Apple Cider Vinegar Is The Secret Ingredient For Copycat Arby's Sauce
While some fast food restaurants stick to the standard condiments like ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise, others like to have their own proprietorial ones. While Arby's hasn't gone full-on Chick-fil-A with a wide range of different dipping sauces, it does have two signature condiments that are available in grocery stores as well as in its restaurants. Still, to save you a trip to either place, we just happen to have a copycat recipe for Arby's Horsey Sauce, which is basically creamy, sweetened horseradish, and another copycat one for Arby's Sauce. The latter was developed by Jason Goldstein, who calls this condiment "a special, unique sauce" that, in his opinion, "goes well with fries, beef, and pretty much anything salty."
Arby's Sauce is essentially barbecue sauce, and it, like many other homemade barbecue sauces, starts with a ketchup base. As ketchup itself is typically made with corn syrup, there's no need to include any additional sugar to achieve the sweetness level found in Arby's sauce, but Goldstein adds a little extra flavor by sprinkling in some salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Of all the ingredients he uses, though, he says "apple cider vinegar is the one that kind of sticks out," due to what he calls a "unique taste," which is somewhat sweeter and fruitier than white or red wine vinegar.
Does it matter what kind of apple cider vinegar you use?
While Goldstein's copycat Arby's Sauce recipe does not specify any particular apple cider vinegar, he himself uses a brand called Bragg that touts itself as being a health product due to the fact that it includes the "mother." Mother, which is a cloudy mass of yeast and benign bacteria, has been credited with performing all manner of health miracles, but there really isn't much research to back this up. The University of Chicago Medicine flat-out states that ACV, to give the ingredient its trendy abbrev, won't do a damn thing to lower blood pressure or cure cancer, nor will it end world hunger or bring about peace in the Middle East.
The thing about this is, even if there are any benefits to be derived from apple cider vinegar, with or without the mother, generally you'd need to consume at least a teaspoon of the stuff per day to see any improvement in your health. As each tablespoon of copycat Arby's Sauce only contains about ⅛ teaspoon of vinegar, it seems safe to say that you can use any kind of apple cider vinegar you wish. If you've got the pricey organic kind on hand, sure, go ahead and use it, but if not, the cheaper distilled kind will work just as well.