| Most folks who smoke meats use seasoning and
flavoring to enhance the product. These are known as
rubs, brines, mopping sauces and flavor injections.
The rubs are usually a dry rub consisting of a
combination of spices and seasoning. The rest are
liquid form of one kind or a combination of several
liquids combined with spices. It's common to find
small granular seasoning mixed in with the
injection. Basically anything that will pass through
the tip of the injection syringe or pump.
The following is a list of Finishing sauces, Brines, flavor injections and
marinades that I recommend. There is something here
for everyone.
Flavor Injections or Mop Sauces
- Buffalo Sauce
One of my favorites and the only sauce for my
buffalo wings. This is made up of 1 stick of
melted butter, 1/2 cup of Frank's Redhot sauce
and 1 Tsp brown sugar. This is a must try!
Inject this into your wings then smoke low and
slow. they will be amazing.
- Honey Glaze
I came up with this a while back and have used
it ever since. A nice sweet & sticky glaze for
smoking chicken, turkey or ham. Mix 1/2 cup hot
apple juice with 1/4 cup honey and its as easy
as that. When your meat reaches 140 degrees
start mopping with this glaze every 30 minutes
or so. It goes on runny but that's the key. You
will build up thin layers until you have a nice
sweet sticky coating that is thin and tasty.
- Teriyaki & Cherry Dr. Pepper
I got to fooling around mixing different things
to try and improve on Teriyaki sauce. Teriyaki
can be a bit salty. Yoshida's is an alternative
but swings a bit on the sweet side. After many
failed attempts I mixed 1/2 cup Yoshida's, 1/2
cup diet Cherry Dr. Pepper, 1/2 Tbsp Teriyaki
and 1 Tsp Ginger. This turned out to be a very
tasty mix great for injecting beef or poultry.
- Au-Jus
When slow cooking beef roasts or Brisket Au-Jus
is a great flavor enhancer. Inject it into every
1 1/2 - 2 square inches of your meat and it will
keep your meat moist and add subtle flavor.
Briskets take a long time to cook. once done you
can also dip the pieces in the Au-jus when
carving.
- Chicken Broth
Enhancing can't get any easier. Just pick up a
can of chicken broth from your local grocer and
inject your poultry with it. You can also mix in
some butter with the broth. This is great in
chicken or turkey.
- Apple Juice
One of the most used for mopping poultry and
pork. I pour some apple juice into a spray
bottle and mist chicken, turkey or pork as I
cook to keep the meat from drying out.
Brines
- Beef & Poultry Brine
This is an old standard brine I have used for
years. Mix 1 Cup sugar, 1 Cup kosher salt 1/2
cup brown sugar and 2 Tbsp Johnny's seasoning
with approximately 1 1/2 gallons of water. It's
best to soak your meats for at least 12 hours
for larger cuts like turkeys, roasts, briskets
or pork shoulders.
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