New to smoking and have a question

[DCOOZ]

I am very new, may have used my smoker 10 times. I've done wings l, ribs, pork shoulder and pork belly. I have used different rubs but my question is can you taste ya rub on the meat once done smoking? I try all my meat before adding any sauce and can never really taste my run which I go very heavy handed on.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Depends on the rub, and the meat. I certainly taste it on my wings, and pork belly. It's more subtle on my pork butts.

 

[uncle eddie]

Depends on the rub, and the meat. I certainly taste it on my wings, and pork belly. It's more subtle on my pork butts.

^^^agree^^^

If I brine a turkey - big time brine flavor comes through - rub - not so much.

Seasoning does help a ton. I personally keep it pretty simple - Salt Pepper and Garlic (SPG) powder.

Also - I season it way before it goes in the smoker. Preferably the night before (12 hours or so).

 

[normanaj]

I grow my own hot peppers,mostly habs and scorpions.A lot of my rubs will incorporate these and you can definitely taste it and in some cases feel it.

 

[texomakid]

My experience is Rub flavors will mainly be in the "bark" on the outside.

 

[muskyjunky]

Rubs definitely come through more on beef and ribs more so then on poultry for me. As mentioned above by Eddie, brine on turkey and chicken really has made a remarkable flavor difference for me since I started doing it .

 

[GaryHibbert]

I mainly smoke pork and don't sauce anything I smoke. My pork rub has a lot of different flavors and a fair amount of brown sugar in it and it definitely comes through in the meat. Don't really think it makes much difference, but I usually apply my rub to the meat the night before. In my MES 30 I don't get a lot of hard bark, so when my pork butt gets turned into pulled pork, the flavor is real noticeable when the PP is mixed up.
I've found that adding a marinade to the meat and then putting everything into a vacuum container for 3 or 4 hours makes a huge difference--it sucks the marinade deep into the meat, sending the flavor throughout the entire piece of meat. Haven't tried it with a dry rub, so I'm not sure what that result would be, but don't really think it would help a lot.
Gary

 

[DCOOZ]

So is the rub more for color and bark instead of flavor for the most part? Think I'm going start adding some of it on the finish product. Did pork belly last night with a really great tasting honey sirachai rub and was really wanting that flavor to shine through.

 

[Preacher Man]

So is the rub more for color and bark instead of flavor for the most part? Think I'm going start adding some of it on the finish product. Did pork belly last night with a really great tasting honey sirachai rub and was really wanting that flavor to shine through.

On things like brisket, the bark is the bite I go for. It's smokey and heavily seasoned. That's what the rub creates, but it doesn't penetrate deep into the brisket. That's how I like it, cause brisket is just a good cut of meat.

Now, when I smoke a butt or ribs, I'll pull/slice and then add more rub like you're talking. Or put some rub in the finishing sauce.