Tips For Making Your Home Barbecue Taste Like Restaurant Quality
Posted on: 25 November 2019
If you've always loved going out to your local barbecue restaurants but struggle to replicate those smoky, flavorful meats when you barbecue at home, you're not alone. Home barbecue doesn't often live up to what you get in local smokehouses like Grumpy's Bar B Que Roadhouse, simply because there are restaurant industry tricks to pack flavor into the meat, and many home cooks aren't familiar with them. Here are a few different ways that you can bring your barbecue from home-cooked taste to restaurant quality.
Dry Rub
The first trick you can use to add more flavor to your barbecue meat is a dry rub. Applied 24 hours in advance, a dry rub soaks into the meat before you cook it, incorporating additional flavors that enhance the meat.
The best part about barbecue dry rubs is that they are so versatile. You can adapt them to your liking or to the flavors that you want to spotlight in your meal. Start with a base of salt, brown sugar, and paprika, then add garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, black pepper, chili powder, and a little bit of cayenne pepper for heat.
Mix the dry spices well and then apply the rub to the meat the day before you're going to cook it. Wrap the meat in plastic wrap or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook. You then cook the meat as you usually do, using whatever sauce you like.
Wet Rub
A wet rub starts with the same essential ingredients as a dry rub, but then it goes a step further to incorporate some moisture. Some chefs believe that the wet massage absorbs better, while others disagree, so it truly is a matter of preference.
Once you've created the mixture of the spices, you create the wet rub by adding either ketchup or tomato paste, as well as vinegar or lemon juice. The acidic component helps to break down and tenderize the meat, while the spices add flavor.
You apply a wet rub the same way you would a dry rub, giving the meat a day to soak in it before you cook it.
Brine
Brining your meat means soaking it in a salt solution. You have a bit more versatility with flavors when you brine because you can add things like whole cloves, star anise, bay leaves, and similar seasonings that you couldn't put in a dry or wet rub.
Start with enough water to cover whatever you're going to be cooking. You'll want about a cup of salt and brown sugar for each gallon of water that you use. Then, add seasonings just like the ones from the dry rub plus any anise, cloves, or other seasonings you like, but consider also adding some liquid smoke. Only use a tiny bit, though. Too much can be overpowering in the marinade. The next day when you prepare to cook the meat, take it out of the brine about 20 minutes before to allow it to dry off. Then you can cook it as you usually would.
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