Sauces vs. Glazes

Tim and I have tried different options and have pretty much settled on a finishing sauce that is applied the last 30-45 minutes and it's got so much sugar, honey, and butter that it acts as our glaze...this is primarily for ribs and chicken.

Some guys use a sauce and then final glaze with jelly (varies from team to team) and/or honey, etc.

We currently use a blended sauce - a meat sauce :razz: - that's used for all the entries. We do add brisket juice for the brisket entry to thin the sauce and use it more to add moisture - we don't heavily sauce our brisket entry.

The sauce is a blend of commercially available sauces with added honey, brown sugar, and some butter. This is definately a taste thing...the butter adds shine or sheen to the sauce.

It holds its color and consistency well in the turn-in box. We apply it in 15 minute incriments just prior to pulling the meat for turn-in...so it's well heated (actually, it's applies warm, too) and has had time to "set". We have to handle the chicken and ribs carefully to avoid finger prints!

I like it so much I make a batch at home every so often just to keep it on-hand.

We glaze our ribs and chicken by adding some honey to the BBQ sauce we are using . We also spritz with a little apple juice before turn in to give a little more sheen. With brisket we simply give a light spritz with some apple juice to give a sheen and don't sauce at all. With pork we lighty sauce and give a light spritz of apple juice before turn in.