The 'Secret' Sauce

 

Now that Memorial Day is receding in the rear view mirror, the summer grilling season is in full swing. This has gotten me to assess the sauces and seasonings I use to see what needs to be restocked. I was reassured to see that one of my favorites, of which few people seem to be aware, was in good supply, with a partial bottle in the fridge and an unopened one in the cabinet. What is this esoteric staple of my grilling arsenal? It's Carolina Treet Cooking Barbecue sauce. Unique among barbecue sauces, it has a savory flavor with no sweetness; in fact, it contains no sugars or other sweeteners, which is good for me as a diabetic. Look at the ingredient lists on most barbecue sauces and you'll find something like high-fructose corn syrup at the top of the list, but not here. 

Carolina Treet grew out of the vinegary tradition of eastern North Carolina barbecue, but it's thickened to cling to the meat. Legend has it the sauce was developed in the 1950s by a local grocery store in Wilmington, N.C. to coat their barbecue chicken. Today, it's gone on to be a regional favorite, carried by grocery stores throughout the Carolinas. 

When reading reviews of Carolina Treet online, the only negative ones I ever see are from people who have unrealistic expectations of it. They think they're getting a traditional, sweet, tangy BBQ sauce, and are thus unprepared for its true nature, and as Jack Nicholson's character said in A Few Good Men, "[They] can't handle the truth," which is that Carolina Treet is more of a cooking sauce, which is why that word appears above 'Barbecue' on the label. In short, tasting is believing.

I first encountered Carolina Treet more than 40 years ago when a friend, who had grown up in Wilmington, invited me to a family cookout at nearby Wrightsville Beach. The centerpiece was chicken, grilled with Carolina Treet. It was literally the best chicken I had ever had. Nothing else tasted anything like it. I immediately put it on my grocery shopping list and made it a permanent fixture of my pantry. 

What is truly surprising about Carolina Treet is the way it tastes out of the bottle is completely different from how it tastes on the cooked meat. The flavor out of the bottle is somewhat aggressive, vinegary and spicy. Years ago, I made the mistake of letting my then-stepdaughter taste the sauce on a spoon and she then refused to eat the meat grilled with it. This subsequently prompted my (now ex-) wife to ban it from our pantry. This was unfortunate because what happens to the meat on the grill is nothing short of magical. 

Since it contains no sugar, the sauce does not caramelize and blacken on the grill the way most other barbecue sauces do. Instead, as it sticks to the outside of the meat, it forms sort of a crust that melds with the juices and seals them in, so not only is the meat juicier, but the flavor of the sauce itself is transformed from the vinegar-and-spice profile straight out of the bottle to something much more subtle that enhances the flavor of the meat instead of competing with it or covering it up. 

I use Carolina Treet frequently when grilling chicken, and with consistently tasty results, and I even pour a little into the slow cooker as a flavor enhancer when I make Brunswick stew, giving the broth an extra measure of richness. But by far, my favorite way to use Carolina Treet is on pork, particularly thick-cut pork loin chops. As with chicken, I brush the sauce on when I first place the meat on the grill, and then reapply it every time I turn the meat, letting the sauce gradually build into a savory crust, as it seals in juices and turns the thin layer of fat on the edge into a rich explosion of flavor. 

Carolina Treet is definitely a regional phenomenon, available primarily on North Carolina grocery shelves, but it is one deserving of expansion. Priced similarly to other barbecue sauces at local stores, it is hard to find in other regions, and I have read of people outside the Carolinas going to great lengths to procure a bottle or two. The times I have been unable to find it on a store's shelf is usually because it's temporarily sold out, not because the store has stopped carrying it. The sauce can also be purchased online from the manufacturer's Web site or via resellers like Amazon, albeit at a significant markup, compared to the prices charged at local stores. 

There are few things in life that stand the test of time, remaining only in their original and unadulterated form, but Carolina Treet is indeed one of them. To date, it remains a category unto itself, without competing versions or store brand knockoffs, nor Carolina Treet seen fit to expand its offerings beyond the original sauce. To be honest, I truly cringe at the thought of what some huge, corporate conglomerate might do to Carolina Treet in an attempt to bring it to a more mass audience and/or cut production costs. At least for now, that's not on the radar. We don't have to worry about such gastronomic nightmares, and can take comfort that even though Carolina Treet is less known to the masses, those who do know it love and appreciate it for what it is, meaning the secret is not only in the sauce, the sauce itself is the secret!