mop sauce n Also mop, mopping sauce, mop water orig TX, now more widely recognized Cf sop n 2
A basting sauce for barbecuing meat.
[1949 Amer. Weekly (NY NY) 17 July 30/2, Baste each section generously with Tangy Barbecue Sauce at each turning—a new, long-handled cotton dish mop is fine for this.] 1959 Corpus Christi Caller–Times (TX) 29 Mar sec F 41/1, Cowboy Barbecue Sauce. . . Combine all ingredients and let simmer 1 hour. For mop sauce: 2 cups above sauce / 2 cups water / 2 cups cooking oil / 1 cup vinegar / Mop this sauce on meat before and after each turning. 1961 Brazosport Facts (Freeport TX) 9 July [10]/5 (newspaperarchive.com), The succulent beef will be tender and tasty from his applications of his “mopping sauce,” and the public is invited to attend and eat their fill. 1965 This Week Mag. 6 June 10/2 TX, The things that I have worked out pretty much by myself are the seasonings, sauces, mops and so forth. . . Mop For All Barbecue Meats—Use this to rub over meats or to baste them while they are cooking. Put it on with a little dish mop of the kind that you see in the dime store. 1972 Greenfield Recorder (MA) 28 July 13/1, “Mop” sauces are now enjoying their top season of popularity. 1988 Altoona Mirror (PA) 11 May sec D 6/1, Save the barbecue sauces for serving at the table with the meat. Use what in Texas they call a “mop sauce,” which contains vinegar, beef stock, sometimes beer, and lots of spices and seasoning but NO sugar or tomato. 1995 News Herald (Panama City FL) 31 May sec C 2/4 sePA, We do something called ‘mop water’ basting while the ribs are cooking. You can make your own mop water by putting five tablespoons of a tenderizer in a quart of water along with some MSG, if you like, and some salt. 2012 Jacksonville Daily News (NC) 25 July 29/3 FL, Basic Basting Sauce—Or “a mop sauce is what we call it in the South,” says McInnis. Just chop up a bunch of herbs and mix with vinegar or lemon . . then a tomato product or olive oil . . and “just mop it on.”