Simple, satisfying 3-ingredient barbecue sauces

Traditional American barbecue sauces have always had an air of mystery. The lengthy ingredient lists. The complex flavors. The secrecy surrounding the recipe. The mythical pitmasters who vow to take their formulas to the grave.

So the notion of a barbecue sauce that contains only three ingredients smacks of heresy – even more so when you can assemble it in a matter of minutes. But there are precedents in regional American barbecue. Each of these recipes requires just three ingredients (not counting salt and pepper), and all will take your barbecue far beyond the sweet tomato-based condiment most of us call barbecue sauce.

“Vinegar sauce is the original American barbecue sauce,” said John Shelton Reed, author of “On Barbecue.” While a watery mix of cider vinegar, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper may not seem like barbecue sauce to most Americans, North Carolina-style pulled pork just wouldn’t taste right without it.

The vinegar counterpoints the fatty pork, while the black and hot peppers crank up the heat. In western North Carolina, ketchup is added for sweetness. The debate as to which is superior remains fiercely fought. Personally, I prefer the ketchup-free version, agreeing with Wilber Shirley, the founder of Wilber’s Barbecue in Goldsboro, North Carolina, who once said, “You don’t put vinegar on beef, and you don’t put ketchup on pork.”

South Carolina’s contribution to regional American barbecue is mustard sauce. Barbecue buffs – from Columbia, South Carolina, through Georgia, and in parts of Kentucky and Florida – understand the wonders that mustard can work on pork; how the spice enhances the meat’s sweetness, while the acidity cuts through the fat.

Mustard may be the addition of the German immigrants who settled in South Carolina in the 18th century and whose descendants opened barbecue restaurants still revered in the state, such as Bessingers in Charleston, Sweatman’s in Holly Hill and Hite’s in West Columbia.

A good mustard sauce is a study in balance: the bite of mustard and mouth-pucker of vinegar offset by the sweetness of honey or brown sugar. Tradition calls for using ballpark-style mustard, but try the suaveness of Dijon-style mustard or a grainy mustard from Meaux in France.

There’s no mystery about the origin of this third sauce: Alabama’s unique white barbecue sauce. The place was Decatur, Alabama, where “Big” Bob Gibson, a railroad man and barbecue buff, began selling barbecued chicken from his backyard in the 1920s. Legend has it that Gibson created the sauce for a customer who hated tomatoes.

This piquant mixture of mayonnaise, vinegar and black pepper has accompanied barbecued chicken through five generations of pit masters at Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q. The mayo thing may sound strange, but it’s awesome.

According to Robert F. Moss, the author of “Barbecue: The History of an American Institution,” a new generation of Southern chefs is upscaling the recipe, using homemade mayonnaise, uncommon mustards and designer vinegars.

But there’s no need to get fancy. Three ingredients are all that’s required to take each of these distinctive Southern barbecue sauces over the top.

North Carolina Vinegar Sauce

Some pit masters add liquid hot sauce in place of (or in addition to) red-pepper flakes, while others add water to diminish the vinegary bite.

2 cups apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup (optional)

1 to 2 tablespoons red-pepper flakes

1 tablespoon kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal), plus more to taste

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste

Place the vinegar, ketchup (if using), red-pepper flakes, salt and pepper in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake until the salt dissolves (or place the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until the salt dissolves). Season to taste with more salt or pepper as needed.

To serve, mix with or spoon over pulled pork. (It’s also great over shredded barbecued chicken or lamb.) Sauce keeps, refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks.

South Carolina Mustard BBQ Sauce

Serve this sauce over smoked, pulled or grilled pork (it goes great with pork tenderloin), smoked or grilled chicken, grilled salmon and other seafood, and why not, whole roasted cauliflower.

2/3 cup grainy or Dijon-style mustard

2/3 cup apple cider vinegar

2/3 cup honey or dark brown sugar

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine the mustard, vinegar and honey in a small saucepan and whisk to mix. Bring to a simmer over medium and cook for 3 minutes, then let cool to room temperature for serving. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Serve over sliced or chopped smoked chicken, pulled or grilled pork, grilled salmon and other seafood, and even whole roasted cauliflower. Sauce keeps, refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks.

Alabama White BBQ Sauce

If you’re not from Alabama, mayonnaise may sound like a strange ingredient for a barbecue sauce, but its creamy piquancy goes great with smoked chicken, pulled pork and roast beef. Some pit masters like to crank up the heat with some prepared horseradish.

2 cups mayonnaise

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup jarred prepared white horseradish (optional)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the mayonnaise, vinegar and horseradish (if using) in a deep medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Brush on barbecued chicken or pork toward the end of cooking, then spoon it over the meat once cooked. It may raise some eyebrows, but white barbecue sauce also tastes awesome over smoked chicken, pulled pork and roast beef.

Sauce keeps, refrigerated, for up to 2 weeks. (Give the jar a good shake before using.)