Barbeque Seasoning is the Most Important Requirement for Successful “Q” Cooking.
Rubs
Barbeque seasoning starts with rubs. Rubs are, by far, the most important item for creating great barbeque. The rub’s purpose is the enhance the flavor of the meat.
In real smoked barbeque circles the pros will also tell you that the rub’s purpose is to promote the formation of a crust or “bark” on the larger cuts of meat to give it that spicy bite.
A rub is really just a dry marinade that gets sprinkled and layered on the meat. Sometimes it’s used with a marinade to form a paste and thus become a “wet” rub.
The key thing is that you want to keep the rub on the surface of the meat.
The success of your rub depends on the balance you achieve with the stronger flavors. That balance starts with the ratio of sugar to salt.
Your spice combinations for good barbeque seasonings also have chili powder and paprika balanced out with smaller amounts of spices like black pepper, ground cumin, dry mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed, and cayenne.
You are not limited to just these spices so it’s a good idea to experiment with all of your barbeque seasonings.
Marinades and Injections
A marinade is, in it’s broadest definition, a cooking liquid that is used to marinate (to immerse foods in an liquid to tenderize and flavor). It can be an oil, a vinegar, wine, fruit juice,… you name it.
The key term for barbeque seasoning is that it is used to flavor.
You can immerse your food in the marinades and let them steep or actually inject the food with the marinade. Your competition barbeque cooks use injected marinades all the time.
We use them quite often with large cuts of meat. I think that if you want to put your pork shoulders, butts, and briskets over the top use a simple injected marinade of apple juice, cider vinegar, pepper, salt, and butter.
If your barbeque was good these injected marinades will make it great.
Surface Preparations
I’m a believer is using a surface preparation before sprinkling on a rub. What’s a surface preparation? It’s anything that causes your rub to stick to the surface of the meat.
It could be olive oil, mayonnaise, mustard, honey.
The surface preparation promotes the formation of a tasty crust or “bark” on your barbeque. Some people add the rub first and make it into a paste and then slather it on the food.
It’s another good way to kick up the seasoning on your dish.
Mops
Steven Raichlen likes to use mops on his barbeque. Mops are ok (my wife likes to use them) but I find that on a smoker they cause you to open the lid to often.
If you are going to use a mop use it in the latter stages of cooking and use it for ribs. The best mop that I know of is a simple sauce of apple juice, a little cider vinegar, and butter.
Sauces
Barbeque sauces are the key finishing accent for many of your smoked barbeque meat creations. They are also the signature of many a barbeque cook.
The fact is barbeque sauces vary by the region of the country. Most are tomato based, some are mustard based, and a few are even mayonnaise based.
The flavor variations are almost endless with flavorings of fruit, peppers, garlic,….you name it. Most are sweet, however, so you have to careful in how it’s applied.
Just remember to apply barbeque sauces at the end of the cooking process if you want to have a sauce glaze before taking the meat out of the cooker. Otherwise it’s best to just have your sauce on the side as a condiment.