Will sugar in the rub burn at 250 F?

[maunder]

I used a rub recipe that was 60% brown sugar and white sugar, and had it in my electric smoker all day at 250F, and I could swear it burned the rub before I basted it 6 hours in. It was almost black at the time I put the sauce on....I was going to do a crutch with the sauce inside the foil but got lazy and brushed the sauce on the top side and left out the foil wrap. Cooked another 45 minutes. The crust tasted burnt and was pretty much black on both the top and bottom.

Does sugary rub burn at 250F? Will 220 or 210 be better if I want to try this new rub recipe again sometime? Thanks!

[bigabyte]

These three threads might help.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=18492

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=36204

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=62646

This link might help too.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking...ar-stages.html

[yakdung]

Drop the sugar. Kosher/Sea Salt and Course Pepper. If you like, add honey and sauce later and a touch of apple juice. Keep it simple. When you try and go the fantasy pants route, it will have a tendency to mask the flavor of the food you are trying to smoke.

[BayoustateBBQ]

I use a 60% brown sugar rub and have never had mine burn. Ketchup based basting too soon will defiantly burn. I also spritz mine with a apple/vinager mix aswell. Even without spritzing I've never had mine burn. Sure your meat wasn't in a hotspot or something? On my offset neat the firebox is 300, in the middle is 250, and towards the chimney is 225

[maunder]

I do need to invest in a good thermometer to see how honest the temperature dial setting is on my electric smoker. I heard a rumor that this brand has a tendency to vary it's actual temperature alot....large temperature swings. So maybe it could be a hotspot because it looks like all the ingredients on my list shouldn't burn at 250 according to the experiments done by bigabyte.

[maunder]

thank you bigabyte, have you ever done this experiment mixing several ingredients together to see if some kind of reaction took place between them causing them to burn? Or perhaps have you tried pork fat in the presence of these ingredients to see if the heated fat reacted with the ingredients to cause burning? I might try to just sprinkle my rub and place in 250 degree oven for 6 hours to see what happens, and also try that with some pork fat sprinkled with the rub to see if there is a difference. Hmmm, now did I take those trimmings out to the trash already tonight?

[BayoustateBBQ]

I use light brown sugar, salt, coarse black pepper, ground mustard, garlic powder, onion powder, and basil. Just get you a couple of those oven thermos and you can know the sweet spot. You can also coat your meat with olive oil or peanut oil prior to rubbing too. I still have my money on a bad thermometer or hot spot. I'f do a baste I don't do it till I put it in foil. It can burn for sure if it's mostly ketchup based.

[bigabyte]

Originally Posted by maunder

thank you bigabyte, have you ever done this experiment mixing several ingredients together to see if some kind of reaction took place between them causing them to burn? Or perhaps have you tried pork fat in the presence of these ingredients to see if the heated fat reacted with the ingredients to cause burning? I might try to just sprinkle my rub and place in 250 degree oven for 6 hours to see what happens, and also try that with some pork fat sprinkled with the rub to see if there is a difference. Hmmm, now did I take those trimmings out to the trash already tonight?

As for the pork fat, these experiments were done with pieces of Boston Butt, also known as shoulder cut Country Style Ribs, basically a Boston Butt cut down to smaller pieces. So, yes, it was tested with the exact same piece of meat as a pork butt, same meat, same fat, etc.

I used these results to combine in many different ways, in terms of making rubs, using slathers, sauces, etc. So in that sense, I have combined them, but have not tested the formulaically as presented here because there are too many possibilities. Every possible combination of all of these tests is a number well beyond the possibility for me to test in my backyard over several lifetimes.

[ChiefBrock]

get a digital thermometer like the ET732.....after using mine yesterday I found that the thermometer on the cooker rates 50* lower than indicated so when I thought I was at 225-250 it was actually at 275-300...quite a difference.

[Lake Dogs]

^^^ what Chief said above. Also, the black may not be from burned sugars. How/what are you using for smoke? What color is the smoke (literally)?

[maunder]

Well the wood I'm using are small 2inch long by 1inch cylinders of barkless hickory...and I only use 1 per smoke because it gets so bitter (this electric smoker really traps in the smoke), I bought the hickory from the smoker manufacturer, the color of smoke is hard to tell right now because it's so cold outside the steam coming out of the smoker is almost more intense than the smoke, the usual color of the smoke from last summer/fall was a light grey as I recall. I have had much better batches of ribs or brisket in the past, it just seems like something went really wrong with this batch causing everything to turn black and burnt.

[Lake Dogs]

I'm thinking you hit probably 80% or more of your problem here. If the smoke is trapped, this isn't good. White, heavy grey, in essence could/would be billowy, not good. Trapped; worse. I think you have a very bad burning fire in there that is producing creosote, of which it's accumulating on the meat. Black, over-smoked, bitter, and yes, burned tasting meat can be a result.

Perhaps the wood this time was cold going in (that doesn't help); perhaps it had more moisture than before (this too doesn't help).

[El Ropo]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this but it looks to me like you basted with a bbq sauce 45 min before removing from cooker? Yeah, that could have something to do with it. Most people recommend saucing right before removing, like 15 min just to set it.

Just something to keep in mind. I have no idea if that caused the result.

Also, any rub recipe I see that has a lot of sugar in it. I move along and find another recipe. I don't think 80% sugar is good for anything. Alton brown must have no taste buds left

[ChiefBrock]

no exhaust for smoke....not getting clean burn on the wood.....basting too early....maybe wrong temp......

[popeye]

i know i ama newbi . BUT there is a hex nut on the back of a thermometer.lucin this nut put it in a bowl of ice turn the thermometer till i reaches 32 degrees . titen the nut . Sorry put the point in the ice .