Alabama white sauce — a tangy, peppery, mayonnaise-and-vinegar-based sauce invented by Robert "Big Bob" Gibson at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama in 1925 — is the most iconoclastic barbecue sauce in America. It is white. It is mayonnaise-based. It is applied to smoked chicken by dunking the entire bird into a vat of the sauce immediately after it comes off the smoker. The sauce violates every convention of American barbecue sauce (no tomato, no sweetness, no red colour) and yet it has survived for a century in one of the most tradition-bound food cultures in the country because it works — the tangy, peppery, creamy sauce is an extraordinary complement to smoked poultry.
A thin, creamy, pale sauce: mayonnaise, cider vinegar, lemon juice, prepared horseradish, black pepper, cayenne, salt, and sometimes a splash of apple juice. The consistency should be thin enough to pour and dip — thinner than mayonnaise, thicker than vinegar sauce. The flavour should be tangy (vinegar/lemon), creamy (mayo), sharp (horseradish), and peppery (black and cayenne). It should taste bright, acidic, and cooling rather than rich and heavy.
On smoked chicken. As a slaw dressing. As a dipping sauce. The sauce's brightness and acidity want rich, smoky, fatty companions.
1) The sauce is for poultry — specifically smoked chicken. It is not traditionally applied to pork or beef (though modern use has expanded). 2) The dunk: the whole smoked chicken is submerged in the sauce immediately off the smoker. The hot bird absorbs the sauce; the mayo's fat clings to the skin; the vinegar penetrates. The result is a chicken coated in a thin, tangy, peppery glaze. 3) Thin it more than you think — the sauce should flow freely. Thick white sauce doesn't penetrate; it sits on the surface. 4) The horseradish is essential — it provides the nasal sharpness that lifts the sauce from "mayo with vinegar" to something with genuine bite.
White sauce as a coleslaw dressing — thinned slightly, it produces a tangy, peppery slaw that is the perfect pairing with smoked chicken or pulled pork. White sauce as a dipping sauce for fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, or raw vegetables. Its versatility extends far beyond the smoker. Big Bob Gibson's competition team has won multiple world championships at Memphis in May using their white sauce chicken — the sauce that critics dismissed as a novelty has been validated at the highest level of competition.
Making it too thick — it should be pourable, not spreadable. Omitting the horseradish — the sauce becomes bland and one-dimensional. Applying it to brisket and expecting the same result — the sauce was designed for poultry's lighter flavour and thinner skin. On beef, it can be lost.
Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q; Meathead Goldwyn — The Science of Great Barbecue