Author Topic: Rubs and Sauce  (Read 4007 times)

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Offline Ron D

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Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #-1 on: December 09, 2011, 07:39:51 PM »
Ok guys here is the question.

I love rubs on my ribs and when I do them I leave the sauce on the side. I do not cover them with apple juice or honey or anything else I as want to taste the rub. If I plan on doing a BBQ sauce I just do a regular seasoning (salt, garlic, pepper and so on) and then let the sauce do the talking.

I see the posts of doing the rubs and then covering it with apple juice, nectar of different fruits, brown sugar and other things.

I ask Why? If you are doing a rub for the flavor then why do you make it weaker by adding to it. If the rub and flavors can not stand on their own without adding to it then why do a rub?

I have to say that if you gave me my choice I would do a Memphis Dry Rub on any ribs as that is what I like.

So tell me what you do to your ribs and why.
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« on: December 09, 2011, 08:06:10 PM »
I use yellow mustard and dry rubs on my ribs. I add some brown sugar before I foil them in the -2- part of the 3-2-1. The brown sugar adds a touch of sweetness and it gives the ribs a little glaze.
I usually don't like sauce on my ribs so I have the sauce on the side.
The last ribs I did I just used dry rub and didn't foil or add anything else and they were real good.
So I guess I now got a  couple way of doin em!!
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Offline Ron D

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2011, 08:17:00 PM »
I will have to say that the ribs I just did are the first ones I have ever foiled. They were good but I do not think I will do it again. I guess it is more what you are used to. When I foiled these I lost the crisp of the bark and I love that on my ribs. They were too moist and even SWMBO said that she liked them the way I did them before. We are both big Memphis dry rub fans
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2011, 08:21:18 PM »
Yep, I enjoyed the ones I did without the foil as well. The yellow mustard helps with the bark formation as well....
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Offline Pam Gould

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2011, 09:34:58 PM »
Smoke..you and I cook alot alike..I'm a cheap yellow mustard, salt, pepper and gahhlick kind of girl. I also like to taste the meat..not all the flavorings. I add sauce to the side in a gravy boat for pple that like it. But I tried Old Daves at the fall gathering and they were the best ribs I have ever tasted. They were perfect and he sauced them with a paint brush after they were done. Gonna try that next time. No foil for me either, I like the bark.  Pam ★*˚°。°
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Offline bill sack

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #4 on: December 16, 2011, 02:48:02 PM »
i cook ribs for comp. by smoking them for 2 hours then wrapping them with butter/ apple juice/ brown sugar.unwrap and add a sauce for glaze and give the ribs a chance to reform a glaze and bark........that gets the judges attention.......at least top tens/ fives say so.......never tried the mustard thing........thats athought since it would add a level of flavor.......

Offline TMB

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #5 on: December 16, 2011, 02:52:31 PM »
Mp ribs for the SRG are cooked naked for the first 35 mins or so then I rub and wrap them for a 40 to 45 min stay. When they are done to my liking I dress them with a sauce that Morgan (aka TestRocket) makes and they go back in for a few mins to ride the infrared wave.

 Hey they took 4th and beat many Big Green Eggs and large pull type cookers.   ;)
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Offline IR2dum

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #6 on: December 16, 2011, 04:16:31 PM »
Ron, I just use a dry rub on my ribs (same rub I use on brisket) and smoke them the same way I would a brisket. No tin foil, glaze, mop sauce, or bbq sauce and in 4 to 6 hours, they are served straight out of the smoker (no FTC). Most bbq joints in Texas do them this way. If I am entertaining friends, I keep a bottle of commercial bbq sauce in the fridge, but it must be close to a year or two old by now. Better go check on that before I kill somebody. That wouldn't be called premeditated, would it?

Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #7 on: December 16, 2011, 06:39:47 PM »
long as you don't think about it  8) 8)
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Offline hal4uk

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #8 on: December 17, 2011, 03:33:58 AM »
Ribs can come out drastically different, using the exact same methods, from one smoker to the next.
Ya just gotta figure out what works best with your smoker.
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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #9 on: December 17, 2011, 04:15:42 PM »
Good call Hal!! All smokers and grills have there own little differences.
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Offline Hub

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #10 on: December 17, 2011, 04:33:53 PM »
I am a firm believer that a great cook can create wonderful food on anything from a $99 K-Mart gasser to a $4 Grand FEC-100.  You gotta KNOW YOUR PIT and how to cook on it.  Wonderful barbeque -- the stuff I give 9's to as a judge -- is a delicate and carefully engineered balance of the meat itself, the method by which it is cooked (e.g. smoke or grill) and the spicing (rub, injection, mop, spray, sauce, brine, etc.) all coming together to create an interesting and exciting experience for the eye and palate.  This balance automatically rules out any one thing dominating.  In competition, the most frequent errors cooks make are over-saucing and over-smoking.  They may still make good barbeque, just not GREAT barbeque.  Consistent winners achieve this balance and can replicate it consistently.  Hard, hard work!

A similar dynamic occurs in the back yard.  A skilled backyard cooker can really light up friends and family by mastering the capabilities and idiosyncracies of his pit and putting together the right combinations of his equipment, his skill, and his groceries and condiments so that folks rave about it and want 2nds and 3rds.  Hard, hard work!

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Offline smokeasaurus

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #11 on: December 17, 2011, 05:22:43 PM »
No reason not to be able to do Championship Q in your own back yard!! Besides the toughest judges are your rug-rats!!
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Offline bill sack

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #12 on: December 17, 2011, 10:46:02 PM »
the best ribs or pork i ever ate did not have any rubs or sauce on them....all just cooked in a stone pit over hickory wood.....it was wood and meat........i think sometimes we cover up all the natural flavors that come from slow cooking meat over fire.....i just wonder if the kcbs judges could appreciate that........no sauce no rubs......

Offline Hub

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Re: Rubs and Sauce
« Reply #13 on: December 18, 2011, 09:04:21 AM »
the best ribs or pork i ever ate did not have any rubs or sauce on them....all just cooked in a stone pit over hickory wood.....it was wood and meat........i think sometimes we cover up all the natural flavors that come from slow cooking meat over fire.....i just wonder if the kcbs judges could appreciate that........no sauce no rubs......

In KCBS comps it isn't too unusual to get unsauced entries, particularly in pork and brisket.  Sometimes the cooks will use just a little sauce as a way to keep it moist in the box while it is waiting to be judged. 

Chicken and ribs are another story.  Both are trending toward too much sauce and it overpowers them.  The sauce gets used as a glaze, which is pretty to look at but not always the  best thing for taste.  There is no KCBS requirement for sauce or rub.  What gets turned in follows trends mostly. 

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