BBQ Recipes: Alabama White Chicken

Here's something different to try out this weekend, White Barbecue Sauce. I found this recipe on the web and it's worth trying out. Tomorrow I'll post the original recipe from Big Bob Gibson's. Enjoy.

Alabama-style barbecue uses a mayonnaise-vinegar sauce
By Jill Wendholt Silva McClatchy Newspapers

In the Midwest, barbecue sauce is red, but in northern Alabama, white sauce rules.

Barbecue lore offers this nugget : In 1925, a 6-foot-4-inch, 300-pound railroad worker-turned pitmaster named Big Bob Gibson from Decatur, Ala., began using a rather thin vinegar-mayonnaise sauce flecked with black pepper to marinate his chicken.

Today his offspring carry on the white sauce tradition at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q restaurants. According to the restaurant’s Web site, whole chickens are split, seasoned and laid open on the hickory-smoke pit to cook at 350 degrees for 3/2 hours.

Just before serving, the birds get a dip in a vat of white sauce.

“I thought it would have a more mayonnaise-y accent, but the first thing I think of is vinegary,” says Ardie Davis, a Kansas City-based barbecue sauce expert and author of The Great BBQ Sauce Book (Ten Speed Press).

“It’s also good on pork because it complements the natural sweetness of the meat. What I regret is in Kansas City you just can’t go to the store and buy it.”

Order a case of Big Bob’s White Sauce off the Internet and it will set you back $30, plus shipping and handling. But if you’re not sure you’re ready to wholesale switch from red to white, our recipe for Grilled Chicken With Alabama White Sauce lets you make a homemade version - one that will also save on fat and calories.

In recent years, several recipes for Big Bob Gibson’s White Sauce have been published. One that appears on the Food Network website includes horseradish and ground red pepper (cayenne).

Our version applies a dry rub that includes chili powder and paprika, and instead of slow cooking a whole bird, we opted for boneless, skinless chicken breast on the grill, which cuts down on cooking time.

Grilled Chicken With Alabama White Sauce
Chicken:

• 1 /4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 /2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 /4 teaspoon chili powder
• Dash salt
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves

Sauce:

• 1 /2 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1 /3 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
• Dash hot pepper sauce
• Dash salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

To make the chicken: Combine garlic powder, paprika, chili powder and a dash of salt. Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry; rub seasoning mixture evenly over both sides of chicken.

Heat grill or let coals burn down to white ash. Grill chicken 9 to 12 minutes, until fully cooked and meat thermometer registers 170 degrees, turning midway through cooking.

To make the sauce: Combine all ingredients and whisk until smooth. Serve sauce spooned over grilled chicken or serve as a dipping sauce. Makes 4 servings.