Smoking Naked


 
T

T Bounds

TVWBB Super Fan
Friends,

I know I swim against a strong tide here, but for two years I have smoked butts, at least 20 of them, with various and sundry spices and rubs. Some were better and some just OK, but none were what I remember as true Eastern NC BBQ. I have eaten at hundreds of pig pickins here in eastern NC and even cooked a few pigs myself. I know the flavor but couldn't produce it on the WSM.

So for Smoke Day I vowed to smoke a butt with nothing, nothing, but what God gave it. I would mop with my vinegar sauce and season it with the sauce when it was chopped. I did so yesterday, worried a little. I put it on at 9:15, kept the temp between 250 and 290, and finished at 6:15 with the meat at 195. It had good pork bark, pulled and chopped easily, and tasted very close to the bbq in my lifetime of memories. My friends and family agreed: this was eastern NC Q.

I know many of you are heavily invested in your spices and have no interest in changing. I salute you. But as for me I have been redeemed! I'll be smoking naked from now on, and nothing but (pun intended)! Give it a try, trust the flavor of the pork and your sauce, and see if smoking naked is for you!

Happy Memorial Day to you all, and thanks for the generations of soldiers who have sacrificed all for our freedoms.
 
i basically just use salt, pepper and sometimes garlic salt. thats it. tasting the meat is how i and my wife like it. spices and all are just fine but for some reason not for me.
 
The whole point of doing it yourself is to find what you like best. Me, I'm firmly in the spice/herb/rub camp. Plain Jane is too much like most commercial barbecue - and the reason why I rarely like any of it.

But that's me. It's good you discovered what you prefer.
 
Well Put, Kevin.
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Originally posted by T Bounds:
Friends,

I know I swim against a strong tide here, but for two years I have smoked butts, at least 20 of them, with various and sundry spices and rubs. Some were better and some just OK, but none were what I remember as true Eastern NC BBQ. I have eaten at hundreds of pig pickins here in eastern NC and even cooked a few pigs myself. I know the flavor but couldn't produce it on the WSM.

So for Smoke Day I vowed to smoke a butt with nothing, nothing, but what God gave it. I would mop with my vinegar sauce and season it with the sauce when it was chopped. I did so yesterday, worried a little. I put it on at 9:15, kept the temp between 250 and 290, and finished at 6:15 with the meat at 195. It had good pork bark, pulled and chopped easily, and tasted very close to the bbq in my lifetime of memories. My friends and family agreed: this was eastern NC Q.

I know many of you are heavily invested in your spices and have no interest in changing. I salute you. But as for me I have been redeemed! I'll be smoking naked from now on, and nothing but (pun intended)! Give it a try, trust the flavor of the pork and your sauce, and see if smoking naked is for you!

Happy Memorial Day to you all, and thanks for the generations of soldiers who have sacrificed all for our freedoms.
Click to expand...

I'm with ya on naked smoking|||
I had a brisket today that I smoked yesterday. I put it straight out of the package onto the smoker. I mopped it with a mixture of squeeze butter and worchestershire sauce about every hour. Every time I noticed it wasn't smoking, I added a stick of pecan. When I took it off the smoker I let it cool without foiling. I didn't even taste it last night, my experience is the wood taste is overbearing. Today I sliced it and let it warm to room temperature. It was the taste I've been longing for for some time.
Today everyone raved about how good it was and said it's the best I have smoked in a long time.
For a while now I have been foiling.
I am convinced the foiling changes the flavor, even if you only foil after taking it off the smoker and kills the true smoke flavor as much as spices alter it.
I'm not saying it is for everyone, spices are a wonderful thing. But, I have found spices and foiling are not what I like on brisket.
 
Funny........I was smoking some country style ribs this morning and had a pork shoulder I was going to put on.I was thinking, I was going to pull it,so why couldn't I spice it then?

I put it on totally naked and I don't mop,so we will see.
 
For me it's mostly about the meat and smoke. I always pull a butt apart with my hands and get the yuck out of it. Then I chop it into small chunks. I've noticed people walking by and "sampling" it. They never pick a piece that has no bark on it. The last few butts I've smoked I have cut them in half before smoking so I would have more bark. I like the results.
 
I'm also a big fan of the "naked smoking." Should we start a fan club?

I've smoked some various meats and had people demand to know what my rub is. When I tell them it's just a little salt and pepper, they never believe me. You just can't beat the natural flavor of the wood smoke. Sometimes the other seasonings camouflage the smoke taste.
 
Originally posted by Gary H. NJ:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I'm also a big fan of the "naked smoking." Should we start a fan club?
Click to expand...
I can see the tee-shirt now... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

A t-shirt? Wouldn't a press on tattoo be more appropriate?
 
Sure, Jeff. It's nothing special, but neither is any eastern NC sauce. They're all pretty much the same. I used this time 1 pint of apple cider vinegar, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp red pepper flakes and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Again, nothing special but enough flavor with the vinegar to make it good eastern NC q. If I were to change it next time I would add a tbsp or so of honey. I've done that in the past with success. Thanks for asking. Have a great week.
 
Yep, same mop and same sauce. That's pretty much the way in eastern nc. I know some people here do have separate sauces, but the best pig pickin's were done by poor folks who saved money by using one sauce, pretty much flavored vinegar. That's what I'm after.
 
I grew up in South Alabama. I prefer the taste of a butt smoked without rub. Heck, I never heard of rub until 10 years ago or so. I always just took it out of the package and put it on the cooking grate.

I prefer the bark and dislike the foil, but good grief...the moistness and tenderness of it sitting in a cooler after hitting 195-200 is unreal.

BTW, evidently BBQ judges love them some rub, my pork and ribs have done fairly well in comps.
 
i've always struggled with the rub thing, i'll have to try the naked thing next. i have the feeling it's just what i'm after. and the vinegar sauce sounds like the perfect finisher.
thanks for the info.
 
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