PP - Missing out with no finishing sauce?

[brandonb]

I'm about to smoke my first butt this weekend. My wife and I love pulled pork, however she doesn't like vinegar based sauces. I'd like to do a traditional finishing sauce, but I'm worried she won't like it and thus reduce her enthusiasm for me smoking in the future. However, I've read that the finishing sauces make the pork MUCH better and help bring out the flavor. Is that true? Are there any finishing sauces that are light on the vinegar or more sweet in nature? Do people do a vinegar finishing sauce and then top it later with their own thicker/sweeter sauce?

Thanks for the help!

 

[herkysprings]

You might be able to get away with a watered down BBQ sauce to start with. I always used either juice from a brined butt, or vinegar.

However you could try some juices, like apple, etc instead of vinegar to make the sauce.

 

[beer-b-q]

Here is a recipe that I was given. I haven't tried it but it is supposed to be good.

 

[squirt]

smoke your meat and pull it. Mix the juices back in. Make up a batch of finishing sauce YOU like and put it in a container or cheap squeeze bottle and add it to your sammiches when you make them. Simple fix you'll both enjoy.

Squirt

 

[backcountry]

Thanks for posting this one Beer-B-Q. This looks like a keeper to me. A little more substance with the tomato paste and sauce, but still a little twang with the AC Vinegar.

I'm going to use this one on my next butt.

 

[rivet]

The western parts of Carolina and Virginia use a thicker, tomato based finishing sauce that tends to be on the sweet side, as opposed to the eastern parts of those states which use that vingear based one your wife doesn't like. Google that and I'm sure youll get a ton of recipes.

 

[ronp]

We like ours with out, just the good flavor of the meat. Put a drip pan under the meat with some beef stock and thinly sliced onions. After the smoke put the aujus in the freezer to seperate the grease. After pulling, mix the aujus with the meat, yummo.

 

[bigsteve]

I think sauces help the meat a lot, I also don't care much for vinegar heavy sauces.

Even some store bought bbq sauce is okay. We used to use Sonny's sweet Barbeque sauce. These days I have my own concoction based on Catsup and Sonnys sweet. I saute onions in butter, add some garlic, cayenne, lemon-pepper, as much of Sonnys and Catsup as I need, and some Worsty sauce. Makes a nice sweet and tangy sauce. It also rocks on Hot dogs.

 

[tasunkawitko]

brandon - lots of good suggestions above - there are a lot of different finishing sauces and a little experimentation should come up with one that both you and your wife agree on.

i tend to like the eastern carolina sauce provided by RIVET so much that i haven't really tried anything different yet. my wife on the other hand will not even try it due to all the vinegar and red pepper flakes. personally, i think she is missing out, but in order to keep mama happy, i do set aside a couple-three portions for her so that she can use a store-bought sauce that she likes.

 

[shooterrick]

Well I have fed lots of folks and it seems to be about a 50*50 with or without. I would make it on the side and let those that want it have it! Taste is subjective so make em all happy that way.

 

[mballi3011]

I'm not real sure of how to do the whole get and paste thing yet but Mikeys has a finishing sauce that is tomatoe based and it's really good I can make it though.

 

[bman62526]

Already plenty of good suggestions here...I really like the idea of using the drip pan, with whatever inside like onion garlic, etc...then using the drip pan juice (gotta skim the fat though!) plus then adding some apple juice, a wee bit of apple cider vinegar...and then maybe just a few tablespoons of a sweet store-bought BBQ sauce. I prefer Sweet Baby Rays or Stubbs or Montgomery Inn.

I'd say start with JUST mixing in the drip pan juices minus the fat and seeing how you both like that. Then do like another said and mix up a finishing sauce with whatever else, that you can add to your sammies later and see if you like it.

The moral of the story is, here is a lesson I've learned:

If you see a finishing sauce recipe posted that you think you'll love - for Lordy's sake don't mix it in with ALL the meat. If there is something about it you don't like after mixing it with the meat, you've possibly ruined the whole batch of hard-earned PP! Just use whatever sauce on one sammy at a time until you find one you love.

Have fun!

 

[fmcowboy]

I'm with RonP. I find that the meat itself has grat flavor. I pull the pork, slap a bunch on a bun, add some of your favorite BBQ sauce and some slaw, and well, you got some good eats.

 

[cajunsmoke13]

Me too, tried the finishing sauce, wasn't for me...Like it pulled with a little BBQ sauce...

 

[fire it up]

Personally I never put BBQ sauce on my pp.
Just some squirts of finishing sauce and some homemade coleslaw and it is good to go.
I give the option to those I'm serving it with to add sauce if they would like but nobody ever wants any.

 

[brandonb]

Wow! Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone! I think I'm going go try and use the natural juices and then makeup 2 sauces on the side.

Question, I don't have an extra rack for a drip pan in my smoker. There's a water pan below the cooking grates. Can I just put a pan on top of the water pan to collect the drippings or will that interfere with the water pan?

T-minus 13 hours until my first smoke!

Thanks!

 

[deskjockey]

your water pan is only there to temper the heat, think of it as a heatsink, when the heat goes low, your pan releases heat, when the heat is hot, it absorbs heat.

finishing sauce, use the juices collected and reduce, deglaze with jack daniels, then taste, should have to add: black pepper, garlic, onion powder, then taste, and add whatever you think it needs, let it warm up and meld flavors.

no need to add vinegar if you dont think it needs it