Carolina mustard sauce is the perfect accompaniment to any BBQ that features pork. Pulled pork. Smoke roasted pork. Sausages. Whole hog. It just works.
The tang of the vinegar, the mustard and that hint of heat from the chili powder. Perfect. Carolina mustard sauce is a fantastic alternative to tomato based sauces.
Carolina mustard sauce is perfect with pork
I don’t really get the tomato sauce and pork thing. In general I don’t really get it for anything but chicken.
Mustard and pork. That makes sense to me. Or no sauce at all. If you nail your BBQ why hide it?
I don’t put ketchup on my roast pork. Not on my ham sandwiches either. Never on a sausage.
Why hide your perfect pulled pork?
And yet BBQ some pork shoulder, pull it and suddenly everybody wants to drown it in BBQ sauce. See how I might think this is a little strange?
I get it if you are serving overcooked pork make in a slow cooker. Then it makes sense. Liquid smoke and BBQ sauce is where your flavour is coming from. Otherwise it’s just boiled pork shoulder.
But if you’ve worked hard to make perfect pulled pork. If you’ve smoked it carefully until it’s just right. If you have that beautiful bark and meltingly tender pork. Why hide it?
You shouldn’t be tossing your pulled pork in sauce. You worked way too hard to just drown it. Serve Carolina mustard sauce as a condiment.
carolina mustard sauce
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow mustard - ballpark variety
- 1 cup cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp pure mild chili powder - New Mexican, Ancho or similar
- 4 Tbsp brown sugar - or a bit more if you like it sweeter
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp Frank’s red hot sauce - optional
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer.
- Whisk as required to homogenize the sauce.
- Let cool to room temperature.
- Serve with pulled pork, smoke roasted pork or sausages.
Nutrition
Yucatan grilled chicken. A little bit of sunshine next time you grill. Big, bold, bright tastes. Citrus. Achiote. Chili. Mustard. Garlic. What’s not to love?
It’s dead easy as well. Just combine all the ingredients in the blender. Marinate the chicken. Grill. Smile.
This is the stuff of roadside Mom and Pop grills in Southern California. El Pollo this or El Pollo that. If you’ve been, you know what I’m talking about.
If you haven’t – just make this. It’ll be like you were there. It is absolutely addictive stuff. Even when it’s bad, it’s pretty good. And when it’s good, it’s awesome.
Achiote makes Yucatan grilled chicken special
If you don’t live close to Mexico you will need to make a trip to a latin market. The secret ingredient is a paste called Achiote. It’s pronounced “achot” so if you have to ask for it try to say it that way. So they won’t look at you like you are crazy.
It has annatto seed in it. That’s the stuff they use to colour cheese. You think turmeric stains? Watch out. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Grab a pure chili powder like New Mexican while you are there. Grab lots. Not just for this recipe. Pure chili powders are just so much better than the crap called “chili powder” in grocery stores. That’s a blend of spices. Doesn’t matter what you cook with it. It all winds up tasting the same. Just not good.
