Over the weekend I was thinking about a jarred sauce that I bought on vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina – over 20 years ago. I couldn’t remember much about it, except it was like a vinaigrette, and it was green and I thought it was called SWAMP SAUCE. I remember buying 6 jars of it before we left to come home to Chicago. I thought I would look it up and see if that’s how I remembered it, and if so was there a recipe I could make to duplicate it.
I didn’t get very far in that search, because after searching “swamp sauce” this recipe was the first one that popped up. A chef named Bubba Mac posted this on one of my new favorite sites Food 52.
I’ve never made a mustard type bbq sauce. This can be served on pulled pork, chicken, a dip for pretzels (very yummy!) or ribs. The best part is this can be made with pantry ingredients – so many of you could make this any time if you wanted to. I made the sauce and served it with shredded chicken for sandwiches. I also made home fries to go with it, but threw half on the floor when the oven mitt I was using had a hole in it and I dropped the pan on the ground because I burnt my hand! So, even though it tasted good, it was hard eating it with one hand while my other hand was wrapped in ice
But I survived – so without further ado – here is the recipe
Print South Carolina Mustard Barbecue SauceYield: 1 cup
This is a wonderful tangy sauce, perfect for many different kinds of meat - pork, chicken or steak!
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup minced onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup yellow ballpark-style mustard, like French's
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- 1/4 cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 3/4 cups water
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, add the oil, and onion and garlic and saute on low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and cook, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes.
- You can add more water if you want to thin it out, or add more crushed red pepper flakes if you want it spicier.
Have any of you heard of a swamp sauce made in the Carolina’s?? If so, I would love to know what that is!
And if any of you foodies out there in the Chicago-land area want to meet up, what a better place to do that than the Chicago Food Swap! It’s in a few weeks, June 23rd – check out the details here. I may bring this sauce to the event!!!
