itschris
Full Fledged Farker
I couldn't find the camara anywhere, so I have no pics, but this is what I came up with on the Mustard Slather test.
I made two virtually identical butts, I used the same rub on both, rotated them in the smoker so they were more even. Prior to rubbing down the 1st one, I coated it with a generous amount of Boars Head German brown mustard. I have to say that after about 13 hours, I did notice a different kind of bark development on the one with the mustard. It was a bit firmer, almost kinda crispy in a couple of places. After pulling, I'd say the the bark was better (at least to my liking) with the slather though I can't say it was dramatic in any way. It was different, but not by leaps and bounds. Flavor-wise, I noticed a little difference on the bark and outside pieces which did have a bit of tang to it. Subtle, but noticable.
My test is by no means scientific and no one else seemed to prefer one over the other. Everyone was just stuffing their face. Even if the benefits are small, if I can 5-10 small benefits combined, it should make a big difference. I'm going to try this one again to see if it holds true. I may try mixing the mustard with some Lea Perrins next time as well.
Okay, for the ribs... I've chronicaled my woes with ribs. I was told that the SAM's Club ribs in my area are crap and that why my ribs come out like rubber. I put that to the test as well. I had two left over Sam's spares that I cut down to St. Louis and I ended up with 2 from my butcher. All things being done equal, I did notice the butcher ribs pulled back a bit from the bone while the Sam's ribs did not. My test got screwed up a bit because I had to run some errands and my smoker went cold on my, but only for about 30 mintutes. I guesstimate I had a total smoke time of just over 6 hours with the proper heat.
Results - better... but still rubbery. I honestly think I just need to cook them longer. Four slabs takes up a lot of room in the Cimarron and maybe I'm just not getting the circulation I need. Next time, I"m going to try 6 hours at higher temps to see what that does. In the meantime, I'm going to forgoe SAM's club ribs and just pay the higher price from the butcher. I do think that rack came out best. After 6 hours, the meat had not pulled from the Sam's racks at all.
So there you have it. I'm gonna be in full test mode for the next two months or so. We'll see what happens.
I made two virtually identical butts, I used the same rub on both, rotated them in the smoker so they were more even. Prior to rubbing down the 1st one, I coated it with a generous amount of Boars Head German brown mustard. I have to say that after about 13 hours, I did notice a different kind of bark development on the one with the mustard. It was a bit firmer, almost kinda crispy in a couple of places. After pulling, I'd say the the bark was better (at least to my liking) with the slather though I can't say it was dramatic in any way. It was different, but not by leaps and bounds. Flavor-wise, I noticed a little difference on the bark and outside pieces which did have a bit of tang to it. Subtle, but noticable.
My test is by no means scientific and no one else seemed to prefer one over the other. Everyone was just stuffing their face. Even if the benefits are small, if I can 5-10 small benefits combined, it should make a big difference. I'm going to try this one again to see if it holds true. I may try mixing the mustard with some Lea Perrins next time as well.
Okay, for the ribs... I've chronicaled my woes with ribs. I was told that the SAM's Club ribs in my area are crap and that why my ribs come out like rubber. I put that to the test as well. I had two left over Sam's spares that I cut down to St. Louis and I ended up with 2 from my butcher. All things being done equal, I did notice the butcher ribs pulled back a bit from the bone while the Sam's ribs did not. My test got screwed up a bit because I had to run some errands and my smoker went cold on my, but only for about 30 mintutes. I guesstimate I had a total smoke time of just over 6 hours with the proper heat.
Results - better... but still rubbery. I honestly think I just need to cook them longer. Four slabs takes up a lot of room in the Cimarron and maybe I'm just not getting the circulation I need. Next time, I"m going to try 6 hours at higher temps to see what that does. In the meantime, I'm going to forgoe SAM's club ribs and just pay the higher price from the butcher. I do think that rack came out best. After 6 hours, the meat had not pulled from the Sam's racks at all.
So there you have it. I'm gonna be in full test mode for the next two months or so. We'll see what happens.
