Mop - The Baste of Barbecue

BBQ mop recipes are used by true BBQ fans, as well as the professional on the competition circuit. If you are one of those fans, you take every step you can to improve your BBQ. A good mop is one of those steps. Often a barbecue recipe will include several flavoring components: a rub used before cooking, a mop applied during cooking, and a barbecue sauce added at the end.

A mop is a thin, watery solution that drips over meat adding moisture to combat the drying of an open fire. Think of it this way; a sauce is applied with a brush, like a paint brush. A mop, sometimes called a sop, is applied with, well a mop. Sauces are thicker than mops. Mops should have a consistency close to water.

Mops can be based on a number of primary ingredients. A basic mop is usually composed of a a flavored liquid (like apple juice or beer), an acid (like vinegar or citrus juice), and spices. If you just want a thin, mild mop start with water. If you want to increase the tenderness of meat then you want to use vinegar. And always you want to enhance the flavor, so you can start with liquids like, beer, wine, Worcestershire sauce, tomato juice or fruit juices, or a combination of these.

From here you want to added seasonings to the mix. It is recommended that you stick with a single flavor strategy. If you are using a rub, marinade, or barbecue sauce you want to use the same flavorings from these in your mop. Remember that every flavor you add to something should work together. Recipes that use a dry rub, add some of the rub to the mop. You could also add a bit of barbecue sauce you are using. Or, boil the marinade you used already, add some liquid to thin it out and use that.

Some examples of recipes that use a rub, mop and barbecue sauce that compliment each other:

*Apple City Barbecue Grand World Champion Ribs (apple flavors)
Kansas City Style Ribs (ketchup & molasses sauce)
*Jamaican Jerk Chicken (smoked - also good for pork)

Stay Away from the Sugar - Mops must not be too high in sugar content or they will burn during cooking. Sugars, tomato sauce and ketchup will all burn. Mops may have these ingredients in them, as well as other things like brown sugar, butter, oils, and BBQ sauce, but their amounts are usually small. If they were too high, like in BBQ sauce, burning would be the final crust.

Now that you have your mop, apply it about three to four times during the cooking at regular intervals. So if you are grilling something for an hour, mop every 15 to 20 minutes. Smoking for 20 hours, then mop every 4 to 5 hours. This will add the moisture and flavor that makes for great barbecue and grilling.

One of the most common and simple Pork BBQ mop recipes is this:

1 cup water
1/4 cup vinegar
2 Tbsp. rub

Other mops may have additional seasonings to help with flavor. But they all are generally thin.

Beer and beef stock are commonly used as a base in mops, too. These are some ingredients in the "Texas" style of a mop.

1 cup beef stock
1/2 cup beer
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp. rub

Heat this up and keep it warm on your firebox during cooking. If you start to run a little low, just add another can of beer.

Some of the best BBQ pit masters in the world swear by their BBQ mop recipes. It can greatly affect the outcome of your meat.