Mustard-Based BBQ Sauce, South Carolina-Style
In the Palmetto State the barbecue sauce is bright yellow thanks to its solid mustard foundation
Posted November 8, 2016
11-08 2016
Visitors from elsewhere—accustomed to the orangish-brown tomato-based sauces popularized in places like Kansas City—tend to react to South Carolina’s unique concoction with a mixture of bewilderment and fear. (Lord, please don’t send such folks down to Alabama—one glance at the white stuff they serve down there may well do them in.) But everyone should give mustard based sauce a shot. I will admit that it’s a bit of an acquired taste, but after sufficient plates of properly-sauced pulled pork that sharp but sweet flavor really starts to grow on you.
Making Your Own
Making your own mustard-based barbecue sauce is a snap, especially if you keep things simple. When it comes to barbecue sauces, recipe writers can't seem to restrain themselves. They feel compelled to goose them up with herbs and spices and all sorts of cheffy flourishes. And when it comes to simulating Midlands South Carolina-style mustard based sauce, they are prone to go uptown and use fancy whole grain or dijon mustards, which not only wastes a lot of money but results in an inferior sauce.
Stick with plain yellow prepared mustard. Some cooks in the Midlands swear by “bran mustard,” which includes the bran (that is, the husk) of the mustard seed and gives it a stronger flavor, but I think the plain old grocery-store brand yellow mustard is just fine. You can go with either brown sugar or honey for the sweetener, but if you have both on hand you might as well use a blend.
South Carolina-Style Mustard-Based Barbecue Sauce
Makes approximately 2 cups finished sauce- 2 cups yellow mustard
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- A few dashes of red cayenne pepper
- Black pepper to taste
Combine all the ingredients in saucepan and put on the stove over medium heat. Stir regularly until the sugar and honey have melted and the mixture is just beginning to bubble. Remove from the heat, cool to room temperature, then put in a bottle or jar and refrigerate. Mustard based sauce will keep in the refrigerator for many, many weeks.
Buying Mustard-Based Sauce
If you’re adverse to making your own or just want to sample the different varieties of mustard-based sauce available in South Carolina, you have lots of options, for many of the state’s restaurateurs have created a nice side business bottling and selling their sauce. Picking up a bottle when you're at the restaurant itself is your best bet, but here are a few that are available for purchase online.
Sticky Fingers Sauce Carolina Classic BBQ Sauce
Sticky Fingers, a Charleston-based barbecue chain, has a full line of barbecue sauces in various flavors, including this yellow mustard based sauce.
Johnny Harris Carolina Mustard Sauce
Savannah's Johnny Harris Restaurant closed its doors in the summer of 2016 after over 80 decades in business, but their sauce factory is still up and pumping. This yellow mustard sauce was created to please the restaurant's clientele from across the river in South Carolina.
Melvin's Original Golden Secret
The Bessinger family claims to have invented the Carolina-style mustard based barbecue sauce, and history seems to be on their side. You can buy the legendary sauce at Bessinger's or Melvin's restaurants in Charleston, and Melvin's sells it in their their online store, too.
Read More
An Introduction to South Carolina BBQ
About the Author
Robert F. Moss
Robert F. Moss is the Contributing Barbecue Editor for Southern Living magazine, Restaurant Critic for the Post & Courier, and the author of numerous books on Southern food and drink, including The Lost Southern Chefs, Barbecue: The History of an American Institution, Southern Spirits: 400 Years of Drinking in the American South, and Barbecue Lovers: The Carolinas. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.