken breast. They also put a little cayenne pepper in it. DELICIOUS!!!
We have the white BBQ sauce in Birmingham, too. My father-in-law used to have a place (Double L BBQ) in B’ham and he had it as well as some other places now. Love the stuff!!! I can’t wait to try the new place in Athens when I got o my daughter’s!!
This is also awesome with a little cayenne pepper and prepared horseradish. Amazing!
You’re the second person who has reminded me that I gotta try horseradish before I die! lol
I’m adding it to my list!
Gratefully,
Christy
My lil brother came back from Al braggin on soem white bbq sauce tryin to tell me what it was like I need to call him an tem him it was just slaw dressin. Ya’ll need to add a dab of buttermilk to this; also add some celery seed & onion (minced fine) to make slaw I’m wonderin if this come from people puttin slaw on their pulled pork sandwich which I don’t do(YUCK):) but to each their own.
Have a grate day ya’ll
Hey Mellany!
Around here, we don’t put cole slaw on our pork sandwiches, we use vinegar slaw, it hasn’t got any mayo in it at all and is soooo good with BBQ!
I eat mine with vinegar slaw and ketchup, yum!!!
Then drown the rest of my plate in white sauce
Gratefully,
Christy
Christy,
I would love a recipe for vinegar-y slaw like I grew up with when I lived in Sheffield… my mom died years ago, and I can’t find a recipe for slaw in any of her cookbook collections!
Thanks!
I’m going to get that one up here sometime this summer!!! I love that slaw, too! Don’t much care for mayo slaw myself, we just don’t have that much in these parts! lol
I LOVE white BBQ sauce – particularly Greenbriar’s
It’s fantastic “squirted” on hushpuppies!
I’ll check out the new restaurant in Athens; sounds good, and I’m always looking for a neat new place to eat.
Greenbriars is all around wonderful in every possible way!
Hi, Christy! I am so incredibly thankful for Southern Plate! I’m from just over the Georgia line in the northwest corner of the and didn’t discover Alabama white BBQ sauce until about 4 years ago when my new husband and I were on the way to meet his mama in Mississippi. We stopped at Greenbriars and I fell in love! So much so that when I was pregnant with my daughter a few years ago, I was craving this stuff so much that my husband made the long trek out there to get me some (well, he was going to see his mom, but he did bring back some sauce for me!). So I was so excited when I saw this post! Woo hoo and hallelujah!
Thanks for all your amazing recipes that you share with us – and for sharing your amazing family stories with us as well!
I use nearly this same recipe and put it on shreadded cabbage (I am all about easy so I use the bagged cabbage) and I let it sit for a good 8 hours or overnight to let the cabbage soften up. It makes an INCREDIBLE cole slaw. Sometimes I put in a dash or two of tabasco to spice it up a little. This is the TEXAS version.
YEP !!!!!! JUS” LIKE YOU SAID !!! WE EAT THIS SAUCE ON EVERY THANG !!!! YUMMY !!!
THANKS FOR THE RECIPE
WILL BE TRYING YOUR ZUCCHINI BREAD THIS AFTER NOON TOO..
JUS” LOVE , LOVE SOUTHERN PLATE SITE !!
We are from middle TN and went to the Hickory Barn BBQ and I must say we were VERY DISAPPOINTED. I am only writing this because I don’t want anyone else to be as disappointed as we were. We ordered the ribs and they were very dry and tough. My friend asked what was their speciality and the lady was very snappy and said everything. It was nothing like I was expecting. I kept apologizing to my friends because it was such a disappointment.
Also, I have only had white sauce once and it so good. I have been craving it and wanted to try it again. Well, their white sauce was bitter and did not taste very good. Again, I really don’t want to complain but we only went because of the endorsement on this blog and I don’t want anyone else to be as disappointed as we were. We drove 3 1/2 hrs. Maybe the bbq sandwich would have been okay but what we had wasn’t. My husband couldn’t even finish his.
[...] Of course, even the sauce used in food that is said to have been “barbecued” – the term so often used for grilling or charbroiling – is a candidate for debate. Many of us are familiar with a tomato-based sauce that is sweet, sour and spicy. Other parts of the U.S. of A enjoy theirs with a foundation of mustard, vinegar and even mayonnaise. [...]
[...] pictured here or with a little bit of clear mild vinegar sauce poured over it, perhaps some of our white bbq sauce. In my husband’s home its served slathered in a thick layer of sweet red barbecue sauce, like [...]
After reading about your vinegar based bbq and sauce I had to check out what a white sauce was. Being from Texas where we believe in red, red sauce on red meat, I was very curious. So basically it’s the same sauce we put on coleslaw. Interesting. Isn’t it funny how different areas of the country eat the same foods only different. I grew up eating pork of course but it was pork chops and ham, never a pork roast much less pulled pork. It’s something I discovered as an adult and absolutely love. In fact that’s what’s for dinner tonight. Just wish I had read this earlier so I could have cooked it your way. Instead it went in the pressure cooker and will be mixed with Bulls Eye (our favorite store bought) because I didn’t have the stuff for my homemade sauce.
Thanks again Christy, love the new look.
Hugs from Texas
[...] White BBQ Sauce Posted on July 22, 2010 by joelsrecipes source: http://www.southernplate.com/2008/10/alabama-white-barbecue-sauce.html [...]
Thanks for the recipe. We lived for years just off County Line Rd. and were frequent customers at Greenbriers (the old one). We now live in Portland, Oregon and Greenbrier’s is one of the things I miss the most. We recently cooked up a bunch of pulled pork and with the white sauce and some cole slaw it brought back some good memories. I still haven’t found decent hush puppies here though. Thanks again.