While the meat is cooking, use a mop or a baste

A mop, and a sop are the same, just a difference in regional names. A mop or sop is a liquid that you put on the meat while it cooks. The mob or sop should contain only a little sugar (or tomato ketchup) as one containing much sugar will likely caramelize and turn black as the sugar burns and turns to carbon.  A mop is applied with a brush, a little barbecue mop or from a spray bottle. If you use a spray bottle, remember to filter the liquid before you fill the bottle as particles (like black pepper) will likely clog the spray nozzle.

A basting sauce is somewhat thicker than a mop or a sop and usually has a sugar or ketchup base.  Basting sauces are usually reserved for the last fifteen minutes of cooking or are applied to the meat after it is removed from the smoker.

Mop recipes

A mop general purpose is used to promote moisture on the outside of the meat while it is cooking. Mopping the meat often will keep the humidity higher within the cooking chamber and tend to decrease the dryness of the exterior of the meat. The mop can also add a flavor component also, enhancing the taste of the bark. If you add an oil component to your mop liquid, i general, you want to use a neutral-tasting oil, like canola-not peanut or olive oil.

You can use just about anything that sounds like it might taste good in a mop--wine, fruit juices, fruit, onions, fresh spices, garlic, jams and jellies, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, sake. Some barbecue cooks even put peanut butter in their mop as a secret ingredient.

There are many mop and sop recipes in the recipe archives that you can download. Click here. Select the Barbecue Sauce Cookbook.

Here are a few tried and true mops and bastes.

A simple general-purpose mop

1 pint apple juice
1 pint canola oil
1/4 cup barbecue dry rub

Place ingredients in a quart Mason jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well.
Use a brush or mop or spray bottle to apply. 
Shake well each time before using.

Beer mop for any meat

1 pint beer
1 pint canola oil
1/4 cup barbecue dry rub

Place ingredients in a quart Mason jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well.
Use a brush or mop or spray bottle to apply. 
Shake well each time before using.

Coke mop for any meat

1 pint Coke or Pepsi
1 pint canola oil
1/4 cup barbecue dry rub

Place ingredients in a quart Mason jar with a tight fitting lid and shake well.
Use a brush or mop or spray bottle to apply. 
Shake well each time before using.

Here are a few mop recipes that are a bit more complex.

Belly's Texas-Style Beef Mop

1/2 cup Texas dry rub
1 cup beer
1 cup DR Pepper
1/2 cup cider vinegar, (4%)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 whole lemon -- sliced
1 whole onion -- sliced
4 cloves garlic -- minced
2 dashes Louisiana hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Add the dry rub to a saucepan and add the beer, Dr Pepper and heat to a low boil.
Then add the vinegar and oil and the other ingredients.
Add enough water to make a total of about four cups and keep it warm over low heat or on/in your smoker.

Garry Howard's Basting Sauce For Fish

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 shakes Tabasco sauce -- or to taste

Combine ingredients and zap in the microwave for about 1 1/2 minutes until the butter is melted.
Brush on fish with basting brush.
Grill fish on high heat turning frequently until cooked.
Baste with sauce every time you turn it.

Scott's Poultry Mop

1 cup vinegar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1/4 cup margarine

Put mop ingredients in sauce pan and bring to a boil.
I baste them once or twice during the process, then finish them off with a honey/butter glaze (instead of barbecue sauce).
Mix 3 parts butter/margarine with 1 part honey and coat birds thoroughly during the last few moments of the crisping phase.

Don Havranek's Special Pork Mop

1 cup peanut oil
1/4 cup celery, minced
1/2 cup yellow onion -- minced
2 1/2 tablespoons garlic -- minced
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
1/2 cup Yoshida's Teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons brown sugar
4 beef bouillon cubes
1 cup water
1/4 cup Reno Red chile powder (or your favorite)
1 tablespoon New Mexico light chile powder
2 cups apple juice
2 teaspoons Chinese dry hot mustard
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon pepper
1 tablespoon cayenne
3 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon allspice

Add the peanut oil to a sauce pan. Then add the celery, onion and garlic. Simmer for fifteen minutes. Then add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Mop pork butts every half hour.