We were in Mooresville, NC last week on a short getaway to Lake Norman when I found myself at one of my favorite hangouts – the Food Lion. Food Lion, as you know, is based in Carolina and this is one of their flagship stores. I was there to pick up a few staples for dinner but, as always, I had to do a little poking around, especially in the “Sauce” section where I came across a product called George’s BBQ Sauce, and since I was slow-cooking a pork shoulder and had left my Charlie Mills’ BBQ Sauce mix at home, I decided to buy a bottle.
Wowza! What a great sauce!
George’s is an Eastern NC classic BBQ sauce with vinegar, red pepper, spices (and a few apples for sweetness). It was dynamite on my pork BBQ sandwich.
Then, last night I did a pork tenderloin and needed a marinade. Usually, I use some olive oil, soy sauce, garlic, red wine and whatever jumps out at me, but this time I reached for my bottle of George’s Sauce, poured a cup in a Zip-Loc over the tenderloin, let it marinate for several hours and it was unbelievable.
If you like North Carolina barbeque, you need some of this sauce. I’m not aware of any store in Virginia that sells it. Face it, Virginia makes some great hams, but awful barbeque. So you can make a 10-hour round trip jaunt to Mooresville and buy some, or you can go to George’s web site (georgesbbqsauce.com) and order what you need. They make a regular sauce, a hot sauce and a special sauce with both jalapeno and crushed red peppers. You can order an assortment if so inclined. I just ordered three bottles of their regular sauce because I never, ever want to be without it again.
I can’t wait to marinate some chicken leg-quarters and toss them on the grill.
The product dates back 1992, when “George’s Sauce’s” was purchased by Beth Chappell of Nashville, NC from George Stallings of nearby Rocky Mount. For years, George had been treating friends and relatives to the special barbecue sauce he had developed in his home kitchen. By the mid 1970’s, his sauce production had grown into a thriving business.
With aggressive marketing, George’s Sauces has continued to grow and is now one of the most sought-after barbecue sauces in the Carolinas. Today, George’s has four full-time employees that produce an average of 3500 bottles of barbecue sauce a day.
Rachael Ray’s Magazine rated it as the “Best in the Carolinas” and that’s saying something.
Try it. You won’t be sorry.