Carolina BBQ Sauce

So I'm really mad at myself. I was so frazzled by my crying 14 month old, that I forgot to take pictures of my finished products tonight.  Although the BBQ was so freaking good I still want to share the recipe. 

I made it with dijon mustard and it was on the spicy side.  You could do honey mustard, or even regular French's yellow mustard.  It totally depends on your spice tolerance.  The key to a good Carolina BBQ sauce is vinegar.  It doesn't matter much what mustard you use as long as you use a good amount of vinegar.  It should singe your nose hair when you sniff it. That's how you know it's Carolina BBQ.

So I still had some sauce left in the sauce pan, so I ran downstairs and took a quick picture.  I'm bummed that I don't have any pictures of Brax or I's sandwiches.  They were purdy.  I don't claim to be a talented photographer.  Maybe if my kitchen was clean I would be more adventurous in my picture taking. 

Anyways, that's what the sauce looks like finished.  It was tangy and sweet and spicy.  It was seriously delicious and will be my go to for BBQ now. 

Brax loves the Carolina BBQ Whoppers from Burger King.  That was the inspiration for tonight's dinner.  They don't have them on the menu anymore so I thought I would make a copycat version for him.  He said that the burger was good and he seemed satisfied.  

I am not a meat lover, especially beef, specifically burgers, so I made me some shredded chicken.  I have a basic shredded chicken recipe that is good for anything.  You can make a ton and freeze it, then add whatever sauce and seasonings you want.  I made that tonight and then just added in the bbq sauce before I served it.  It was bomb.  It's just 4 chicken breasts, season salt and 2 cups of chicken broth.  Put it all in the crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours.  I'm going to make chicken bacon ranch pizza on Friday and that's the chicken I'm going to use for it.   

I also made my ranch cole slaw, but I changed it up a bit and I think that's how I'm going to make it from now on.  My recipe is a bag of cole slaw mix, and then half a cup of mayo, a half a cup of ranch and two tablespoons white vinegar.  Tonight I did everything the same, but I did a 1/3 cup of mayo, 1/3 of hidden valley ranch, and 1/3 cup of sour cream.  It's a trick I saw on Cooking For Real on Food Network and it's seriously the only way I will make cole slaw from now on.  She of course did 1/2 cup of mayo and 1/2 cup of sour cream, but I like mine to be slightly ranchy. 

I served his burger on a kaiser roll from Smith's.  I put about a tablespoon of mayo on the bottom bun, lettuce, dill pickle and red onion.  I cooked the patty with season salt on each side, then ripped a slice of bacon in half and put it on top of the patty, then swiss cheese, then ripped another slice of bacon in half and put it on top of that.  Then I smothered the top bun with the BBQ sauce.  He says it was good, I'll take his word for it. 

I put my shredded chicken mixed with the BBQ sauce on the bottom bun of a kaiser roll, put a slice of provolone cheese on it and then broiled it until the cheesy was bubbly, but before it turned brown.  I then topped it with my ranch cole slaw.  I am taking some leftovers for lunch tomorrow at work. 

I also cooked some fried potatoes with season salt in the bacon drippings.  My daughter thought those were pretty great and so did I.  My son spit them out without even attempting to chew it up. 

This sauce would be good on anything BBQ.  Ribs, chicken, beans, whatever.  It's seriously good. 

Carolina BBQ Sauce

1 jar of Grey Poupon dijon mustard

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup of white vinegar

1/4 cup apple juice

1/4 cup water

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp bacon fat 

• Mix all of the ingredients but the soy sauce, butter and bacon fat; simmer for 30 minutes.  Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 10 more minutes.