Meet the Sauce Every Pitmaster Agrees Is Essential to the Best Barbecue

If you don’t know about mop sauce, it’s time you learned about this sauce, the secret ingredient for keeping beef brisket, pork butt, and ribs tender and moist as they cook on the barbecue for hours. Mop sauce is magic in the Food & Wine kitchen — here's what you need to know to barbecue like a pro.

What is mop sauce?

Mop sauce is a regional sauce that originated in the Texas barbecue scene but is also heavily associated with Carolina-style barbecue, particularly whole hog barbecue. It’s a thin, vinegar-based basting sauce that adds moisture and keeps meats from drying out as they spend long hours on the grill or in the smoker. It’s also used for flavor and is key for building savory bark on the outside of the meat, which protects the juicy interior of the meat. The sauce is aptly named for how it's applied with a handheld mop and a swiping motion similar to mopping a floor.

How to make mop sauce

Like most regional sauces, everyone has their unique take on mop sauce. The foundation of mop sauce is a combination of vinegar, water, and spices heated in a pot and then later stored. Most pit masters and barbecue enthusiasts make mop sauce in large batches in advance for convenience because its high acidity allows it to last in the refrigerator for months.

Is mop sauce the same as barbecue sauce?

Mop sauce and barbecue sauce differ primarily in consistency. Mop sauce is very thin and watery compared to barbecue sauce, which often contains tomato paste or ketchup that thicken it. It's also applied more often to the meat; many recipes recommend basting with mop sauce about every 20 minutes to keep the meat moist.

Barbecue sauce often contains higher amounts of sugar than mop sauce. To prevent the sugars from burning, it’s best to add barbecue sauce to meat towards the end of the cooking process and not baste with it throughout the cooking process. Another key difference between the two sauces is barbecue sauce is more commercially available in stores than mop sauce.