Lexington Dip Recipe

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated Aug. 30, 2018
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We cross into western North Carolina to find a sauce that's starkly different. You almost won't even recognize it as barbecue sauce at first. The Piedmont area of North Carolina's take on barbecue sauce is thin, vinegary, and hot.

This isn't a sauce you'd baste on grilled chicken, but rather, as the name implies, it's used as a dip or topping. Tasted alone, it's harsh with a strong bite of vinegar and heat that borders on excessive. Introduce it to pile of pulled pork though, and it's a match made in heaven.

There's something about the vinegar that brings out the smokiness of pork all the more, and complements the pork flavor without masking it—not something you can say about thicker tomato sauces. With the sauce mixed into the pork, the heat still comes through, but in a way you may not expect after trying the sauce alone, and having your tongue burned after.

Recipe Details

Lexington Dip Recipe

Active 20 mins
Total 40 mins
Serves 20 servings
Makes 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar

  • 1/2 cup water

  • 1/2 cup ketchup

  • 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

  • 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt

  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

  2. Remove from heat, allow to cool to room temperature. Pour into jar and store in refrigerator.

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
13 Calories
0g Fat
2g Carbs
0g Protein
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Nutrition Facts
Servings: 20
Amount per serving
Calories 13
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 119mg 5%
Total Carbohydrate 2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 0mg 2%
Calcium 3mg 0%
Iron 0mg 0%
Potassium 35mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)