Mustard or oil

[$mok!ng]

What do you all use as the glue to hold your rub. I have always used mustard but yesterday I tried olive oil and the result was possible the worse rack of ribs that I have smoked. I hope that was the cause and not that I possibly omitted an ingredient from my rub as I make my rub in bulk then vacuum seal the extra.

 

[TNJAKE]

I don't use a binder. Just put the rub on. Wait 10 minutes for it to get wet then flip and repeat. If I'm in a hurry I will spray the meat with water in my spray bottle......I'm not usually in a hurry though

 

[SmokyMose]

What Jake said....

 

[pc farmer]

I don't usually use a binder either but if I do its duck fat spray. That's usually only on chicken that I use a binder.

 

[BB-que]

What do you all use as the glue to hold your rub. I have always used mustard but yesterday I tried olive oil and the result was possible the worse rack of ribs that I have smoked. I hope that was the cause and not that I possibly omitted an ingredient from my rub as I make my rub in bulk then vacuum seal the extra.

Agree with everyone, have never used a binder. Like Jake said, let the meat sweat out for 20 min after rubbed and no binder necessary.

 

[smokerjim]

I've tried mustard, didn't really see a difference so I dont use anything, I usually put the rub on day before I'm ready to smoke.

 

[krj]

I generally don't use binders. I have seen some guys are using mayo as a binder, which because of the egg/oil should in theory give you a noticeable change in the finished surface product compared to mustard or straight oil.

 

[zwiller]

I tried using oil one time and never will again. To me the key to smoking is dry meat going into smoker so that the smoke penetrates better. I think the oil combined with the smoke and made creosote. Nasty smoke taste. Never tried mustard.

 

[Colin1230]

No binder here either. I've tried mustard and oil but couldn't see or taste that it added anything so I quit.

 

[civilsmoker]

It all depends on what I'm smoking and what bark overtone I desire. For beef ribs, dry; for chuck dry, water, or demi with water; for pork ribs, dry, or mustard (usually yellow); For Butt, dry or yellow or a flavored Dejon; for pork roasts, dry or flavored Dejon; for poultry, dry dry dry; for Prime rib; water or demi with water. Just note that I add the mustard for a flavor overtone on pork and not as a binder.

Smoke particles will "stick" to oil or water (much less than oil) more and usually when people smoke their smoker isn't super dialed in when the put the meat on and a whole bunch of bad smoke gets "stuck" on the surface right out of the gate with oil....hence bitter acid flavor that makes your mouth tingle in a bad way!

If you want to have a firm understanding of how and why, take 4 pieces of chicken, season one up and let air dry in the fridge overnight, then take the other three (just before you put them on) and season one wet with water, one with mustard, and the last with oil, then put all three on the smoker at 225....This will earn you a first hand education that you can share.....

 

[SmokinAl]

It depends on what I’m smoking. Sometimes I use olive oil, sometimes Worsty sauce, sometimes mustard, sometimes butter. But most of the time I just rinse the meat off & leave it wet & put the rub on. Try different methods on different meats & you will have your own list.
Al

 

[JC in GB]

I do what TNJAKE said. I tried olive oil as a binder on ribs and got the same nasty tasting ribs you did.

Mustard works well but I prefer naked ribs with no binder.

JC

 

[chef jimmyj]

99% of the time Necked. I do like Mustard for making Pastrami...JJ

 

[Jersey Jimbo]

All I do is rinse off the ribs while wet I put rub on let it set till it soaks in flip over and do the other side. Sorry I don't like yellow mustard maybe that's why I never tried it.

 

[Cabo]

Peanut oil on chicken. Otherwise no binder

 

[TXBBQinAZ]

I will second what Al mentioned. Depends on what is being smoked and that is what I will use as my binder. Just recently I have tried worcestershire on my meats.

Stephen

 

[Bearcarver]

What do you all use as the glue to hold your rub. I have always used mustard but yesterday I tried olive oil and the result was possible the worse rack of ribs that I have smoked. I hope that was the cause and not that I possibly omitted an ingredient from my rub as I make my rub in bulk then vacuum seal the extra.

I use Lea & Perrins Bold Steak sauce (Formerly Worcestershire Thick) on All Beef.
Yellow Mustard on Pork.
Olive Oil on Chicken.

Bear

 

[slinkyskinked]

I either use sake or Shaoxing cooking wine for my pork and beef ribs. Brisket is dry.

 

[bill1]

Wood has a lot more water than oil in it. When it burns a lot of humidity is produced, whether you see steam or not. A lot (maybe all?) of the smoke flavor molecules are in a water bubble, even if the bubble is so small (~1um) such that buoyancy forces are comparable to gravitational so they can easily waft up in the warm draft away from the burning wood. (Not unlike how Covid capsids travel via the airborne route.) If your meat is covered in oils, well, oil and water don't mix so the smoke flavor molecules are repelled at the surface. (This is a big part of the reason your meat absorbs more smoke flavor in the first half of cooking when it's "bleeding" water more than fatty oils.) So if you want to maximize your smoke flavor, minimize your oils. In this regard, mustard is better than mayonaise which is better than cooking or olive oil.

At least this is how I think of things. If there are controlled experiments investigating this, I'd love to be corrected. An experiment is worth a thousand theories...

Cheap maple syrup (or white "Karo" corn syrup, although I haven't tried it) can make a pretty good "glue" for rubs too if you want to shoot for the sweet side. And it's water-dominant instead of oil-dominant. But bright yellow cheap American mustard remains my go-to glue and it never seems to leave a mustard flavor, which I'm not particularly fond of.

 

[noboundaries]

Olive oil, or EVOO? I don't use EVOO for cooking. I only use it for final flavoring. The light olive oil is pretty flavorless and fine for cooking.

I do spray my meats with cooking oil, and yes, it works as a bit of a binder. More importantly, though, it prevents the meat from sticking to the grate which has become my main reason for using oil.

I used mustard once and felt it was a waste of mustard. I also only lightly apply rub. I want to taste the meat, not the rub.