Feeling Saucy!

 I am far from being a barbecue expert, but I certainly have a very strong opinion of what good barbecue is.  For me, “barbecue” is a chopped pork sandwich with a North Carolina style thin vinegar and ketchup based sauce. Although I fancy myself to be quite an adept saucier, barbecue sauce is not really my forte.  Even more foreign, is the South Carolina style mustard-based sauce, that I have been challenged to create.

This sauce challenge presented itself last week when making Thai turkey burgers for an event at the new Chapman Family Cancer Wellness Center in Newnan.  The Thai turkey burger recipe is from chef Nancy’s Taste and Savor cookbook and is always a hit every time it is served.  There was just one part of the recipe that we thought could use a little tweaking, in order to showcase the “better for you” mantra of our healthy kitchen.  The ginger-lime bbq sauce recipe, which accompany’s the turkey burger, started with a store bought mustard barbecue sauce.  Although the store bought sauce was convenient and tasty, we just knew that we could make a mustard sauce base that was quick, delicious and above all, better for you.  I happily volunteered to see what I could come up with.  Below is the resulting recipe, which tastes wonderful as is, or can be adulterated with the additional ingredients in the ginger-lime sauce recipe.

1 cup yellow mustard

1/2 cup raw-unfiltered organic apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat.  Stir to combine and cook until brown sugar has melted into the sauce.  Continue to stir and cook for another five minutes.  Sauce can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheated as necessary.  Yields 1/2 cups of sauce.  Recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if a greater volume of sauce is required.