Eastern North Carolina Vinegar Sauce

To continue our journey through southern BBQ, I take you to the coast of NC. Mainly known for roasting whole pigs over a pit (sometimes made out of old refrigerators), folks there make a nearly pure vinegar sauce. They use this sauce as a baste/mop sauce, BBQ sauce, dressing, dip, and coleslaw dressing. Some of it can get pretty hot. I've seen guys pour quarts of this stuff into the carcass of a roastintg pig.

Most people are horrified by the thought of a pure vinegar sauce (Andiken is one of them), but it really grows on you. I've grown to like it on my pulled pork, then I add a thicker sauce to the top, like a SC mustard or tomato sauce. Mike Mills in Peace, Love, and BBQ lists Goldsboro as one of the capitals of this type of BBQ. The "Western" style of NC BBQ tends to start and be led in Lexington, which is actually in the middle of the state, vs the Western part where I hail from.

I've tried many different recipes, and I find this one the best (from Southern Living, Nov 2003):

7 cups vinegar (preferrably distilled white vinegar [not white wine vinegar], but if you're partial to cider vinegar, it works great too. You can also mix the 2 if desired and it tastes great)
1 cup ginger ale
3 tablespoons dried crushed red pepper flakes
1-2 tablespoons ground black pepper

This stuff keeps for a long time, and doesn't need to even be refridgerated.