EAT ON ACID
I had a small taste of the East Carolina barbecue tradition a few years ago at a 4th of July pig roast in Atlanta. One of the guests brought a homemade jar of barbecue sauce from his family recipe in the Carolinas, a vinegary concoction that reminded me more of Southeast Asia than the American South. I questioned the recipe at first because it honest-to-god looked more like a bottle of clear salad dressing, sans the oil. But when I splashed it on some of the pork that had been roasting all day, I instantly understood the allure — the spicy, peppery tang cut right through the fatty sweetness of the meat. With vinegar, pepper and hot chili flakes composing the primary ingredients, this is barbecue sauce before the commodity of ketchup.
I got to try it again earlier this week when I made a 4.5 hour road trip pilgrimage to the Godfather of East Carolina BBQ: The Skylight Inn in Ayden, NC. I had never had whole hog barbecue before, and the Skylight Inn's take on it, with chopped up bits of crunchy skin mixed in for good measure, was simple and amazing. The sauce? Tart and delicious.
I would try and make this sauce at home, but I don't have the time to smoke my own meat and the barbecue in Atlanta (or anywhere, really) tends to be much more flavorful- extra sauce is often overkill.
Still, the flavor profile reminds me of a variety of other really punchy acid based sauces that are intended to cut through rich, fatty meats.
April Bloomfield's recipe for lemon caper dressing turns the vinaigrette oil:vinegar ratio on its head with a healthy amount of lemon juice, a huge spoonful of dijon mustard and briny capers. Your steak salad will bow and submit. Tomatoes will render the flavor of candy. It's pretty magical.
Back in college, one of my favorite cheap meals was one a Filipino friend introduced to me: fried chicken, steamed rice and dipping bowl of suka, a Filipino vinegar sauce. His family recipe for suka had in it a healthy amount of fresh minced garlic, which provided an extra sting against the Southern fried crunchiness. That suka is still one of my favorite ways to enjoy fried chicken if I'm eating at home.
And whenever I visit family and friends in New York, someone will always suggest we go out for Shanghai soup dumplings, savory parcels of pork and crab that would not be complete without the side of black vinegar.
So while the East Carolina barbecue sauce is unique to the barbecue world, vinegar and acid based sauces do have their place in a variety of cuisines. It's comforting to know that culinary rules are intended to be broken. Or maybe there aren't any rules. We just like to eat what's delicious.
 Basic Recipe for College Suka
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar (white vinegar is honestly okay) - 1 tbsp minced garlic - fresh cracked pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a small dish. It's best to let this sit for at least an hour to let the garlic marry with the vinegar, but it will still taste good if used immediately. If you have chopped thai chilis on hand, they are pretty amazing with this.
My preference for fried chicken these days is either Popeye's or Publix. An Asian-style short or medium grain rice, the semi-sticky type that is cooked with less than a 1:1.5 ratio of rice to water, is ideal.