And the winner is... Sweatman's in a close race, beating out Maurice's by about 5 percentage points.
But before we get to the recipe:
1) Probably best to lead with the fact that all the recipes in the Mustard Sauce poll were copycat recipes and not recipes provided by the restaurants themselves, with the exception of Bacon Bros. Apologies for not mentioning that in the poll thread.
2) I just published Rodney Scott's "Rodney's Sauce" recipe as provided by Rodney Scott himself during a recent Today Show appearance. That said, it doesn't take a genius to figure out he might have accidentally left out an ingredient or two, one might surprise you. Will be interesting to see how truthful he is with his recipes in his upcoming cookbook.
3) In an email last night, I received the recipe for Lever's BBQ sauce from someone who once worked with the Levers and who wrote "my wife's aunt bottled the sauce and it was sold in stores around Columbia until DEHEC said she would have to upgrade plant and she decided it was not worth it." I have asked his permission to republish it, but haven't heard back.
Here is the recipe I received for a Sweatman's Style BBQ sauce. It comes from W David Griggs. Here is (part of) what he wrote to me:
“Thirty years ago, I was living in Eutawville, SC, when Boots Varner enlisted me to make the hash at his outdoor BBQ party, truly under his watchful eye. I continued to experiment on my own with mustard sauce and slaw, trying to replicate the taste of Sweatman’s BBQ on which I grew up. I think I succeeded and by chance Foster Outdoor in California asked to publish my recipe. That was 20 years ago.
“I started my culinary career in college. I don’t pretend to be a BBQ pitmaster, but I prepare a pretty good BBQ hash. I had a recipe website thirty years ago with a hundred or so recipes. Today I have about 450 tried and true recipes. All in all my stomach is full, just ask my wife as I do all of the cooking!”
Sweatman's-Style Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
3 Cups Prepared Yellow Mustard
½ Cup Distilled White Vinegar
⅓ Cup Brown Sugar, packed
3 Tablespoons Molasses, or dark corn syrup
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper
To Taste Salt
Instructions
Combine and mix all ingredients in a saucepan.
Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes.
But before we get to the recipe:
1) Probably best to lead with the fact that all the recipes in the Mustard Sauce poll were copycat recipes and not recipes provided by the restaurants themselves, with the exception of Bacon Bros. Apologies for not mentioning that in the poll thread.
2) I just published Rodney Scott's "Rodney's Sauce" recipe as provided by Rodney Scott himself during a recent Today Show appearance. That said, it doesn't take a genius to figure out he might have accidentally left out an ingredient or two, one might surprise you. Will be interesting to see how truthful he is with his recipes in his upcoming cookbook.
3) In an email last night, I received the recipe for Lever's BBQ sauce from someone who once worked with the Levers and who wrote "my wife's aunt bottled the sauce and it was sold in stores around Columbia until DEHEC said she would have to upgrade plant and she decided it was not worth it." I have asked his permission to republish it, but haven't heard back.
Here is the recipe I received for a Sweatman's Style BBQ sauce. It comes from W David Griggs. Here is (part of) what he wrote to me:
“Thirty years ago, I was living in Eutawville, SC, when Boots Varner enlisted me to make the hash at his outdoor BBQ party, truly under his watchful eye. I continued to experiment on my own with mustard sauce and slaw, trying to replicate the taste of Sweatman’s BBQ on which I grew up. I think I succeeded and by chance Foster Outdoor in California asked to publish my recipe. That was 20 years ago.
“I started my culinary career in college. I don’t pretend to be a BBQ pitmaster, but I prepare a pretty good BBQ hash. I had a recipe website thirty years ago with a hundred or so recipes. Today I have about 450 tried and true recipes. All in all my stomach is full, just ask my wife as I do all of the cooking!”
Sweatman's-Style Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
3 Cups Prepared Yellow Mustard
½ Cup Distilled White Vinegar
⅓ Cup Brown Sugar, packed
3 Tablespoons Molasses, or dark corn syrup
2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper
To Taste Salt
Instructions
Combine and mix all ingredients in a saucepan.
Simmer partially covered for 30 minutes.
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