Looking for thoughts

[T Bounds]

Friends,

Around here (eastern nc) most places that do pit cooked q do butts, shoulders or whole hog with no rub, using only a vinegar baste during the cook at most. Does anyone have experience doing a butt or shoulder on the wsm with no rub? I plan to try one on smoke day, a small butt or shoulder, and use a sauce for post-cook flavor, but I'd like a little confidence from the experienced crowd. Thanks for any and all replies. I'll look for your smoke signals on smoke day!

 

[Ernie D]

It will be interesting to taste just the meat and smoke. Please post pics... I bet it looks delicious when finished.

I need to try this with a little boneless butt. When you baste, is it just vinegar? Or is it watered down, cider vinegar, seasoned, or anything else?

Are you going to chop it all up when finished? Hopefully everything goes well.

 

[TravisH]

Many years ago I saw pits around the Jacksonville~New Bern area smoke shoulders with no rub but then add rub and sauce after it's been pulled. I just remember it tasted great.

 

[Ray Crick]

I love Parkers BBQ in Greenville and Wilson. I do not know their recipe but the meat does not taste like it has any rub on it and it is delicious. Let us know how it turns out.

Ray

 

[Charles Howse]

Hi,
I was trying to start a conversation similar to this in another thread - http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...80069052/m/197101045
but it didn't fly too far.

I don't suppose anybody knows for sure, but I bet back in the colonial days, nobody rubbed anything, they just roasted over wood which had been burned down to coals.

I'd truly love to know from some authoritative source what is the history of using rubs and wood for flavor. If anybody can point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

Back to the topic at hand. I've done 1 butt seasoned with only a light coat of salt and ground Cayenne. Came out fine, a real nice blond color. I liked it fine. The family preferred the one next to it which I had rubbed with Chris Lily's Championship Rub.

If you think about it, you gotta get some bark with every bite to taste the rub. Rub only penetrates...what...less than a quarter inch?

The rub and wood things are a mystery to me, but I like 'em!

 

[T Bounds]

Friends,

Thanks for the replies and encouragements. I plan to do a small bone in butt or shoulder. I've smoked scores of butts in two years with various rubs and mostly what I taste when we eat is the rub, not the meat. The sweet spot of my memory is smokey pork, tasting the meat flavored by a cider vinegar and pepper sauce. That's what I'm shooting for on smoke day. I have a very forgiving family and neighbors, so I know whatever I cook will get eaten. My sauce will have cider vinegar, brown sugar, a little salt, and crushed red pepper flakes. I'll baste and mix and give it a fly! I've done half hogs this way, so I have a little confidence. Wish me luck, and I'll try to have pics like everyone else. Thanks again.

 

[Paul Lai]

Did some STL-trimmed spares w/o any seasonings, and then mopped/glazed w/ a rub seasoned vinegar based sauce a couple times in the half hour before taking off the WSM. In general, it was tasteless. Didn't have enough seasoning in the sauce.

Part of the experiment was also to go really low & slow (225-250F 2009 WSM lid therm - probably 200-225F grate) and the fat didn't render/crisp to my liking, so that probably also affected my impressions of this cook.

Since my experiment was with spare-ribs, it might not be totally applicable wrt pork-shoulders/butts.

That being said, I'm finding myself more and more converted to brine/salt early rather than later camp.