The Backlot Barbeque

The Spaniards have gone too far! Yes, those molecular gastronomical-asses in Spain have dared to mess with my beloved barbeque. What am I talking about you ask? Recently, a friend of mine sent me a link thinking I would be interested in crystallized barbeque sauce. The caption is what got me, “the flavor of ribs without the mess.” This reminded me of another common misconception about barbeque: the taste comes from the sauce or the rub. While these components are often essential, the real flavor in barbeque comes from long hours of low temperatures and the fat dripping and running all over whatever cut of meat you are smoking. Barbeque sauce is not a way to make your cooking process better, because the crux of any good barbeque is having someone who will take the time to cook the meat properly. Sauces and rubs do not give you the taste of barbeque. Sauces and rubs are ways to enhance or vary flavor, because barbeque is really the blending of that smoky flavor with whatever type of rub you apply.

In fact, while we are on the subject, sauces should never be applied during the smoking process until maybe 30 minutes before the cooking process is complete. In some barbeque cultures sauce is non-essential though. The reason you have to wait on applying sauce is because if you apply sauce too early it will burn off on your meat and give you a burnt flavor – you don’t want this.

Alright, I think that is enough talk about what to do with your meat for one day. I am presently counting down the days until a nice spring weekend allows for a proper cookout to happen. I hope you are doing the same.