Explain this to me...

[WareZdaBeef]

The light pink one was salt and pepper. The darker one was holy cow

They would have to disclose nitrites if it was an ingredient right? I mean in the past ive dabbled with using MTQ and cure#1 in quick brines just for fun, but that looks a lot like my results i got when testing.

 

[jsperk]

Is nitrate/nitrite an ingredient in this holy cow you speak of? Or red food coloring powder?

Not sure what's all in it. Ingredients: Salt, spice, dehydrated garlic & spice extractives. Gluten free. No MSG.

More peppery to me than anything.

It looks more red.

 

[WareZdaBeef]

Not sure what's all in it. Ingredients: Salt, spice, dehydrated garlic & spice extractives. Gluten free. No MSG.

More peppery to me than anything.

It looks more red.

I don't know of any "spice" that would bleed red into the meat except red beet. I suppose a company could get away with dried red beet labeled as "spice"

 

[JWACKS]

This sounds interesting. Do you have any experience adding a more rub mid cook?

I normally rub my briskets just before going on the smoker, but there was this one time during sleep deprivation when about an hour into the smoke I looked in on my beef and realized it was totally naked. I promptly added a rub and in the end couldn't tell a difference.

 

[jsperk]

Pic of the rub. It's very good rub.

 

[WareZdaBeef]

Pic of the rub. It's very good rub.

Thats some nice coarse rub. Alot more coarse then what i have been layering my meats.

 

[jermoQ]

Meathead does a fabulois job explaining that. Past that, I went to a comp with someone who normally makes choppwd brisket which he injects with mortons. At this comp, he decided to slice brisket and one judge accused him on a comment card of trying to inject smoke into the meat because the slices had large red spots where the mixture was injected. So the "smoke ring" ended up being "smoke spots". The chemical reaction in thw meat I believe is what makes your smoke ring. Bark, is not related but other people know about that

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Meathead does a fabulois job explaining that. Past that, I went to a comp with someone who normally makes choppwd brisket which he injects with mortons. At this comp, he decided to slice brisket and one judge accused him on a comment card of trying to inject smoke into the meat because the slices had large red spots where the mixture was injected. So the "smoke ring" ended up being "smoke spots". The chemical reaction in thw meat I believe is what makes your smoke ring. Bark, is not related but other people know about that

I don't put much stock into anything Meathead says unfortunately, but I can speak from experience

Yes..you can create an artificial smoke ring using a variety of different ingredients in a rub.

However, a smoke ring can be created from only smoke, temperature and time.

I don't use any commercial rubs and the seasonings I do use are mainly sea salt.
I use a stick burner and I get a smoke ring......every single time. Sometimes it is brighter than others, but I get one every time I use my stick-burner and most times on my WSM.

This was a Pork butt smoked on a 14.5" WSM.
Seasoned with only salt.

 

[WareZdaBeef]

Meathead does a fabulois job explaining that. Past that, I went to a comp with someone who normally makes choppwd brisket which he injects with mortons. At this comp, he decided to slice brisket and one judge accused him on a comment card of trying to inject smoke into the meat because the slices had large red spots where the mixture was injected. So the "smoke ring" ended up being "smoke spots". The chemical reaction in thw meat I believe is what makes your smoke ring. Bark, is not related but other people know about that

I said this early in my thread, but i will repeat it. You can tell the difference by the color. Pink= fake or just a crappy natural ring. Dark red = the real deal. My whole point of this thread, and the very first picture i posted is that crazy dark red ring and thick bark. I can create both, but not together.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

I said this early in my thread, but i will repeat it. You can tell the difference by the color. Pink= fake or just a crappy natural ring. Dark red = the real deal. My whole point of this thread, and the very first picture i posted is that crazy dark red ring and thick bark. I can create both, but not together.

I keep showing you photos of meat with great bark and smoke ring....

Here is another.

If can do this all night

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Some more pork butt (all photos from one butt)

Nothing but salt was used to season it

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Last one (I promise, no pinkie swears)

Back to brisket
(Little blurry, I think the lens may have had Beef fat on them.

 

[Notorious Q.U.E.]

Aaron Franklin has some great videos and he talks about aerodynamics of his briskets (no kidding). I think there's truth there as I find best results with high air flow and clean heat. I feel like franklins aerodynamics go a long way in forming both smoke ring and bark

 

[pjtexas1]

One from an insulated cabinet and one from my shirley. I'm not saying airflow isn't important but my cabinet has very little compared to the shirley. Are these too pink? Is the bark thick enough? Just some of my examples. Trying to get an idea of what you want to see in your briskets.

 

[Clay-b-que]

It seems to me the one constant where people are getting good smoke rings and good bark is stick burners or at least using more wood than anything. If it's any consolation, when you judge you are not supposed to take smoke ring into consideration. Taste and tenderness is what it is all about!!! Mmmmmm brisket!

 

[WareZdaBeef]

I keep showing you photos of meat with great bark and smoke ring....

Here is another.

If can do this all night

This one looks like "Money" damn good bark, nice "dark red" ring . I swear i am not trying to down play any ones Q it all looks great. I am just after that dark red ring with a thick pitch black bark. I thought the pic in the first post nailed it. Its not mine of course. But thats what my ideal "look" is.

 

[jermoQ]

I said this early in my thread, but i will repeat it. You can tell the difference by the color. Pink= fake or just a crappy natural ring. Dark red = the real deal. My whole point of this thread, and the very first picture i posted is that crazy dark red ring and thick bark. I can create both, but not together.

For what it's worth, if the taste and texture is good on your BBQ, you shouldnt worry about it. I like bbq, I like bark. If it has a smoke ring fine, if not fine.

Hopefully, actually, I know someone will correct me if I am wrong, but I believe that the bark on meat comes from time at a high enough temp, maybe with smoke too? Reading Franklins bbq book, he talks about bark with only SP, and he uses wood cookers only at around 275° so it could be determined that wood is the key. However, I have gotten bark on my pellet pooper and my UDS. In my experience, it seems like the slower you cook, the better the smoke ring and I have used SPOG and a SSPPOG (salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, onion, garlic) mixture. I guess, you have to find the happy medium in your cooking to get both?

 

[Norm]

It's always been my guess that the amount of smoke with a simple salt and pepper rub gives a better smoke ring.

 

[smoke ninja]

Oh! Were spamming the thread with brisket pics....can i play

 

[WareZdaBeef]

Oh! Were spamming the thread with brisket pics....can i play

Sure why not. Thats some nice bark/ring combo.