Our next sauce is #5!
#5 SoFlaQuer's Carolina Mustard Sauce (
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/forum/thread/51920/soflaquer-s-carolina-mustard-sauce)
I've seen alot of different inputs on this type of sauce, which happens to be one of my all time favorites. I love it on ribs and certain smoked pork. Most standard recipes I have found to be too vinegary or bland. It has taken me years to perfect this recipe to my taste. Too much of this, or not enough of that can ruin this type of sauce very easily. So I hope you enjoy this as much as I do!
SoFlaQuer's Carolina Mustard Sauce
¾ Cup Yellow Mustard
¾ Cup Red Wine Vinegar
½ Cup White Sugar
3 Tbsp. Dark Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp. Butter
2 Tsp. Salt
½ Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce (Lea & Perrins)
½ Tsp. Soy Sauce
½ Tsp. Tabasco Sauce
1½ Tsp. Course Ground Black Pepper
1 Tsp. White Pepper
In a medium saucepan, combine ingredients, stirring to blend. Bring to boil, then lower to simmer for at least 30 minutes. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.
TIP: I use a handheld upright blender at the simmer point to really give it a good blend and aerate the sauce. It makes for a much smoother finished product!
Recipe Review:
Notes: Whilst the previous mustard sauce tested (Roxy's) has a large following on the smoke ring boards, this one has a large following on The Smoking Meat Forums. As such, expectations were again quite high. Again, as no brands were specified, I used all-USA brands (penzeys spices, vinegar, french's mustard etc).
Ingredients: The recipe involves many of the usual suspects for a mustard sauce, but also some interesting additions (red wine vinegar rather than the usual white or apple, butter, a splash of soy). The tabasco to give it a touch of background heat (mainly relying on the mustard), with black and white pepper to provide a bit of tongue-heat (rather than the tabasco which tends to hit the throat). Whilst they are usually contained in US style yellow mustard (in contrast to their British/European counterparts), the sauce does not have the "usual" garlic and onion (either in dried or fresh form) contained in a lot of BBQ sauces.
Ease of preparation: Nice and easy, with only a moderate cooking time required and a short resting time.
Modifications and variations tested: The sauce was tested on smoked, pulled chicken thighs, pulled pork, and sliced brisket.
Taste/Texture: Although no garlic or onion was added in any forms, I do not feel that it detracted from the sauce in any way and actually provided a unique aspect by not having these common background flavours. In regards to texture, as the sauce is cooked for a decent amount of time, the sauce takes on a thicker, darker, cooked flavour, reminiscent of bottled mustard sauces. Having said that, it is not cooked long enough to kill all freshness or sharpness of the mustard, and I feel it gives a nice balance between the fresh tang of an uncooked, or short cooked mustard sauce (Roxy's mustard sauce for example), and that of a heavily reduced, concentrated one. Not overly spicy, but a good combination of heat from the mustard, tabasco and peppers (white and black) which all provide a different type of heat (nasal from the mustard, throat from the tabasco, and tongue from the peppers). The butter gives it a slight shine, and rounds out the flavours very nicely (as you all know, fat helps to carry flavours), and the soy provides that slight bit of background umami (MSG like attribute). The red wine vinegar provides the tangy aspect, bringing in a new element to the sauce setting it apart from others (if you have a good, aged red wine vinegar, I would imagine it would be even more complex and interesting).
Recommendations: As with Roxy's mustard sauce, heat lovers may like to add some chipotle hot sauce or more tabasco to give it a bit more kick.
Ratings:
Appearance:
7/10 Not a stunning bright yellow, but not an ugly-as-hell dull brown colour either. I found the sauce had a nice shine and a good balance of colour with speckles from the added spices and a slight tinge of colour from the red wine vinegar, soy and wooster sauce. Not dark enough to stain pulled pork extensively, but not light enough to get lost in the mix either.
Consistency:
8/10 A great consistency - pourable when warm, a bit thicker when cool, but a great consistency for either dipping, mixing with pulled meats or brushing over/glazing meats.
Taste:
8/10 Due to the combination of ingredients (and use of some "different" ingredients when compared to other BBQ sauces), I found the sauce had a GREAT balance of sweet, salty, spicy and sour with a touch of umami (i.e. it hit all 5 tastes!), none of these being too dominant. It has a nice tangy note to it, with a slight kick from the mustard, tabasco and peppers, as well as a good amount of sweetness from the sugars.
Versatility:
8/10 Whilst this sauce is said to be used primarily on pork, I was surprised to find how well it also worked on brisket. As brisket is quite strongly flavoured, this sauce is bold enough to stand up to it, but not overpower it as some smokey, heavy tomato-based sauces can. Some may find it strange to recommend a mustard sauce for brisket, but you have to remember that many cuisines pair beef with mustard (aussies, british roast beef with mustard, french steaks with dijon, german cured meats with mustard etc), and so it actually pairs very nicely if one wants to have some sauce on the side. It would be quite good as a glaze on ribs, but a suitable rub would have to be used - one not too sweet, but with a bit of heat. As for pulled pork or chicken, it is a no brainer - a match made in heaven.
Overall Rating:
8/10. Not only an outstanding mustard sauce, but just an outstanding sauce overall. Pitted against many tomato or vinegar based sauces, it is much more versatile and provides a unique texture which works well with a variety of meats. Even though it is "designed" for pork, it really does not need any messing around with or tweaking to work with different barbecue foods. The only thing some people MAY want to do is increase the amount of heat in it. My only other comment would be to always have it warm or hot, not cold.
Photos of sauce construction:
1.) The ingredients:
Clockwise from bottom left:
Wooster Sauce + Tabasco + Soy Sauce, Black + White Pepper, Salt, Red Wine Vinegar, Butter + Mustard, Brown + White Sugar
2.) Ingredients in the pot:
3.) Sauce brought to the boil:
3.) Sauce after blending and slight cooling:
Next up, landarcs sauce!
