
Well, here it is, the bane of North Carolina barbecue. I don't know if it's the addition of mustard that brings frowns to the faces of North Carolina barbecue purists or the fact that this is a South Carolina sauce, but this sauce certainly illustrates the diverging tastes and traditions of barbecue in the Carolinas.
Throughout the 1700s, South Carolina drew a large contingent of immigrant German families. These new settlers brought with them ideas and advancements on ways to farm, as well as an affinity for the flavor of mustard. Even today, many of the families that produce mustard barbecue sauce have a German heritage, most notably the Bessinger family.