Smoking Meat: To Sauce or Not to Sauce (BBQ Sauce or Rub)?

This question varies by where you are from. We all know that there are places in parts of the country that are sauce heavy and taste really good. There are parts of the country like the great state of Texas where you don’t insult the meat and get the sauce on the side or you get looked at funny. 

I can tell you when I first started, I was sauce heavy. Unless you learned smoking and grilling from your dad and grandad and just started figuring it out on your own, you might have started with sauces. I know I did. My dad used a lot of sauce. He was not that great of a griller, God rest his soul. I was into all kinds of sauces including sweet, savory, spicy. I learned the hard way by putting the sauce on too soon, burning the sauce before the meat was done, you name it. 

Then I was in a rub-only kick because I did not want to insult the meat. But just like the sauce, I have a pantry full of rubs. Some are great, and some need to be thrown out. With every ingredient possible and I even make my own rubs. I have one rub which I consider a secret recipe for Dino-ribs. I only give it out to my close people. There is a secret ingredient that most rubs don’t have but all should. And no, it is not brown sugar. 

Once I went away from the sauce, I realized you could taste the meat and taste the smokiness and not just sauce covered flesh. I rediscovered my love for smoking meat. Beef tastes different than pork. Pork tastes different than chicken. When everything is covered in sauce, it tastes like sauce. Don’t get me wrong, there is still a time and a place for sauces. I love dipping a piece of smoked meat in some really good sauces. 

Recently, I have taken it one step further. I think the people of Texas would appreciate this. I basically got it down to just salt and coarse black pepper. I believe I have come full circle from my youth to finally figuring it out. I figured out that the cook is about the smoke which starts with the wood, and the flavor comes from the meat which is enhanced by the salt and the pepper. That is just my two cents. What do I know? Try it all out for yourself. Get out there and smoke something.