mustard

i usually use mustard and rubs on pork butts and such. most of the time on ribs i've just used a dry rub. since purchasing the book paul kirk's championship sauces and reading he highly suggests mustard then dry rub on everything, i decided to give it a whirl on my ribs. oh boy. LOVED em, and so did all my guests. i am really starting to get some fans in the sacramento area. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

if anyone out there is just starting out and feels their bbq is missing something, try what i did:

paint yellow french's mustard on ribs on both sides. sprinkle rub on and you're ready to go. i also have tried rub that's sit in the fridge all night, and like paul kirk says, i get better results applying mustard, rub then right into the WSM. at half the cooking time (about 2-2 1/2 hours) i mopped with apple juice. finished with kc masterpiece sweetened with honey, and gates "extra hot" sauce. i thought the extra hot was more extra salty, but my guests loved it. on the extra hot ribs, i also used a hotter commercial rub. on the sweet ones, i used sweet and heat commercial rub.

that's the fast way. next time im going to make the recipe for sam's special mustard sauce (in paul kirk's book) and try a dry rub in there as well. looks yum. cant say enough good things about the mustard! i will never Q again without it.

For what it's worth, I used Grey Poupon on a butt I made a couple weekends ago and it was fantastic.

I use cheap yellow mustard that I get at resturant supply house by the gallon for $3.00.
Jim

I was smoking three beer-butt chickens this weekend. I put rub on two of them, and as a test, I put mustard and rub on the third one, getting the mustard and rub underneath the skin. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying enough attention when I put them on the grill, and I forgot which one had the mustard on it...

Then, when I cut the chickens up, I piled them all onto a plate. I couldn't tell which ones were with mustard and which ones werent. (And I gave away about half of the leftovers to some freinds who were visiting. They were raving about it even days later, so I guess it turned out OK...)

Anyone else try mustard on a chicken? And did you remember to taste test it? I'm curious if I should go through the (admittedly small) effort again.

Mike
The fact you can't tell what chicken had the mustard on is a good thing. I'm not sure I would bother with mustard if I was going under the skin with the rub. The mustards main job is to hold the rub on the meat.
Jim

Hi Mike!

I have done several side-by-side taste tests with the mustard on ribs and pork butt. Every time, myself and the guests could not tell which was which, no difference in taste or in bark(we kept the rubs and cooking technique the same, no foiling either).

I have also done these same tests in regards to overnight sitting and cooking immediately...same results. I now just apply the rub and cook right away.

Jim's skills and experiences far surpass mine. However, I have never needed anything extra to hold my rubs on.

We must all remember, this IS bbq which is an art, not a science, and is open to individual interpretations. Therefore, NOTHING is wrong and there is NO correct way to prepare it(well, maybe microwaving!) .

So, do what works for you and enjoy the outcome!!