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1
Combine the yellow mustard, cider vinegar, and brown sugar or honey in a small saucepan over low heat. Whisk steadily until the sugar has fully dissolved into the mustard base — the mixture will appear uniformly smooth and vivid yellow-gold with no granular texture visible on the back of the spoon.
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2
Add the black pepper, cayenne, garlic, and Worcestershire if using. Raise the heat to medium-low and continue to whisk. This is where the dish lives or dies: hold the sauce at a bare simmer — never a rolling boil — for five to eight minutes, tasting at intervals. The mustard tang must remain the dominant note; the vinegar acid, sugar sweetness, and pepper warmth must each be present and perceptible but subordinate. If sweetness begins to dominate, add vinegar in small increments. If the mustard edge recedes entirely, the sauce has been cooked too hard or too long.
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3
Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Check consistency: the sauce should fall from a spoon in a slow, steady ribbon — pourable but thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and cling to pulled pork. It should be visibly thinner than ketchup and thicker than a vinegar sauce. If it is too thick, whisk in cider vinegar a few millilitres at a time.
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4
Taste once more at room temperature, where the balance will read differently than it did warm. The colour should be vivid yellow-gold — not brown, not orange, not red. Serve at room temperature alongside or over pulled pork smoked over oak or hickory.