Tangy Carolina BBQ Chicken

There is a well-renowned restaurant in Mt Vernon, IA called “Lincoln Café”. At night, they have a couple really high end entrées to choose from.  But at lunch, it’s a much more casual dining experience.  My first visit was during lunch to try their “Carolina Pulled Pork” sandwich.

It may surprise some of you to know that the Carolinas have different takes on BBQ sauce.  And it isn’t North versus South, but rather East versus West.  Typically the Eastern Carolina variety is a vinegar based sauce, while the Western Carolina adds tomato to their sauce.  Lincoln Café’s pulled pork is the Eastern variety … and it’s delicious. 

That was my first experience with that type of sauce.  Later when I was down in Corpus Christi at a local grocery chain I saw a bottle of BBQ sauce labeled “Carolina Tangy Gold” and made chicken wings from it. It was so amazing that I looked & looked for it up here in Iowa.  No luck.

So this spring I had my parents bring me back 3 bottles of that delicious sauce.  The best part is that it’s only like $1.28 per bottle!  Craziness.  Now upon further research I found out there is another category of Carolina sauce that most certainly describes the one I got:

“In the central part of the state (the Midlands), barbecue is characterized by the use of a yellow "Carolina Gold" sauce, made from a mixture of yellow mustard, vinegar, brown sugar and other spices.” From Wikipedia

Well, this BBQ sauce I stumbled upon sounds like a great example of this variety.  It is tangy and sweet and you can definitely taste the mustard ... which I love.  Instead of chicken wings, this time I opted for a healthier boneless, skinless breast.  Remove all the excess skin & fat and then poke a bunch of holes with a fork.

Baste the breast(s) with your BBQ sauce and let it marinade for 20-30 minutes.

I put it on the grill with the basted side up.  I wanted it to cook down and thicken a bit before flipping it upside down so it wouldn't drip all down through the grates.  I also grilled some green beans and Yukon gold potatoes.

After the breast had cooked for 5-7 minutes on the one side, I flipped them over and basted the other side with more BBQ sauce.  I cooked them for another 5-6 minutes, did one last flip to kind of caramelize the second half of sauce, and it was good to go!  I had an entire meal - protein, vegetable, and starch - entirely prepared on the grill

The sauce is sticky & sweet, but there is the nice bite of vinegar and mustard to round out the flavor profile.  Now I just need to think of other ways to use this delicious sauce!