A pitmaster in Kansas City told me my rub was too sweet

I was at a competition in Kansas City last summer and this old timer tried my ribs. He said 'son, you got too much brown sugar in there, it's covering up the meat.' I thought sweet was the way to go but he convinced me to dial it back. I cut the sugar by half and added more black pepper and paprika, now the pork taste actually comes through. Has anyone else had to totally rework their rub after someone called them out?

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3 Comments

oliver7194mo ago

Got into a similar situation a few years back. A buddy of ours who competes in Memphis told me my chicken tasted like candy. I was using a rub with turbinado sugar and honey powder, way overdoing it. Cut the sugar way back and bumped up the smoked paprika plus some cayenne for heat. Now I let the apple juice spritz do the sweet work instead of packing it into the rub. Made a huge difference in how people actually finish the meat.

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victor_ward4mo ago

@oliver719 did you notice the biggest change in how long people chewed before swallowing?

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xena_kim2mo ago

Hold on, is this really the biggest change? I've been cooking competition style for a while and chewing time seems like such a tiny detail compared to getting the temperature and rest right. Seems like people are overthinking it to me.

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