PART 1 of a 3-Part Series Packed with 15 Flavouring Tips to Elevate Your BBQ Game!
Special thanks to our barbecue friends at House of Q, and specifically Pitmaster Brian Misko for sharing these great tips on how to build flavour every time you grill.
So, you've got a smoker, you've gone to your local butcher and picked up some meat, and you're now ready to declare yourself a pitmaster. That's exciting! But are you truly prepared to craft the best-ever flavour from your BBQ? Let’s help get you there.
*READER REQUEST: After you finish reading this insightful article, please share your thoughts with us in a short survey - LINK HERE.
Cooking BBQ with outstanding flavour can be overwhelming, and at times, you may not be sure how to take your BBQ to the next level. Maybe what you are cooking is simple and has single “notes”. Perhaps it is too “forward” for flavour and out of balance. Some of your eaters describe your BBQ as too salty or maybe too sweet. And then, you might find all the flavour is on the outside and nothing on the inside – how do you change that? The complexities of flavour are the focus of this series of articles that will describe 15 steps you can take that will impact the flavour of what you cook in your smoker or BBQ. There is much more to it than just adding a rub!
This article is the first of a three-part series that will share practical expertise on 15 different ways to ultimately enhance BBQ flavour. You might be thinking, there can’t be that many options! But there are…
In this first article we focus on flavour tips you can take BEFORE you start cooking.
The second article will describe the steps you can take WHILE you are cooking.
And the final blog in this series will wrap up with a focus on FINISHING your BBQ’d meats with top-notch flavour while ensuring you understand how your fuel and your smoker contribute to flavour.
Let’s get started!
SIX FLAVOUR ENHANCERS TO DO BEFORE YOU START COOKING
Building the Foundation (Points 1–6)
There are times when a little sprinkle of seasoning on something you are cooking can be rewarding. A little sprinkle of salt and pepper on a fried egg is just perfect, and it doesn’t need much more. We know this however, in some circumstances, say when smoking a brisket, there seems to be plenty of desire to get a more complex flavour. So, what steps do competition BBQ pitmasters take to win awards?
For those who want better flavour and a better understanding of the mindset of top-notch BBQ pitmasters, the cook plan can become much more complex, with several considerations. The first secret to improving your flavour lies in understanding that great BBQ flavour is a layered, multi-stage process. It all starts before the meat even sees the smoke.
Let’s dive into the critical foundational steps—factors that impact moisture, flavour absorption, and bark formation—that occur before you even fire up your pit.
PART A: Meat and Moisture Management
1. To Trim the Fat or Not?
Concept: Fat cap thickness, as seen in beef brisket or pork butt, can affect meat moisture, flavour absorption (smoke and seasonings), and bark (crust) formation. A thick fat cap can retain more moisture as the fat renders, but it can also prevent surface-applied flavours from penetrating and doing their magic. Alternatively, completely removing the fat cap or leaving a thin, even layer can yield a better crust with a crispy surface, but it can also make your meat dry. This is a long-debated consideration for BBQ cooks, with many arguing to trim while many claim the opposite.
Consideration 1: Surface-applied seasonings to meat, such as a BBQ rub, work best on lean meat (fat cap removed, exposing lean meat). Spices tend to stick to the surface of fat; however, when handling the meat or slicing your finished BBQ, the fat can be too soft to stay in place and may be removed or fall off.
Consideration 2: A pitmaster can capture some of the rendered fat as the meat cooks, such as by wrapping a brisket in foil or by cooking a pork butt in a foil tray. In this instance, it may be best to do a little trimming or none at all and capture the moisture so it can be used to the cook's advantage.
Consideration 3: Many popular smoked BBQ meats are higher in fat. A good pitmaster uses this to their advantage, as described above, but understanding what the animal ate can also affect its flavour. A vivid example of this is beef finished on grass versus corn. Those two animals, and specifically the intermuscular fat, will taste very different.
2. Brine to Increase Moisture AND Flavour
Concept: There are science lessons to understand when mastering the option to brine. The first concept is the density of liquids: an immersion brine is more dense than protein at ambient pressure. The second concept is the role of salt and its effect on moisture (absorption) in proteins. When dissolved in a liquid, salt increases a liquid's density, such as in a brine. When meat is immersed in brine, it is out of balance because it is under greater pressure. This imbalance forces the meat to absorb the flavours dissolved in the brine and ultimately reach the same pressure (or equilibrium). This first concept is the definition of “brining”.
Meanwhile, salt chemically alters the protein's structure, allowing the protein to retain more moisture as it cooks (via osmosis or liquid absorption). Infusing proteins with 2-4% salt can significantly improve moisture retention after cooking.
So, when brining meat, there are two components in play. Together, they can add more moisture to cooked meats and enhance flavour, particularly in the centre of larger pieces. In short, brining is about getting moisture and flavour DEEP inside a piece of meat, not just on the surface.
Consideration: Whatever you have determined to be the flavour for your brine, it must be water-soluble. To get the most from your ingredients INSIDE the meat, they need to be dissolved in a liquid. A tip is to start by steeping a “tea” of herbs, spices, and so on, then diluting it with more water to reach the full volume of your brine. This will infuse the flavours into the brine; otherwise, they stick to the surface of the meat.
