Why so much sugar?

I don't ever use it on beef or fish, and rarely on chicken (except when making pulled chicken or teriyaki anything). I use it in my basic rib rub recipe but that is mostly to balance out the hot from the copious amounts of cayenne. Like others have said, I'll use it on pulled pork for a nice bark (again, also to balance out the pepper/hot).
 
The best way to do it is to open a bottle of sweet Big Red to wash down your salty brisket.
 
Pork Butt or Shoulder need a lot of seasoning. Thats a lot of meat to flavor.

If you want to go basic, you could do finely ground salt, 1/3 cup on your butt and the flavor would come out quite mellow. If you go back in time, say to the 50s, all they really had was salt, black pepper and chili powder. They made due with that pretty well infact.
 
PatioDaddio said:
My short answer would be, for the same reason that fast food combo meals include a sweet soft drink. Savory, salty and sweet are a great combination, and the marketing folks know it.

My specific reasons are:

  • Balances the salt
  • Balances the acridity and bitterness of the smoke.
  • Bark formation
  • Helps denature (tenderize) the protein
  • Hits one more of the five tastes that the tongue detects (pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty). The more tastebuds you tickle, the better.
John
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Pretty much what I was thinking...Splenda is an expensive alternitive.
 
bmanMA said:
I have a similar question; why all the freakin' salt? Gah!
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I for one have cut way back on the salt too. When I started this my thinking was that for one reason or another it looked like sugar overkill with the amounts being used in some of the recipes! You could start a thread on salt.:thumb: I bet it would be a good one.:clap2:

Haltech said:
Pork Butt or Shoulder need a lot of seasoning. Thats a lot of meat to flavor.

If you want to go basic, you could do finely ground salt, 1/3 cup on your butt and the flavor would come out quite mellow. If you go back in time, say to the 50s, all they really had was salt, black pepper and chili powder. They made due with that pretty well infact.
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And I agree with this. Most of us have grown up on over processed food and have forgotten what the basics are. Personally, I cook up a piece of meat to taste the flavor of the meat. And then use the seasoning to enhance that flavor, not hide it.
 
JD McGee said:
I'm with John...^^^...it's all about the flavor profile your looking for...aka...balance. :cool:[/QUOTE

Yep. What I don't get is when folks go overboard. I've still got most of a bottle of regular Blues Hog bbq sauce in the fridge from my last butt cook. That stuff tastes like brown sugar in a bottle, with a wee bit of spice added. Total overkill!
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Can someone help me understand how sugar caramalizes to form bark please? I'm in Australia and there arn't any BBQ restaurants I can learn from , so it's pictures guiding me only!

I use the rib rub in Chris Lilly's book, which is 2 parts sugar to 1 part paprika. I find that the sugar seems to make it all disolve, so you get red coloured ribs but it's not like caked on powder. I have tried recipes that use little or no sugar and it's more like powder but it seems to form a chewy coating when cooked that is a clear layer on the meat.

So either I am not actually understanding what a bark is, never having seen one in the wild, or I am not cooking hot enough for the sugar to caramalize. Could also be I am rubbing it in too much, do you rub a rub or just pat it on or just sprinkle and leave?

Ryan
 
Spode said:
Can someone help me understand how sugar caramalizes to form bark please? I'm in Australia and there arn't any BBQ restaurants I can learn from , so it's pictures guiding me only!

I use the rib rub in Chris Lilly's book, which is 2 parts sugar to 1 part paprika. I find that the sugar seems to make it all disolve, so you get red coloured ribs but it's not like caked on powder. I have tried recipes that use little or no sugar and it's more like powder but it seems to form a chewy coating when cooked that is a clear layer on the meat.

So either I am not actually understanding what a bark is, never having seen one in the wild, or I am not cooking hot enough for the sugar to caramalize. Could also be I am rubbing it in too much, do you rub a rub or just pat it on or just sprinkle and leave?

Ryan
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Caramelize: is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color. As the process occurs, volatile chemicals, Flavors, are released, as I call them, essential oils.


Personally I don't find that sugar helps with the bark. And it appears that you have found that also.


