Famous Mustard Sauce (Carolina BBQ Mustard Sauce)

The Recipe: A mustard sauce that's a tiny-bit spicy and a tiny-bit sweet and totally addictive. The investment is just a handful of pantry ingredients but the return is big, a Carolina BBQ mustard sauce that we turn to again and again.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

Which Is It, Secret or Famous?

What was it we called this mustard concoction, at first? Secret Mustard Sauce, I think it was.

It was the last frantic minutes packing up to cook a pig across town for an after-wedding family gathering. I was grating too-many cabbages for Alice Waters' Coleslaw but managed to quick-quick throw together a double batch of a Carolina BBQ mustard sauce. The recipe was so secret, we laughed, that even the pig cooker (aka The Man With the Hands) didn't know exactly what all went in it.

But when I bottled it up, I labeled the squeeze bottles "Uncle R's Famous Mustard Sauce" as if it were some old family recipe tweaked and perfected over the years.

Was it the sauce or the marketing? People went crazy for the stuff, testing a taste with a finger, then squirting it alllllllll over their pulled pork sandwiches and slices of roast pork.

Bottles Later ...

The recipe remains "secret" (until now!) but I still label the bottles "Famous Mustard Sauce" ... and it really is famous, if fame means grabbing for a squeeze or two many times a week.

It's just one of those little extras that makes cooking easier, both as an ingredient (a squirt for scrambled eggs, say) and a condiment (a squirt on top of cooked eggs, say).

It's still definitely "mustard" – just better, a touch of sweet, a touch of heat, a touch of spice. It's mustard, just more interesting.

We especially love Famous Mustard Sauce with pork, no surprise since its origins are as a mustard sauce traditional with Carolina BBQ. But try a squirt in chicken salad or on top of grilled chicken or to embellish a burger or stir some into some sautéed green beans or drizzle on top of roasted asparagus or as the mustard in a salad dressing.

Any time I recipe calls for plain mustard, there's a good chance that Famous Mustard Sauce will be a tasty substitute. In our kitchen, when it runs out, I make more ASAP. Now that's famous.

You'll Love Our Famous Mustard Sauce If You're ...

• aghast at the price of specialty condiments
• an intuitive cook, a dab of this, a dab of that
• tired of plain old mustard, even good mustards
• gearing up for summer grilling
• looking for, recipe-wise, small investments but big returns

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FAMOUS MUSTARD SAUCE (CAROLINA BBQ MUSTARD SAUCE)

Hands-on time: 10 minutes
Time to table: 10 minutes
Makes 3-1/2 cups

• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1-1/2 cups (360g) yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup (100g) brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (165g) apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup (6oz/165) soda/pop
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne (or more to taste)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire
• 1 tablespoon Liquid Smoke
• 1 teaspoon hot sauce (or more to taste)

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. If you start with a microwave-safe bowl, it's a one-bowl endeavor. If you place that bowl on top of a kitchen scale, you don't even need to dirty any measuring cups!

MAKE-AHEAD TIPS We go through a batch of Famous Mustard Sauce every two to three months, it keeps beautifully in the fridge.

ALANNA's TIPS For soda/pop, I've used ginger ale, Coke and orange soda (not quite as good). Dr Pepper would be excellent! The inspiring recipe called for beer. For hot sauce, I use Frank's Original. Who else keeps a few squeeze bottles on hand, just for stuff like this?

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Tablespoon: 18 Calories; 1g Tot Fat; 0g Sat Fat; 1mg Cholesterol; 86mg Sodium; 3g Carb; 0g Fiber; 2g Sugar; 0g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 0 & PointsPlus 0 & SmartPoints 1 & Freestyle 1

Adapted from Best Carolina BBQ Meat Sauce on AllRecipes.com.

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The Little Extras That Can Make All the Difference

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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make my Famous Mustard Sauce, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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