It was the best of times, it was the worst . . . . . . . well, at my parents’ house, anyway, it was probably really, really good times ! ! !
I decided to do a little taste test. I bought two 4 lb. Chuckies. I rubbed one down with Tatonka Dust by Owens BBQ and the other with Rod Gray’s Most Powerful Stuff and let them rest overnight. The dark grey one is, of course, the one rubbed with Tatonka Dust.
Since both chucks were almost exactly the same size, would be cooked at the same time, in the same cooker, with the same wood chunks, I figured it would be good way to test the differences (preferences) between the two rubs.
So, I started them in the Big Kahuna about noon. I stayed between 225º-250º during the cook.
After two hours, they were hovering around 120º IT and I started spritzing them both with a little apple juice every 30 minutes or so until I pulled them off at 5:30, both were sitting at 156º. I wrapped them both up and stuck them in a cooler covered with a towel for the trip over to my parents’ house.
When I got over there, I put each in a foil pan with some Yuengling Black & Tan and some Lea & Perrins. They got covered and were popped into 350º oven. I started checking for tenderness at about 7:00 and pulled them both out at 7:45 to rest until the mashed potatoes were ready.
The verdict?
Both entries were well received. All felt that the Tatonka Dust did not penetrate the meat as much as Rod Gray’s rub. They also felt that Rod’s had a little more zip. But they all felt that whichever one I used next time, plates would still be cleared ! ! !
My take was that I would probably use the Dust on smaller (thinner) cuts, like steaks or chops and continue to use Rod Gray’s rub on bigger cuts like Chuckies and briskets.
