So Juicy It's Crying... But It's Not?


 
J

John-Peterson

TVWBB Fan
After many many cooks, I've not be able to recreate it.

Everytime I see "TV BBQ", when they cut into the meat, it's so juicy it looks like they're cutting a water soaked sponge. What's does one do to achieve that? No injections where used either.
 
Well if you do things properly when you slice meat you shouldn't see a lot of juice coming out. Juice coming out is juice that's no longer in the meat and you actually have dryer meat.
 
Injections are more to add flavor. Best advice I can give to get juicy BBQ is to cook til tender, but not over cook. Lots of folks don't realize that not only is BBQ tougher if under cooked, it's actually a lot dryer. Food scientists and a lot of guys use words like collagen and gellatin, but neither sounds appetizing to me. I just like fat and connective tissue to render and cook down. Cook too long and it obviously squeezes the moisture out, though. Tender doesn't mean mushy.

Also, don't cook too slow. Cooking faster will help keeping things from drying out, but with certain cuts, especially brisket and back ribs, foiling after bark formation will help. If cooking with water in the pan, use it to your advantage and use the steam to help control bark formation. That means cooking st. louis ribs around 250*, not 225*, and if they're nice and marbled, I don't know that foiling really helps them retain any moisture...at least in my experience. Back ribs are a different story.

One other thing related to over cooking is to not rest your meat too hot. Briskets and butts can rest wrapped in foil for quite a while, but you don't want them actually cooking for hours after they're already nice and tender. I'm guilty of drying out brisket flats, pork butts, and ribs as well from holding too hot or too long. True "resting" is to let the meat come down in temp so that juices are evenly distributed when you slice, but you obviously don't want to let it cool down too much, though. Briskets, for instance, should still be hot enough to be "jiggly" when you slice.

Don't be too hard on your BBQ, though. I don't compare my bbq to what I see on tv. If there are empty plates and pans, I'm happy. :wsm:
 
Grill a tri-tip to 135 to 145 internal.
All that I've ever made, always after a rest, have had plenty of juice run out.

Even pork loin chops will too, if you brine them first, and don't go over 145 internal.
 
Bob Sample said:
Well if you do things properly when you slice meat you shouldn't see a lot of juice coming out. Juice coming out is juice that's no longer in the meat and you actually have dryer meat.
Click to expand...

Exactly - just cut it too early and you can watch the juices pour out. There's nothing worse than getting a burger or a piece of meat in a restaurant and watching the same thing happen.
 
Hey all, thanks for all the replies. I guess the reason for the question, is that when I do make pulled pork, it seems that it dries out rather quickly. I let it rest for usually 45min or so before I pull. Even then its still super hot during the pull. Everyone loves it but of course I'm never satisfied.

I just happened to be watching TV and they were doing a BBQ special and it was getting to me so I had to ask.
 
John, once pulled, pork can dry out rather quickly no matter what you do, and that's a big reason for the vinegar based sauces that are traditionally mixed in with the pork in the Carolinas and often, here in TN.
 
John, I think I know the clip you're talking about. They're vertically cutting a through a brisket where the point meets the flat while pushing down. Forcing a big rush of rendered fat out. It's more of a camera trick then a indication of juicy bbq.
 
After reading a lot of post, and doing my own experiments, I found out that I was cooking to low of a temperature. Now I cook my pork at 275, and beef and poultry at 300. I found that this works for me, and what I am looking for as far as juiciness.
 
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