Butt - No Rub?


 
Charles Howse

Charles Howse

TVWBB Wizard
Hi,
Anyone got stories of smoking butts without any rub at all?
I'm doing 2 this weekend and thought I might try 1 nekkid.
 
Charles, I have not ever had rub-less pork but I have had bland PP. At the very least I would use Salt & Pepper.
my 2 cents
 
I have cooked for experience with just salt, when using a new wood that I wanted to taste test the flavor of. There are 8 in the family, so a taste test doesn't leave much in the way of leftovers, the answer for them has always been to have a couple of sauces on hand, so that if the don't like the way it comes out, they will eat it with the sauce of their choice as a cover.
 
Yeah, I read somewhere that a KCBS judge found that PP smoked with just salt, pepper, and a little cayenne to be the best flavor at a contest.
That's what I meant by no rub, should have been clearer on that, my bad.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Charles Howse:
Yeah, I read somewhere that a KCBS judge found that PP smoked with just salt, pepper, and a little cayenne to be the best flavor at a contest.
That's what I meant by no rub, should have been clearer on that, my bad. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Judges are instructed not to compare one entry with another. BUT let's face it. If everyone is turning in meat with a rub and sauce, something different will grab their attention. Example: If every body is turning in chicken with a red tomato based BBQ sauce then a blackberry BBQ sauce may make their taste bud stnd up and take notice.

Then again some salt and pepper may just hit the spot.
 
Not if I was a judge!
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Of course, there is plenty of room for varying tastes. But, for me, I'd be bored with the second bite.

There are many commercial places around the country that do little more than salt and pepper--which is one of the reasons I don't like them all that much: sauce, then, is absolutely required rather than being a complement. Ho-hum.

Still, I think experimenting is always a good idea. That's how we figure out what we like best. For me, many flavors developed in meat in Q can be--should be (imo)--enhanced, complemented, contrasted and counterpointed by a well thought-out rub. I don't find that commercial pork--commercial any meat for that matter--stands all that well on its own.
 
There's an "award-winning" place locally here in Atlanta that serves up what seems to be naked butts.

It's so bland that it tastes boiled. Absolutely awful pulled pork.
 
Hey guys...how far down into the meat does the rub penetrate? It's just on the surface, right? Not way down by the bone? I don't get a bite of bark every time I eat a fork-full, so I rely on the sauce for flavor (and I make a darn good sauce, thanks to Steve Petrone).

Here's the before, with the Salt, Pepper and Cayenne on the right...



The other butt was rubbed with Chris Lily's Championship Butt Rub.

And the after, with the same butt closest to the camera...



Both resting in foil, in the WSM with all the vents closed. Cooked @ 275° for about 9 hours, pulled @ 190°.

I'll tell ya'll how good they both are after supper.
P.S. Thanks to Kevin Kruger for the tip about cooking @ 275°. Really speeds up a cook!
 
The results are in:
I prefer the "No-Rub", the wife prefers Chris Lily's, the daughter has no preference.

Both butts were moist and cooked perfectly.

This was a good cook, and a good experiment. I learned that it's not necessary to run out and get the ingredients to make a rub if they're not handy.
I would cook with Salt, Pepper and Cayenne again any time.
 
Charles,

Normally, I cook butts at around 220º because I like the texture of the meat and the bark when cooked at this temp but earlier this year, I raised the temp to 275º at the end of the plateau to meet time constraints and found the bark to be much tougher than I like. My wife felt the same way. I'm curious how you and your wife felt about the bark its self compared to the way you normally cook butts.

Thanks, Bill

BTW, they look great !
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Couldn't tell much difference in the bark, Bill.
Maybe just a tiny bit more chewy than when cooked at 250°.

BTW, I watched the Maverick all day for the plateau...didn't see one!
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