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Swig & Swine’s Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipe

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I am a big fan of Swig & Swine, and their South Carolina mustard bbq sauce recipe is one of the main reasons.

Chef Anthony DiBernardo’s restaurants serve True ‘Cue certified BBQ, barbecue cooked using wood as its only heat source. The meat products Swig & Swine serves are terrific, even without any sauce, but each of the sauces is amazing, too.

Like any good barbecue restaurant, Swig & Swine serves its barbecue without sauce, but they currently provide five sauces on each table for you to choose from.

Seen below are the Sweet Red, Vinegar, Jalapeño, Alabama White, and a nod to an SC original, a mustard sauce.

Swig and Swine Sauce Options

Swig & Swine Sauce Options

We recently stumbled across a video of Chef DiBernardo making his mustard BBQ sauce recipe. DiBernardo doesn’t necessarily claim it to be the same concoction they use at Swig & Swine, saying something along the lines of it simply being  “a traditional South Carolina mustard-based BBQ sauce recipe.”

That said, it is not a huge leap to assume there are a number of similarities between the two.

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What I can say is that the finished product definitely has the same look and general taste as Swig & Swine’s mustard-based BBQ sauce.

Swig & Swine Mustard BBQ Sauce
Swig & Swine Mustard BBQ Sauce

Flavors Among SC Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipes

What you get from the recipe is a mustard BBQ sauce that allows the mustard flavor to exist, as it should, without being either overpowering or absent.

That is to say, some South Carolina Mustard BBQ sauce recipes are VERY strong on the mustard flavor. For instance, we wrote the following in our review of Jackie Hite’s restaurant:

“Meh..” I agreed. “I didn’t really like it. It was so mustardy… it was like straight mustard,” I continued.

The family all agreed, but we were not accustomed to that style of sauce. Those who are, love it.

While Jackie Hite’s place closed two years after his passing, it remains one of our favorites for reasons beyond that sauce. If you’d like to try a mustard bbq sauce recipe like Jackie Hite’s, I recommend Harry Hite’s recipe.

Harry Hite's Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipe
Harry Hite’s Mustard BBQ Sauce Recipe (tested and photographed by Buck Vaughan)

On the other hand, some SC mustard BBQ sauce recipes hide the flavor of the mustard altogether.

For instance, try my wife’s mustard BBQ sauce recipe. We think it is the best mustard sauce you’ll ever make, but I have to confess mustard, although the primary ingredient, is not a prominent flavor.

South Carolina's Best Homemade Mustard-Based BBQ Sauce Recipe
Mason jars full of South Carolina’s best homemade mustard-based BBQ sauce.

Swig & Swine’s Recipe

This recipe from DiBernardo, however, strikes the perfect balance of mustard flavor with other, deeper notes of sweetness and tanginess.

If you’re going to make this sauce, I feel it is important to note that no measurements were provided; however, in watching the video, we have made educated guesses as to the quantity of each ingredient.  Those estimates are provided below.

Here is a Swig & Swine-style, South Carolina Mustard BBQ sauce recipe. Enjoy:

A bottle of Mustard BBQ Sauce in front of two other sauces at Swig & Swine in Summerville.

Swig & Swine Style Mustard Sauce Recipe

Yield: 64 Servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 35 minutes

A classic SC BBQ mustard-based barbecue sauce by Chef Anthony DiBernardo with a bright yellow color, tangy mustard flavor tempered by sweet undertones.

Ingredients

  • 1 quart French’s yellow mustard
  • 2 tsp cayenne
  • 1/4 cup dry mustard powder
  • 1 tbsp black pepper, cracked
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar

Instructions

  1. Whisk together all ingredients and simmer for 30 minutes.

Notes

Note: These measurements are estimates taken from a video in which Chef Anthony DiBernardo shows viewers how to make "a traditional mustard-based BBQ sauce." Unfortunately, that video is no longer available online.

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 64 Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 38Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 173mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 1gSugar: 7gProtein: 1g

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Check out these other authentic SCBBQ recipes we’ve published on destination-bbq:

Eastern SC Vinegar-Based Sauce Recipe

Home Team BBQ’s Alabama White Sauce Recipe

And we’ve published the following sauce recipes in the SCBBQ Recipes: Going Whole Hog cookbook  (read more about that here):

Sauces and Rubs:

Vinegar-Pepper Sauces

Mustard Sauces

Tomato-Based Sauces

Other Sauces

Rubs

  • Sticky Fingers’ Basic Dry Rub Recipe
  • JB’s Smokeshack-Style Spicy Dry Rub Recipe
  • Sticky Fingers’ Texas Rub Recipe
  • BlackJack Barbecue Dry Rub Recipe
  • Sticky Fingers’ Sweet Rib Rub Recipe
  • Home Team BBQ Dry Rub Recipe for Chicken Wings Recipe
  • John Lewis BBQ-Style Brisket Dry Rub Recipe

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