can the smoke over power rubs?


 
P

Paul K.S

New member
I'm a newbie at BBQ'n with 2 rib cooks under my belt. My 1st cook I used the BRITU rub sparingly in fear of a overpowering salty taste and used the standard method of lighting the K's. All K's were ashed over and the 4 fist chunks of apple and 2 chunks hickory both ignited before I setup the wsm, then waiting an hour before puttin on the ribs. My results were practically no smoke ring(none I think) and the Britu BBQ taste came thru with no smoke taste in my opinion.

On my 2nd cook, the Plowboys Yardbird was used, maybe 2 ounces max. total on 3 racks combined. On this occassion I poured one unlit chimney w/4 chunks oak and 2 chunks cherry(all soaked w/water)over one lit chimney ashed over. Assembled wsm and after 15 minutes added the ribs. This time around the smoke taste came thru but there was practically no hint of the rub.

Although the 2nd cook tasted better than the 1st, there was hardly any hint of the PB's Yb rub, I thought there should have been a bite to it because straight out of the bottle the rub does have a hotness to it.

I dunno, maybe I didn't use enough rub this time around or the smoke over powered it.

any opinions?
 
Well apple wood gives a much milder smoke flavour than oak so that is why you found a difference in the smoke flavour between the two cooks.
Smoke flavour will be the dominate flavour if you over smoke the ribs so this may have overpowered the rub.
As far as the amount of rub used everyone is different. If you look at some peoples pics they use so much rub you can hardly see the meat others use it very lightly. Depends on the flavour profile your looking for.
 
Paul, flavor profiles are hard to establish. My suggestion would be to change only one element per cook ie only chang the rub, or the wood, or the sauce etc. This way you may be able to figure out which element you like best with which other elements. This is not an easy task, IMHO. But makes cooking fun and challenging. I for one use a LITTLE bit of smoke wood on meats that are prone to absorb smoke flavor easily. On Bigger meats like brisket and roasts I use A LITTLE MORE wood.

Mark
 
"This time around the smoke taste came thru but there was practically no hint of the rub."

To really discern that, you'd have to cook some with no rub.

As Mark said, flavor profiles are a balancing act.
 
For ribs I use 1/6 of the amount used, i.e., 1 fist-sized chunk, which I then cut into 5-6 pieces before use. To me, this amount complements the meat and rub - it's like a seasoning.

As Mark notes, to figure out what works for you requires several cooking sessions changing one key element at a time, to hone in on what you like best.
 
thank you for the responses and from what I gather you're all saying is that it takes time and try to keep things constant making minimun adjustments at a time. I guess its best done that way learning the changes of taste with whatever adjustments made for future reference. I'm so used to quick fixes, trying to find a quick answer. now i guess this is why there are competitions, people experimenting and finding their brew for good ribs.


Understood
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Paul K.S:
...All K's were ashed over and the 4 fist chunks of apple and 2 chunks hickory both ignited before I setup the wsm, then waiting an hour before puttin on the ribs. My results were practically no smoke ring(none I think) and the Britu BBQ taste came thru with no smoke taste in my opinion... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's what you get when you preburn wood down to coals before cooking...and now you can say you've tried it. You might as well just use lump, huh?

At least you didn't try this: The first UDS (upright drum smoker) I ever made had a door where I could add fuel at the bottom. Anyway, for my first butt cook on it, I shoveled coals into the bottom from another drum that I used to burn the wood down in. I think I might have thrown in a shovel full of lump every now and then if my wood wasn't cooperating, but the end result had very little smoke flavor. This is why some bbq guys say, "If you don't use wood, it ain't no good."
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
For ribs I use 1/6 of the amount used, i.e., 1 fist-sized chunk, which I then cut into 5-6 pieces before use. To me, this amount complements the meat and rub - it's like a seasoning.

As Mark notes, to figure out what works for you requires several cooking sessions changing one key element at a time, to hone in on what you like best. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Amen to that.

I'll also bring up what Kevin K. has said in the past regarding using smaller wood chunks so you don't get much added btu's when they ignite. For the same reason, I don't put any wood on the very bottom of my charcoal anymore so that when I'm checking or glazing my chicken/ribs I don't have annoying temp spikes from flaming wood. I place my wood chunks in the top of the unlit and pour the lit on top per Jim Minion's method.

As to the posted queastion, yes, time in the smoke will mute most ingredients in rubs. Check out this experiment that a guy posted online:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/fo...owthread.php?t=18492
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wolgast:
Dave that was a great post!

Thx for sharing. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I figure if a guy went to that much work we might as well spread the love. Chris has some excellent posts over there, and I've got this one bookmarked.
 
I think its even a post that tvwbb should have as a sticky. Great to fall back on when doing rubs! I have it saved but i think we as a comunity would benifit to have it saved!

But rubs is more then flavour its about color/texture/appearance to so i would keep some of my "lost flavour" spices in.
 
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