The widely celebrated Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q in Decatur, Alabama, is celebrating its centennial all year long. A restaurant sticking around 100 years means it has to be good, and winning the first-place award for pork shoulder again at the Memphis in May World Championship BBQ Cook-off must’ve been like icing on the cake dry rub on the shoulder.
To commemorate this special culinary centenary for a North Alabama favorite, we gathered 100 facts for 100 years of Big Bob’s.
First, the white sauce
- Robert “Big Bob” Gibson originated Alabama white sauce, most likely before the restaurant started 100 years ago.
- To try making it at home, start with one cup of mayo.
- Add a another cup of mayo,
- One teaspoon of prepared horseradish,
- Another teaspoon of prepared horseradish,
- One teaspoon of black pepper,
- Another teaspoon of black pepper,
- One teaspoon of fresh lemon juice,
- Another teaspoon of fresh lemon juice,
- One cup of distilled white vinegar,
- 1 teaspoon of salt,
- ½ cup of apple juice and
- ½ teaspoon of cayenne pepper.
- Mix everything above for four cups of homemade white sauce.
- You can use it as a marinade, for basting or dipping.
- The sauce was named “Best Sauce on the Planet” in 1998 by the American Royal International Barbeque Contest.
- Three years before, the sauce took first place at the ARIBC.
Origin story + five generations of barbecue
18. Bob Gibson was an L&N railroad worker.
19-21. Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q started in 1925 with its first location in Decatur, Alabama, a hand-dug barbecue pit in Bob’s backyard…