Experimenting with Spices and Heat Induced Color Changes


 
j biesinger

j biesinger

TVWBB Platinum Member
For a while I was using some commercially available rubs. I liked the way they held their color, and had good taste intensity without a cakey layer of ground spices. Despite all that, they really didn't help our scores and got me further from my goal of trying to compete with my own recipes. This weekend, I went back to making some rubs, two different ones for a brisket and some spares. Despite my best efforts, the rubs darkened pretty intensely (the ribs actually blackened in parts while in foil at temps below 250*). I'm not sure if it was my perspective, since I hadn't made a rub in a while or what, but I wanted to figure out what the problem was and initially blamed the sugar.

I just got Adam Perry Lang's book "Charred and Scruffed" and he mentions to not use garlic powder and instead use garlic salt because garlic powder burns. This was the inspiration for my experiment and decided to add a few other rub ingredients as controls. Here's my results:
IMG_6173.JPG

each pile was in a 250* oven for 2 hours, afterwords I added a fresh pile for color comparison.


it's pretty clear that paprika makes the most dramatic color change, which has been well stated by others on this board.

granulated onion and garlic browned fairly significantly, I now plan to test garlic salt

sugars showed very little color change, the turbinado more so than white
 
I'm really surprised by the white sugar changes, so much for my assumptions about sugar being the culprit in burning and adding darker colors. I'll be very curious about the garlic salt.
 
Awesome experiment. I'm guessing the (garlic) salt won't burn like that, but of course you get less garlic flavor. ;)
 
Very fascinating experiment. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought to see those results.
Thank you for posting them!

Bob
 
V_Rocco said:
I'm guessing the (garlic) salt won't burn like that, but of course you get less garlic flavor. ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, 3 parts salt to 1 part garlic or whatever the ratio = less garlic to burn! I'm guess it's going to look more tan because it will be a mix of light and dark.

Regards,
Chris
 
I had no idea about the paprika like that. I know kevin and others say skip it, but I only thought that was because it didn't contribute anything flavor wise. Here making my rubs redder and redder and had the oposite effect. It still baffles me why so many top name cooks have it in their recipes.
 
For rubs I develop for comps, I use VERY little chile (no paprika, of course), white sugar only, granulated onion and garlic (moisture on the meat's surface softens and slows darkening), and other light- to medium-colored ingredients.
 
Great experiment Jeff. I guess we can infer from this that a lot of these ingredients are just there to provide black bark. I'm surprised the white sugar didn't change color more, or at least more than the Turbinado, but I guess the outcome would be completely different at a higher temperature.
 
Table sugar doesn't caramelize till 320. It does melt and get sticky however, which smoke sticks to. This along with the further darkening already dark items can mesn black
 
K Kruger said:
For rubs I develop for comps, I use VERY little chile (no paprika, of course), white sugar only, granulated onion and garlic (moisture on the meat's surface softens and slows darkening), and other light- to medium-colored ingredients.
Click to expand...

might have to throw some moisture into the next trial. I've been debating with a friend how garlic salt would act any differently then garlic powder mixed with salt and other rub ingredients. We're baffled, so I may try another run this weekend.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top