Sugars form naturally in many foods, so take onions for example. To caramelize you heat them so the essential oils start to come out and then the onions start to turn color, ie brown. And a different flavor than if you had just let them sweat.


As many of you have stated, which is one reason I started this thread, there is a lot of overkill out there.



Suggested reading, http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=82890
 
PatioDaddio said:
My short answer would be, for the same reason that fast food combo meals include a sweet soft drink. Savory, salty and sweet are a great combination, and the marketing folks know it.

My specific reasons are:

  • Balances the salt
  • Balances the acridity and bitterness of the smoke.
  • Bark formation
  • Helps denature (tenderize) the protein
  • Hits one more of the five tastes that the tongue detects (pungent, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty). The more tastebuds you tickle, the better.
John
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Couldn't have said it better. Personally, my chicken rub has no salt and if it's just for me, I don't glaze it. If it's for others, especially at a comp, ya gotta sweeten it up.
 
If you want to do a quick, easy and fun experiment to see how much of a difference seasoning makes, get yourself a bowl of chocolate ice cream and sprinkle it with a little kosher salt (NO TABLE SALT!).

If you've never tried it, I think you'll be amazed.

John
 
PatioDaddio said:
If you want to do a quick, easy and fun experiment to see how much of a difference seasoning makes, get yourself a bowl of chocolate ice cream and sprinkle it with a little kosher salt (NO TABLE SALT!).

If you've never tried it, I think you'll be amazed.

John
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John, I'll try that, sounds crazy at first, but this is how we learn.

BTW I never meant to imply that seasoning does not make a difference. I know it does. Kind of like adding anchovies to a hearty beef dish to bring up the flavor. But don't use too much or you will spoil it. Get my point?

Thanks, I have to go look for some chocolate ice cream.
 
Well the closest thing to chocolate was Edy's chocolate and peanut butter. I don't usually salt my peanut butter so I figured I was safe.

Got out a small portion and used my Morton Kosher as I might salt a piece of meat.:laugh: Pleasant surprise.:clap2::clap2:

Now mind you I don't think that I will be salting my ice cream very often if ever again, but a very good experiment. I highly recommend that you all try this.:crazy::crazy: But what would happen if I had just poured on the salt, would the flavor change again? Maybe even taste like, well, SALT?

As I said when I started this thread, why so much sugar.

Saw another thread about salt today, not the one started by J Appledog, Same question, why so much salt in everything?

It appears that some people think bigger is better, or is that size matters? Regardless, more is not always better.

Gosh this is fun.:clap2::clap2:
 
Chef Jim said:
Well the closest thing to chocolate was Edy's chocolate and peanut butter. I don't usually salt my peanut butter so I figured I was safe.

Got out a small portion and used my Morton Kosher as I might salt a piece of meat.:laugh: Pleasant surprise.:clap2::clap2:

Now mind you I don't think that I will be salting my ice cream very often if ever again, but a very good experiment. I highly recommend that you all try this.:crazy::crazy: But what would happen if I had just poured on the salt, would the flavor change again? Maybe even taste like, well, SALT?

As I said when I started this thread, why so much sugar.

Saw another thread about salt today, not the one started by J Appledog, Same question, why so much salt in everything?

It appears that some people think bigger is better, or is that size matters? Regardless, more is not always better.

Gosh this is fun.:clap2::clap2:
Click to expand...
I feel ya, Jim. As I say, it's just a fun experiment to show the power of plain ol' salt as a flavor enhancer.

John
 
I personaly like to find the balance between salty, sweet and spicy... kinda like John & Bigabyte said.

Another expirement for you, take one of the "too salty" rubs that you have and start adding a small amount of sugar to a portion of it until it no longer tastes salty to you. Start adding the spicy element to that until you can notice it and still taste the sweet & salt... amazing how much it changes as you add small amounts of each element.

A personal belief on why so much salt & sugar and IMO - Paprika in rubs is that they are cheap components and make good fillers.

Also, they way a rub is intended to be used and the way that it actually is used can vary tremendously!

For example, on chicken I use a very salty & spicy rub, but, I use it sparingly... if I gave it to you and told you to use it "sparingly" that word means something totaly different to you, and you tell me it was way too salty or spicy, No, more than likely, we didn't use the same amout.
 
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