Alton Brown has had plenty of opportunities to sample the best Alabama has to offer. He identifies exactly one signature food with the state, and it’s not even close.

Let’s put this in context. Brown has shown up at a Dauphin Island gumbo cook-off. He’s found “good eats” in Birmingham including Saw’s barbecue and Heavenly Donuts, and is on the record about loving the Barber Motorsports Museum. He has visited Marshall Space Flight Center and roamed Huntsville’s restaurant scene. He says he and his wife have a cabin somewhere in Alabama for weekend getaways.

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In short, when Alton Brown visits Alabama, he knows where he’s going. If he’s hungry for something, he knows where to find it.

As it happens, he’ll be visiting in the near future, as his “Last Bite” tour brings him to Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery and Huntsville. He’ll probably sample old favorites and look for some new ones as he visits – but when the name “Alabama” comes up, one things comes to mind.

“Oh heck, it’s that white sauce,” he said, referring to a style of barbecue sauce credited to Bob Gibson, the founder of Decatur’s Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q. It’s a vinegar-based sauce bolstered with mayonnaise, which accounts for the color.

He’s not alone. Southern Living has ranked Alabama white sauce as one of the South’s most iconic recipes. The secret has been out for a while. Heck, you might even find someone willing to pour it over a plate of nachos for you.

“It’s that white sauce, man,” Brown repeated. “I’m sorry, but if I was drawing a map of America and each state got one food, Alabama would be getting the white sauce, and I know that’s not even fair, you know, because there is some of the finest seafood in in the country there, and there is amazing barbecue, especially in the north. But the white sauce.”

So that’s that. But there’s one other thing you should know about what happens when Alton Brown comes to town. Despite his abundant culinary curiosity, you probably won’t bump into him before the show.

“I’m looking forward to making some new discoveries while I’m there,” he said. “As far as, old favorites, I mean, there’s so much great food … but I don’t get to go out much during the day. Insurance issues. Like, you know, I could get hit by a car. I could eat something and get sick, and, you know, producers frown on that kind of thing.

“But after the show, we bring in a lot of food for after the show. So that’s when I get to really enjoy myself.”