Rubs, Ribs and Color

Did a search on this and have seen some older discussions but had a few Qs. Im still generally new to this whole smoking game… purchased my WSM at the start of the summer, but have been very active with using it (especially since the start of football). Anyway, my ribs (mostly do St Louis) tend to come out pretty dark. There is no burnt taste or bitterness and they are certainly getting better with practice but they are definitely dark. I don’t foil and have started to do them at the high end of the spectrum, not > 300s, but 275ish as of late seems to have been yielding some good results.

Anyway I assume my rub is the culprit, have been fiddling with a mix that primarily looks like this:
1/4 cup Hungarian Paprika
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup chiles mix (I have been using half and half ancho/chipotle, recently guajilo as well)
2 tablespoons fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon cumin
2 teaspoons cayenne
1 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoons celery seed
½ teaspoon ginger

I have been playing with this.. adding some things like cardamon, mexican oregano, dialing back the black peper, using hot hungarian paprika. But this has been the base. I assume between the paprika and the chiles, pepper and cayenne this is way my ribs get so dark.. I like the taste of them but sometimes y’alls ribs just look so pretty.

I do glaze sometimes.. Depending upon what type of glaze that has added to the darkness or brightened up a bit, but even without a glaze they generally look a bit dark. Don't mop really ever.

So I guess the question is..can you use chiles and still get that pretty color? Do I cut out paprika, use white sugar instead of turbinado?

Brian, when I cook my ribs I smoke till I like the color, I then foil and finish on the grate. I have also found some woods darken the meat like cherry. If you like the taste of your rub perhaps adding a little less of it and or foiling is the answer. Most of us use rubs that look red from the paprika and chile. I have been working on rubs without any red colored spices just to see what can be done.

Good luck and keep smokin'

Mark

ditch the paprika, it does nothing for flavor and it tends to darken with heat. Foil when you like the color.

Agreed. Ditch the paprika. Another thought: Remove the paprika entirely; cut the sugar in half (you won't need it without the paprika); use 1 tbls white sugar, one tbls Turbinado; use 1 tbls white pepper, 1 tbls black.