Editor's note: To read more about Raichlen and barbecue, go to our feature The Best Barbecue in the U.S.A.

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　　Peppery and piquant, this vinegar sauce is the preferred condiment of eastern North Carolina. In the western part of the state, the sauce becomes more tomatoey, while in southern parts of the Carolinas, mustard sauce reigns supreme.

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Ingredients

　　2 cups cider vinegar

　　1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons ketchup

　　1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar, or more to taste

　　5 teaspoons salt, or more to taste

　　4 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes

　　1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

　　1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

　　Combine the vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and white pepper with 1 1/3 cups of water in a nonreactive medium-size bowl and whisk until the sugar and salt dissolve. Taste for seasoning, adding more brown sugar and/or salt as necessary; the sauce should be piquant but not quite sour.

　　Excerpted from The Barbecue! Bible 10th Anniversary Edition by Steven Raichlen, © 1998. (Workman)