Chicken Sandwiches with Alabama White Sauce

When I wrote about the Carolina barbecue sauces the other day, I mentioned a book I purchased in Memphis years ago: Peace, Love, & Barbecue. The book has several recipes for barbecue sauces, including one that I had not heard of before: an Alabama white sauce, made famous by Big Bob Gibson's Bar-B-Q. Apparently the sauce is only found in northern Alabama. (I've driven through northern Alabama - I once passed by a tornado just outside Birmingham - but I've never stopped anywhere for barbecue.) It sounded good so I made it and loved it. 

I haven't made any in years, but decided to give it a try the other night. 

I rubbed two chicken breasts with poultry rub and placed them in the slow cooker with some apple juice. I left them there on low for five hours.

The juicy chicken broke apart quite easily.

The sauce recipe is easily found online - Big Bob Gibson shared it freely with people. The main ingredients are mayonnaise, vinegar, lemon juice and cracked black pepper. It has the sweetness of mayo (and a bit of added sugar) but the tang of the vinegar and lemon is very noticeable, as is the black pepper.

I tossed half the chicken pieces in the bowl of sauce and left half of them without sauce. I placed both on a soft Kaiser roll.

I added some red cabbage slaw and my last two homemade pickles.

This was a delicious sandwich. I will not be letting another few years go by before I make this sauce again.