Adding Barbeque Sauce
When to add
barbecue sauce is
actually a much
debated topic in the
world of Q.

Even whether or not
to add barbecue
sauce is debated.

Indeed, I don't really
know if there is a
right or wrong
barbecue technique
here, but I put it here
in my sequence of
cooking - after the
"Low and Slow" cook
period and at the
same time as
"Unwrapping the
Meat".

There are a few
reasons for where I
have it in my cooking
sequence.
Another reason for late application is balance between the flavors. I have noticed that the earlier you put the
sauce on, the more it dries onto the meat. So, in order to not have all dried up sauce on the ribs at the end, I
would find myself re-basting the meat. If you repeat this too many times you can end up with quite a bit of
sauce on your meat, maybe more than you bargained for.
Qpinion: People may
try to warn you that if
you put the sauce on
too soon it will burn,
because of the sugar
in the sauce. This may
be true if you are
grilling - remember,
grilling means high
heat - instead of
smoking. If you are
smoking, and taking
care to keep your
smoker temperature in
the right range, you will
likely never have
enough heat to burn
the sauce
.
If you wait 'till the end on the sauce you also have a better handle on how many ribs we want to preserve as "dry".

Dry in this sense is not likely what it sounds like - I would like to think I have never literally produced a dry rib - and if I had I certainly would
not advocate doing it! - dry for serving simply means without barbecue sauce. The opposite is - tough guess - yep, you got it  - "
wet". Wet
ribs mean that they have sauce added already.

I love to eat some of my ribs dry, and if push comes to shove you can always take a dry rib and dip it into a pile of sauce - a dipping pile! -
but it is hard to take the sauce off once it has been applied. And if you have some newbieQs - new to BBQ guests - they may not have
even considered that this delectable meat could be eaten without sauce. You may end up with a couple of risk takers that want to try it that
way, and waiting until the end may make it easier to serve them that way.

You may want to warm the sauce up first, though the benefit of doing so is debatable.
1/2 racks out of the smoker, covered in sauce, ready for the 'rest' phase.
What kind of sauce is right for you and/or your guests? That is a tough one, but the good thing is that the only way to tell for sure is to try
them out!

By type of sauce we are not referring to the brand you buy, though that is important to your taste buds, but rather to how the sauce is
constructed.

Sauces use a principal ingredient to provide the base flavor. The primary ones are mustard based sauces, tomato based sauces and
vinegar based sauces. All have their merits and I love each kind in its own way - it is hard to go wrong here with a good sauce - but try
each for yourself and see what you prefer, or, if you use the method above of dry serve and dipping, you can offer them all at one
barbecue!   
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Next Step: Letting it Rest
Previous Step: Unwrapping the Meat
Next Step: Letting it Rest
First off I love the taste sensation of good barbeque sauce and my favorite is sweet with a touch of tangy, and
sometimes with a little heat. "Sometimes" on the heat because the rib rub I use most often already has a
good bit of heat in it.

Because I love the sweet sauce, for me, one of the best taste sensations of the smoked BBQ ribs is the
difference between the smoky, spicy flavor of the rib itself, and the sweet, tangy taste of the sauce. It seems
that in order to heighten the difference between the two, it helps to not have had the sauce exposed to the
smoke for a long period of time. I prefer the smoke to come from the meat, and the sweet to be from the
sauce, so I put my sauce on only in the last 15-30 minutes.