What exactly is a mop? As in for ribs?!
Answers: I know it's a sauce, but what makes it a mop and not a sauce? I heard this term for the first time looking up rib recipes and I'm not sure what it means.
Its probably because they use a mop type basting deal instead of the traditional basting brush
http://www.texasirons.com/-strse-415/BBQ...
A mop is a mop, not a sauce. It's literally a small mop used for applying bbq sauce to bbq-ing meats.
It's a cooking utensil that looks like a small mop. You use it to apply the sauce to the ribs.
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde...
I think it is a utensil used to "mop" on the sauce. It looks like a small version of those mops that you see janitors using (with the rope like strings to make up the mop).
It's called a mop because at larger BBQ's (like with a whole pig), they actually use a mop to baste. Typically a mopped baste is a thin sauce with vinegar as the main ingredient. So, when you baste with this type of sauce, something that sops it up is the best tool. A pastry brush won't hold the liquid. Something like this works best with a thin basting liquid.
http://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Basting-Mop...
The "MOP" is a miniature mop as in the ones you use to mop the floor. To "MOP" the ribs would be for you to stick your miniature "MOP" in to your BBQ sauce and "MOP" the ribs with it like you were mopping your floor. It really is a good way to get all your sauce on the meat....