Consideration: Some cooks may be aware of “dry brining”. This is where salt and seasonings are applied in dry form to the meat's surface for a specified period. This process dissolves the salt and spices, and they infuse into the meat. Although this is a common method for seasoning steaks, ribs, and poultry, it is less effective at adding moisture than a wet (immersion) brine.
Detail: A simple brine recipe is ¾ to 1 cup of kosher or sea salt (NOT table salt – it will be more salty) per 4 litres (1 gallon) of water. Using a scale for your ingredients, especially salt, can be very helpful when creating a brine. Other flavours can be dissolved in the liquid, such as sugar, honey, molasses, and herbs.
Pro Tip: Taste your brine before adding the meat. If it tastes fantastic, great! Then your meat will too. If it tastes overly salty before you add the meat, the meat will become over-seasoned and too salty.
3. So, Why is Injecting Meat so Popular with Pitmasters?
Concept: When butchers make cured ham – that is, taking a raw pork leg and “curing” it - the process can take multiple days as the meat soaks in a brine. This traditional method can be too costly for an operator since it can take days, if not weeks, to complete. To shorten the cycle, butchers use a syringe to inject a curing brine into the meat. What took many days can now be accomplished in hours or days.
For competition BBQ pitmasters, injecting meat saves valuable time when at a BBQ competition. Another benefit of injecting is that some commercial injection solutions can include non-water-soluble flavours that don’t work in a traditional brine. However, using a syringe allows these flavours to be applied deep into the meat. Some commercial injection products use texture-enhancing chemicals, such as phosphates, to retain meat moisture. In short, injecting meat is brining, but with a shorter effectiveness duration, while allowing different ingredients that don’t work well in a brine.
Consideration: Injecting can be a great way to infuse flavour deep into larger cuts of meat (brisket or pork butt) quickly; however, a food-grade syringe is required. There are many on the market, and your local veterinarian's pharmacy may be able to help you out with an inexpensive, larger syringe. Please take note of the bore of the needle as it will either restrict the flow of your brine or make your task really simple to accomplish.
4. Marinade – let’s give it a soak!
Concept: Like brining, a marinade can be very helpful, adding more flavour to what you are cooking. To marinade successfully, a cook needs to grasp a couple of science lessons to get the most from the technique.
There are three elements in play when marinating: acids, oils, and enzymes. Some acids can be effective to soften proteins and ‘tenderize’ meats, but not necessarily all acids. Vinegar, dairy, juices, soy sauce, and mustard can soften protein surfaces and are common in many marinade recipes. Oils can allow flavours, such as herbs and spices to be dissolved or infused into the oil, and to bind to the protein. Some oils can bind to the cooked surface of meat. Enzymes such as kiwi, pineapple, papaya, or any ingredient containing papain or bromelain can be used in marinades with limitations. If exposed too long, these enzymes can completely soften chicken skin or meat surfaces, ultimately making them less palatable. Unlike injecting or brining, which is all about the inside of meat, marinating primarily affects the surface, making it ideal for thinner cuts like steaks or chicken.
PART B: Creating the Bark – the crust and crunch on the outside of BBQ’d meats
5. Use a Slather or Binder to Help Get the Flavour Going
Concept: A BBQ slather or, more modernly, a binder, is a thin, light coating brushed, smeared, or poured onto raw meat BEFORE the rub or seasonings are applied to the surface. This step can provide three very valuable flavour outcomes for a pitmaster.
A slather will help:
a) the rub to adhere to the meat,
b) improve the overall flavour of the cook by applying an acid or oil to help activate other flavours later in the cooking process, and
c) to help develop the crust or bark as the meat cooks.
Consideration: There are options on what to use for a slather, such as mustard, oils, hot sauces, mayonnaise and so on; however, a key consideration for flavour is how this step will contribute to the other steps, such as interacting with a rub, which is most likely the next flavour step. Adding something sweet or acidic at this point may improve or worsen the rub's flavour. Simply changing the slather or binder to a different ingredient may significantly change your rub's flavour performance.
6. BBQ Rubs and Seasonings – quite possibly the most popular BBQ flavouring step
Concept: A BBQ rub is a spice mixture applied to meat before smoking or cooking. It is more complex than simply seasoning with salt and pepper; it involves combining different spices to create a unique flavour. Many BBQ rubs will have a delicate balance of salt, sweetness and fragrance. Some pitmasters will layer rubs with each layer providing a complementary flavour to the previous layer. An example is using a salt-and-pepper base layer on a brisket, followed by a sweeter finishing layer.
Consideration: There are hundreds of different BBQ rubs available in stores, each with a unique flavour. As we list the BBQ flavour options in this series of articles, the rub's performance will vary depending on the other flavouring steps. A good pitmaster will contemplate the other flavouring steps IN ADDITION TO THE RUB, such as the slather, mop, sauce or even marinade.
Detail: For optimal bark or crust development, use rubs with ingredients of similar sizes; they provide more even seasoning coverage and minimize spices from falling off the meat (e.g., rock salt is often too large compared to paprika).
Summary and Next Steps
You've now learned six critical steps to improve your BBQ flavour, all of which happen before cooking begins. These steps ensure a deep, consistent flavour and plenty of moisture in your BBQ meats.
In a future post, we will discover five more flavour-enhancing steps that happen as you cook. The third post in this three-part series will focus on finishing your BBQ meats and your cook environment.
*REMEMBER: Please share your thoughts with us in a short survey - LINK HERE.
Check Out the House of Q product line-up HERE
