wet rub brisket problem

[Guest]

just did a wt rub recipe briquit flat about 6lbs maintained about250 at the lid took about 8 hrs to 185-190 havent tried it yet but on the meat side almost no bark still wet looking , i rubbed with mustard first then the wet rub as directed on the site, did the mustard screw up my bark??

thanks in advance

 

[Mike Draper]

I sure wouldn't think so. A lot of people including me use mustard as a binder.
I have never used a wet rub, so am not sure what to think at this point.
Was the meat side up? It didn't just fall off into the pan did it?

 

[K Kruger]

The mustard was the problem. When using a paste rub no additional wet/pasty items should be added (like mustard). If you want mustard on the brisket use it in the paste rub instead of applying it separately first. Putting mustard on--then applying your paste rub over it--allowed for to much contained surface moisture, especially considering how low your temps were.

Note that mustard is not a necessary item in a paste rub--use it in the mix if you wish. It is not needed to bind dry rubs either; that's a personal preference, not a necessity. I've never found a need for it as a binder but do like high quality Dijon in some pastes. Many do like using it to bind, as Mike does, and that's fine. But slathering with mustard then topping with paste is overkill on the moisture front. You could pull that off, probably, if cooking at higher temps, but at low temps it won't work well--it's like applying too much paste rub.

Note, also, that you can make a paste rub and then apply a dry rub over it--much like the dry-on-mustard-slather thing. This gives you a way to introduce flavor items not (or less) available as dried products and/or to use the cooking process of the fresh stuff to create flavors--onion, e.g., becomes sweeter as it slowly cooks and this flavor is different than the flavor one gets from using onion powder. See an example here.

 

[Guest]

thanks makes perfect sense it was meat/rub side up for at leat 4 hrs so it should have set up but when i turned it over for the rest of the cook, thenn took it off it was almost all gone. It indeed was to wet, on a positive note it was my first briquit and it turned out great my wife loved it nice smoke ring, tender but not falling apart delicous, the smoke wood was a few chunks of mesquit, oak and 2 fistfulls of jackdaniels chips . hey it was what i had. I think next time i might try leaving it fat side down the whole cook

thanks again this board is great, so far i have done ribs , prime rib chicken , butt and now the elusive briquit, by just folowing the directions on this board.

 

[K Kruger]

Excellent, jerry. Glad it came out well.

Yes, try forgoing flipping. It isn't necessary and you won't lose rub--even dry rub can get quite moist during cooking and can be lost because of flipping.

'[T]ender but not falling apart delicious'--you nailed it. Good show.