What makes consistently great BBQ? Let's face it, sometimes you cook, and after you cook you realize this BBQ is not as good as the last Barbecue you cooked.

You ask yourself... "What did I do different this time to change the flavor?" It could have been any one of several things:

• The meat selection
• Your cooking technique
• A change of wood flavoring
• Changes in spices, rubs, marinades, or sauces
• Change in your method of cooking

In order for you to prepare great tasting BBQ every time you cook, you need to have the same routine.

That is to say you need to get to know your cooker, cook the same temperature, use the same meat, use a great wood for smoke flavoring, and use the same rub. Sounds hard doesn't it? Well, it isn't hard at all if you follow these steps.

 

Step 1: Write down your plan and document the steps

I think this is the biggest downfall of people who are trying to learn barbecue.

 

 

Step 2: Select your favorite meat

Choose your favorite meat. Learn to cook it the same way every time. You may like beef or pork butts. My personal favorite is pork spareribs. I buy all my meat at Sam's Club. They have consistent good quality meat with good prices. You can pick your favorite butcher shop or whatever, but if there is a Sam's Club near you, check them out.

 

When you BBQ, you must add a smoke flavor to the meat.

This is one of the two most important things you can do to add flavor to your meat.

A good smoke flavor will penetrate the meat with the heat, and give your meat a real boost in flavor. Don't add a smoke flavored spice.

So what kind of wood do I use?

The answer is a wood that produces a good flavor and you can get your hands on. Many people use what is around them locally. It could be oak, pecan, hickory, or a fruit wood. These all work great.

The two most popular BBQ woods are hickory and oak. I use mesquite because of it's sweet smoky taste and availability.

Each wood gives its own distinctive flavor to the meat you are cooking. For a comparison of different woods click here. Do yourself a favor and try different woods until you find your favorite.

 

 

Gas grill

You can still add the smoke flavor to your meat. Simply put a metal pan with some wood chips (soak them in water for about 30 minutes first) of your favorite wood on top of the fake charcoal while you are cooking. This will give you a smoke taste. Check them periodically and keep adding them to the metal pan as needed.

Charcoal grill

You might be using some type of charcoal that has added a wood to the briquettes themselves. I would suggest using more chips of wood in a metal container placed on the briquettes for more flavoring. You can even put the wood chips directly on the briquettes if you wish. 

 

✏️ TIP #1: Never use pine or cedar. There are some bad things in the smoke that can ruin your meat and cooker, and possibly make everyone that eats the meat sick. ✏️ TIP #2: Never use a cheap charcoal.  Many of the cheap charcoals are made with sawdust and glues. They simply just don't do anything for your flavor but make it worse. Always be sure your charcoal is made with a hardwood. ✏️ TIP #3: Don't use charcoal lighter fluid when starting your fire, as this will leave an unpleasant taste in the smoke. Also, don't use the charcoal briquettes that have added starter fluid built into them.

 

 

Step 4: Choose a marinades (optional)

A marinade is a combination of several ingredients used to tenderize and flavor the meat. There are many recipes out there for marinades with all kinds of flavors. But marinades are always a liquid and have a few common ingredients; acid, oil, and spices.

The acid is used to help break down the meat, the oil is used to keep the meat from drying out, and the spices are used to add additional flavor from your meat.

There are several different acids that are commonly used:

• Vinegar
• Milk
• Wine
• Beer
• Fruit Juices
• Fruit Juices

Oils can be a vegetable oil, peanut oil, olive oil, but never use any oil that will coagulate in the fridge such as butter or bacon drippings.

Spices can be a wide variety to suit your taste buds. They are used to add additional flavor (remember the smoke adds flavor) to your meat. Examples of spices include peppers, salts, paprika, cumin, cayenne, basil, mustard, etc. Of course, you will usually have onion and garlic also.

You can always experiment around with mixes of oils, acids, and spices to get the taste you prefer. This takes a lot of your valuable time up when you could have your meat already on the grill cooking.

