Daddy needs a new color of glaze...

Funky D

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Sugar...
Fine tuning my ribs, one of the perceived weak points I'm having is my sauce/glaze. Although delicious, like many, I use commercial BBQ sauce as a base and then begin to put in the flavors and texture I want.

Delicious, but dark. :( Looking at the turn in ribs from people at the top of the winners circles, the main difference I notice is that they vary in color, but all of them are at least 2 shades brighter than mine. From the dark red of Myron's to the candy-apple red that Trigg usually achieves.

It makes me want to try something different, just to have some perspective. I have my heat and richness of flavor largely in the rub, and the smoke/porkosity in the meat, so now I'm needing something to bring the sweet, but do it without having my ribs look like Wesley Snipes at midnight on the dark side of the moon during a power outage.

Anyone have some sweet, light colored glaze recipes to share? For my next practice cook, I'll wanna have at least one rack that looks more like candy than manly-man BBQ.

D
 
what do your ribs look like before saucing?

mine, unless i botch something, are a pretty bright red.

that's really where the color comes from. the sauce/glaze should be applied thin enough for competition that the actual color of the cooked meat shows through it.
 
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On the one hand, as long as they're in the mahogany-ish range you're fine. If it's black, that's another story. If black, the first thing to look at is the amount of smoke on your ribs. The rib itself (for us) carries 80% of the color. We then use our own sauce plus some Blues Hog and thin it down with a lot of water, heat it up, and put it on VERY thin. It'll shine right up and not be so overly dark. I mean, everyone does different things. Some just make a honey & something glaze, some take that and thin it way down... Memphis style doesn't have any sauce... For both color and over-smoke-seasoned, I'd stay away from *most* commercial BBQ sauces as they tend to have smoke flavorings in them and tend to be already fairly dark.
 
First, what were your appearance scores in the last two contests?

Second, do you wrap them?
 
Very interesting. Mine are definitely a good deal darker than yours are boogie, before they hit the foil. That might be a function of the rub, but I always want to make sure I get enough texture/smoke in them before wrapping. (I think the red of my smoke ring is actually darker than your exterior!)

As lake hints at, maybe I should lighten the smoke up a little bit, and water down my glaze just enough to force that shine, and impart a little flavor. I'm just going by looks on Triggs, but he's definitely got a good layer of sticky glaze on his final products, and the word from people who've tasted em is that that glaze is one of the most defining characteristics of his ribs...
 
Might want to consider cutting back on the sugar in your rub too. Just sayin...
 
And, when you foil (foiling for color I mean) depends a lot on the type of smoker you're using, the type of wood, etc.

I use Hickory on a reverse flow offset smoker. I have been foiling right at 1.5 hours, but they're still a tad dark for my personal taste. I think we'll bump that to right at 1.25 hours and see how it goes. My guess is that you're going what, 2 hours or more?
 
I like smoking with Pecan, and could probably cut that back by trimming a little more aggressively and wrapping sooner. Depending on how low I'm smoking at, I go 2 hours right now before wrapping, and that's with a target cook temp of 230.

Cutting down on the sugar in my rub could help as well, but I'm already riding the line of "not sweet enough", which means I'd have to either go further toward candy on the glaze, or maybe hunt for a sugar substance that doesn't darken up quite so fast.

(of course, I might be fiddling with something that's not necessarily broken... in judging, have others here seen dark ribs that stood out high amongst the pack?)
 
I've judged more than I've cooked. If they've still got that hint of reddish color in there, they're probably not too dark. How are your appearance scores?

I'd hate for you to change everything up only to find that it wasn't the problem afterall...

However, Pecan is going to smoke very similar to Hickory. You may try cutting back to 1.5 hours and see if that doesn't do the trick right there.
 
When I got a new cooker the first thing I did was cook ribs without foiling and monitored the color throughout the cook. They turned out great without foiling, however the color was too dark. From my observations I was able to determine what the best time to foil was and then practice foil timing from there.

Now I have ribs down to science...I don't even think about them any more. I just follow my schedule and they turn out the way I want every time.
 
My first thought when I heard 'dark' ribs was.... too much sugar in the rub. Might consider adding the sweetness that you desire in to the sauce/glaze.

Hope that helps and just my opinion.
 
I am going to give the Slabs Que Shine and Bone Polish a try.
 
having my ribs look like Wesley Snipes at midnight on the dark side of the moon during a power outage.
D


LOL So lighter than Grace Jones?

Come my way when we do our "Ribs and Mo'" charity BBQ and you can help out. I am in Dickinson, Texas.
 
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