Carolina Style Mustard BBQ Sauce

Let me see some hands! Who’s ever had Pulled Pork in South Carolina, or parts of Georgia? Okay, raise those hands high! So those of you who did, what’s the most distinctive difference between Carolina Pulled Pork and everywhere else? You! Way in the back! Speak up I can’t hear you. What? Bingo!!! That’s right, South Carolina and parts Georgia use a yellow mustard based BBQ sauce.

Mustard based BBQ sauces were developed by German immigrants who came to the region in the 18th Century. They were used to that type sauce back in Germany, so they brought it with them. Well, everyone in that part of the country cooks a lot of pork. I mean a lot of pork. And those German immigrants combined their mustard sauces with the pulled pork and an amazing transformation occurred! That smoke cooked pork, already an amazing taste treat by itself, moved up to an alternate plane of existence! The bite of the mustard and the fruitiness of the apple cider vinegar combined to make an awesome sauce that made the pork shine like gold, okay the yellow mustard accounts for the gold color, but it still shines!

Our sauce is based on several recipes. I couldn’t find one I really liked, so I combined two. It’s sweet, tangy, and has a bit of a bite to it. This stuff was designed specifically for Pulled Pork, but is pretty good on anything you would put mustard on. We have people who put it on hot dogs and rave about it. There is also a growing number that dip their french fries in it. But, seriously, it doesn’t matter what you put on, it’s just plain good!

Caroline Style Mustard BBQ Sauce

Makes 2 cups

1 cup yellow mustard, any inexpensive yellow mustard will work

¼ cup honey

¼ cup dark brown sugar

¼ cup apple cider  vinegar

½ teaspoon coarse black pepper

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon cayenne

Combine everything in a sauce pan large enough to hold it. Whisk everything together until well combined and put on heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Simmer about 10 minutes or until reduced by 25%. Cool, bottle in a squeeze bottle, and refrigerate. Avoid the temptation to use it for 24 hours, so the flavors can blend together.

If the sauce sounds like something you want to try, but you don’t want to make it yourself, come on in and you can put it on anything on our menu!

Smokin’ Will’s

821 N Roselle Road

Roselle, IL 60172

Phone – (630) 980-2333

Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce

So, today we added Pulled Pork sandwiches to our menu here at Smokin’ Will’s. Wait! What? What’s Smokin’ Will’s? Where’s Smokin’ Will’s? Why am I just hearing about Smokin’ Will’s now?

Smokin’ Will’s is a hybrid Hot Dog Joint/BBQ Shack. We’ve only owned the place since May 6, 2011 and we’ve been feeling our way about, since. Smokin’ Will’s is the start of fulfilling my dream to serve BBQ to the masses! Hear that, masses? I expect you all to be lining up in long lines to just get a whiff of the BBQ! You’re just hearing about it now because things are starting to fall into place for us. We have  Facebook page (Smokin’ Will’s. Go ahead & push like. You know you want to) and a website soon to follow. Tee-shirts have been designed and a menu is being written to incorporate the BBQ to the Hot Dog menu. It’ll be completed shortly.

Okay, back to the Pulled Pork sandwich special.  You get a large Pulled Pork sandwich, large fries and large soda for $7.49. Very good price, if you check around, and it’s a good sandwich (modesty keeps me from telling you that it’s AWESOME). I’ll tell you how to cook the pork later because I want to tell you how to make the sauce. This is really good sauce. It’s sweet, smokey, thick, and spicy. And it’s made right here at Smokin’ Will’s!

There are several types of BBQ sauce that work well with pulled pork: Golden Mustard style (made with, you guessed it, yellow mustard), Vinegar based, and Kansas City style.

Odds are that if you like real BBQ, then the sauce you’ve put on your Q has been a Kansas City (henceforth simply KC) style sauce. Do you like KC Masterpiece? How about Sweetbaby Ray’s? Ever eat at Famous Dave’s? If you like those sauces then you like KC style sauces. They are, by far, the most popular type of sauce. You can go to the store and pick up a bottle of KC style sauce cheap, but you’re reading this because cheap and easy isn’t really fun, is it?

You’ll need to assemble some spices and a nice sauce pot to make this lovely stuff. The ingredient list is below:

Kansas City Style BBQ Sauce

Makes about 4 cups

2 cup ketchup

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons molasses

4 tablespoons dark corn syrup

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon minced onions

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pot large enough to hold them. Put on heat and cook until reduced by 1/3. Cool and refrigerate before using.

There, wasn’t that simple? The only thing that’s more simple than that is driving over to Smokin’ Will’s, where the sauce is already made and there’s pulled pork to put it on!