Dumb question about the Aaron Franklin Butt Video

[Andre A]

He said that he wanted his Butt to look like a brisket…black and crusty. However he never really made reference as to what factor would be responsible for this. I noticed that his rub consisted of a lot of black pepper, but no sugar what so ever. Was the lack of sugar in the rub the reason for the black and crusty butt? Or was it the amount of black pepper that was used in the rub. Lastly was it simply because he was using a stick burner instead of charcoal.

Finally for those of have done ribs and butts with rubs that did not contain sugar, what was your take away?

 

[Mache]

Franklin uses 50/50 kosher salt and coarse black pepper; its a central Texas thing. You can use sugar in your rubs or not its up to you. However, as you go above 225F the sugar is going to get darker and darker, as carmelization becomes more pronounced, until it burns and becomes bitter. I am no expert on butt rubs with sugar and would suggest you find a rub mix you trust that has a percentage of sugar that holds up well at the temperature you plan to use.

 

[Dave Russell]

I've always used sugar in butt rubs with no issues, even cooking at 275+ on my old UDS. 300+ is ok as long as you wrap.

 

[Dave Russell]

He said that he wanted his Butt to look like a brisket…black and crusty. However he never really made reference as to what factor would be responsible for this. I noticed that his rub consisted of a lot of black pepper, but no sugar what so ever. Was the lack of sugar in the rub the reason for the black and crusty butt? Or was it the amount of black pepper that was used in the rub. Lastly was it simply because he was using a stick burner instead of charcoal.

Finally for those of have done ribs and butts with rubs that did not contain sugar, what was your take away?

BBQ off of stickburners ends up darker, no matter how clean the smoke. There's just a lot more air movement than charcoal smokers and more smoke adsorption. One of the reasons why wrapping is so popular with guys that use them.

 

[A Cleland]

I always used Turbinado sugar when doing butts on my New Braunfuls stick burner. With the WSM, I just use regular brown sugar and set my BBQ Guru to hold the temperature at or below 250 degrees so as not to burn the sugars.

I agree 100% with Dave Russell about the stick burners making your hunks of deliciousness darker. I loved my New Braunfuls vertical smoker, but it was a real pain trying to maintain anything close to stable temperatures. Too much heat loss, and way too much temperature variance in the smoke chamber. The bottom rack was always at least 50 degrees warmer than the top. All that said, I would never go back to a stick burner after getting used to my WSM. My wife says that the way that we smoke now is like setting the cruise control on your car.........set it and forget it until it's time to slow down or stop.

 

[Dave Alvarado]

BBQ off of stickburners ends up darker, no matter how clean the smoke. There's just a lot more air movement than charcoal smokers and more smoke adsorption. One of the reasons why wrapping is so popular with guys that use them.

Yep, this.

If you don't wrap on a stickburner, you get a meteorite.

 

[Steve Whiting]

Franklin uses 50/50 kosher salt and coarse black pepper; its a central Texas thing. You can use sugar in your rubs or not its up to you. However, as you go above 225F the sugar is going to get darker and darker, as carmelization becomes more pronounced, until it burns and becomes bitter. I am no expert on butt rubs with sugar and would suggest you find a rub mix you trust that has a percentage of sugar that holds up well at the temperature you plan to use.

Are you sure Franklin uses Kosher salt? I may be wrong but when watching the video it sure looks like table salt to me?

I agree 100% with Dave Russell about the stick burners making your hunks of deliciousness darker. I loved my New Braunfuls vertical smoker, but it was a real pain trying to maintain anything close to stable temperatures. Too much heat loss, and way too much temperature variance in the smoke chamber. The bottom rack was always at least 50 degrees warmer than the top. All that said, I would never go back to a stick burner after getting used to my WSM. My wife says that the way that we smoke now is like setting the cruise control on your car.........set it and forget it until it's time to slow down or stop.

The exact reason I like using my Stick Burner. I would rather take the wheel and drive the path then use the cruise control. to each his own.

Yep, this.

If you don't wrap on a stickburner, you get a meteorite.

Not so on my Lang. My unwrapped meat turns out just fine.

 

[Cody]

Have to agree with Steve. Everyone in my neighborhood uses an offset smoker and we have get together all the time. Can't say I've ever tasted anything bad off their pit but then again they've all been smoking for 20+ years.

 

[Dave Russell]

Just to clarify, I love stickburners and one day I'll have another one.....but a good one. I was just comparing the airflow to a wsm. MOST folks that use stickburners seem to wrap, but you can't get quite the same smoke flavor off a wsm.

 

[Nick Cosby]

I'm gonna have to disagree with Aaron on the pepper in our BBQ being a Texas thing. And another thing those shoulders he had looked pre-trimmed compared to what I see at stores or meat markets. Now if I had a stick smoker that spot where he put the shoulder was about perfect, not getting all the heat from sitting too close to the fire box, and right where all the smoke, and less intense heat funnels into the chimney to go around the meat.