 

⚠️WARNING Using marinades can cause some real serious problems if they are not handled right. Here is a list of some of the problems you could have: Use extreme care when you tenderizers, vinegar, and citrus juices. If left on the meat too long, they can cause the meat to become mushy. Do not use aluminum pans when you marinade. The acids in the marinade can react with the aluminum and cause a serious problem. Always use a glass dish or a large plastic bag to marinade your meat. Perhaps the biggest problem; do not reuse any or the marinade again once you have let your meat sit in it unless you take the marinade and boil it first. Chances are the meat you just marinated has left bacteria from the meat in the marinade and this bacteria can cause severe sickness. Always throw out any marinade you have used when you are finished. Marinades need refrigeration. Always keep the meat you are marinating or have marinated in the refrigerator until you put it on the grill or smoker. Once you put it on the grill and the heat from the grill reaches the marinade, the tendency is for the marinade to roll off the meat. So, all the work is for nothing, except the small amount of marinade that actually pierced the meat. Marinades have a short shelf life. Store any unused marinade in an air tight container (remember no aluminum) in the refrigerator. Marinades have a tendency to burn very easily on the outside of your meat. This creates an unpleasant taste and color to your meat.

 

I personally only use a marinade occasionally when I cook chicken or pork tenderloin. I use Italian dressing as my marinade. I just pour a little over the chicken or pork loin, let it stand for a couple of minutes, and then add rub over the meat. The Italian dressing helps hold on the rub as well as adds flavor.

 

 

Step 5:  Choose your rub

Rubs are used in every part of the country to enhance the flavor of BBQ. Generally, rubs are a combination of spices which are "rubbed" or sprinkled on the outside surface of the meat before you put it on the grill.

Rubs do GREAT things to your meat...

1. Rubs seal the flavor our the meat
2. Rubs form a tasty crust on the BBQ
3. Rubs enhance the color of the cooked meat
4. Most Important - Rubs pull moisture fro the air, while drawing juices from the inside meat. This reaction is called osmosis. This literally causes the meat to marinade itself as it cooks.

Rubs are a combination of different spices mixed with salts and sugars. The salt draws moisture out of the meat, the sugar locks in the flavor of the spices by caramelizing on the surface of the meat and sealing in all the great spice flavors. The sugar also assists in osmosis.

 

 

Advantages of Rubs Over Marinades Rubs are more economical than marinades Rubs do not need any refrigeration Rubs have a long shelf life (several months) You use only the amount you need and save the rest in your pantry for later Rubs add a colorful and tasteful crust to the finished meat Rubs self marinate the meat so you don't have to marinade the meat while it cooks Rubs are EASY to put on the meat Rubs make it easier for you to control the flavor of the meat Rubs are perfect for larger pieces of meat such as pork spareribs, pork butts, briskets, and tenderloins

 

A rub can either be wet or dry. Wet rubs have some liquid in them that gives them a consistency of a paste. Some rubs start out as a dry rub, but when it is heated, becomes a paste.

Why do I call it a rub? I prefer to rub the surface of the meat with the rub. Some prefer to shake the rub on the meat and leave it that way. Either way, the rub will enhance the natural flavor of the meat and add those special spices flavorings to the meat.

You can apply rub to a couple of days before you cook your meat, wrap it up in plastic wrap or butcher paper, and put it in the refrigerator. For larger pieces of meat, this works best. Add a generous portion of the rub at first to the meat. As it sits, you should add a little more rub before cooking.

 

Step 6: Let's Barbecue

For large amounts of meat, (brisket, pork butts, pork loins, beef tenderloins, and pork spareribs) I always use indirect heat and smoke to cook the meat. These pieces of meat (and most others) require time to cook thoroughly and indirect heat mixed with smoke will slowly penetrate the meat and cook it to perfection.

Gas Grill

If you are using a gas grill with at least 2 burners, it is easy for you to cook with indirect heat. Just turn off one of the burners, and put your meat on that side of the grill.

If you only one one burner on your gas grill, you can still accomplish cooking with indirect heat and smoke by placing a pan of water on the grill, and put your meat on a rack inside of the pan. Be sure to check the water on occasion, and fill up the pan when it gets low on water.

Charcoal Grill

For charcoal grills, you simply stack the charcoal to one side of the grill and cook on the opposite side of the grill.

Smokers

Smokers are the easiest since they have been designed to cook with only the heat and smoke pulled over the meat.

Temperature Check

You need to use a thermometer to make sure the heat is right to cook with. Some cookers and grills come with built in thermometers to and these will usually work just fine. If you don't have a temp gauge built in your cooker, then get one and put it where you will be cooking next to the meat.