It's midnight and I haven't prepped anything for tomorrow. Thawed my butt, that's about it. Still gotta clean the rig too. It will all be worth it in the end, yes?
My understanding is that the mustard was there only to hold the rub on the meat so it will penetrate the meat as you pointed out.Many folks prep and apply the rub the night before. I have tried the yellow mustard way and did not find it benefited anything as it does not affect the flavor.
Personally the only benefit to the rub the night before is that it does penetrate the meat some and may add flavor. It also makes getting up and getting going a little easier if you are starting in the early morning.
I have an MES and so I start late afternoon. before bedtime it gets foiled and either sits in the MES or oven at 200 overnight. get up early in the morning put it to rest and pull later.
Good luck
I always apply the rub the night before, with no binder (mustard). Like werdworf said, I believe this allows the meat to sorta dry marinate in the rub spices overnight. When you pull it out of the fridge to go in the smoker, the rub and the meat's natural juices will have formed a nice paste. Right before it goes in the smoker, I give it another dusting of rub. This always makes a real nice bark on my butts.No love in here? I'm hurt. What's the consensus on how close to smoke time do folks apply the rub? Mustard yes? Lemme guess French's.
Yeah, they call it a binder, but IMO its not necessary. The meat's natural moisture will bind the rub just fine.My understanding is that the mustard was there only to hold the rub on the meat so it will penetrate the meat as you pointed out.