turbinado sugar

[Rick Moore]

I have been reading recipes with turbinado sugar for about 2 years now - the only place I found what this actually is was on cooks thesaurus of foodsubs.com - anyway these are my questions regarding turbinado:

Where do I find it?
Why is it better than normal or brown sugar?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Kevin Taylor]

Rick....

Most supermarkets carry it in the sugar section. It has a few names, one of which is Sugar in the Raw.

I am not a big believer in using Turbinado. The biggest reason folks like to use it is because it has a higher burn point....about 372?. Normal sugar has a burn point around 325?. So, my question has always been, if we are cooking low and slow, why pay all that extra money for something that you really don't need?

I have cooked many batches of ribs that I sauced BEFORE and DURING cooking(Carson's ribs technique). They were cooked for 6 hours and the sweet sauces never came close to burning.

Many will tell you to not sauce until the last 30 minutes. This is supposedly to prevent burning, but again at our low temps, the burning point is never a factor. Now, if you are high heat grilling, then, yes, better not sauce until the final few minutes. But, for low and slow cooking, save your money.

On the other foot, many find it has a unique flavor. So, in that case it may make sense.

Good luck!

 

[John Griffin]

Stogie,

What is the Carson's ribs technique?? Saucing during the cook??

 

[Doug D]

Carson's Style BBQ Ribs

 

[Rick Moore]

Interesting points Kevin-

Being a number crunching, technical type by day (civil engineer) I tend to agree with you on all points. I'm not sure that using 1 sugar vs. another in a rub could make much difference in taste of say a pork butt - except for in the bark.

Time to revisit all the rubs and sauces I've used before - I have always left out the sugar because I didn't want them to burn - may make a big difference, may not - but it sounds like a good reason to fire up the WSM!!! I always wondered why bbq gurus put sugar in their rubs and sauces - now I know the burning points which I didn't previously - THANKS!!!

 

[Tony Weisse]

Turbinado sugar is great on top of muffins! Sprinkle before you cook. Also good for topping on baked custard (use a propane torch for best effect).

In q-ing, though, I think plain old brown sugar tastes as good (or better), is cheaper, and more readily available.

But do the muffin thing. It's great.

 

[Guest]

Love the molasses taste turbinado has. Never been worried about burning sugar when smoking.
But now come on, the cost...couple of bucks for a couple of lbs. lets state what really is out of line the cost of cayenne pepper and paprika couple of bucks for couple of ozs.

 

[Doug D]

I purchase all my rub spices in 16-20 ounce containers from Deep South brand, most of which run $4.00-6.00 each, on average.

 

[Chris Estes]

I think I'd have to agree with Tony Weisse on this. I can't imagine that my tastebuds could discern any kind of sugar (cane, Domino's brown, turbinado, or otherwise) used in a rub after 8+ hours on the smoker. I would (and do) use regular brown sugar.

Of course, it's always the special touch that makes our own recipies our *own*!

FWIW - Domino's makes a "pourable" brown sugar that has all of the moisture removed and it's very easy to deal with when making rubs. Works great for me!

 

[Jim Minion]

Anyone that has cooked on offsets or WSMs where you use a mix of kingsford and lump understands what heat spikes are. For those short periods the air moving through the pit can get well above the temps that would burn white or brown sugar.
Each flavor that you add to rub changes the final outcome. You may not be able to pick out one flavor but the flavor will be different, otherwise what is the point of all these different rub recipes?
There are rubs that I now make up that I leave sugar out of them, I will apply the sugar I want directly to the meat and then apply the rub, seems to be working quite well.
Jim