Brown Sugar versus Turbinado Sugar

This morning I mixed up some B.R.I.T.U. (Best Ribs In The Universe) bbq rub to cook some St. Louis pork spare ribs today on my Weber Smokey Mountain water smoker. This rub recipe was made famous by Mike Scrutchfield. He used this recipe to win the American Royal Invitational bbq contest in the mid-1990's.

I snapped a couple of pictures that demonstrate the downside to using the typical kind of brown sugar that is still fairly moist when it's straight out of the bag.


Unsifted and clumpy

 The white sugar and Kosher salt are highly visible in the above photo because the brown sugar did not mix well.



Sifted and thoroughly mixed



The second photo was take after running the rub mixture through a flour sifter.

You can virtually eliminate this issue and avoid using the flour sifter by using Turbinado sugar aka Sugar in the Raw instead of regular brown sugar. If you don't have any Turbinado sugar in the cupboard and don't want to make a trip to the grocery store, you can spread regular brown sugar onto a cookie sheet and let it sit out for a couple of hours. It will dry fairly quickly and mix more easily with other ingredients.

Weekend BBQ Plans

I know it's only Tuesday, but the weather this week has been in the mid-60's with lots and lots of sunshine. I've got spring fever and I can't wait for the weekend.

I haven't made pork ribs following the B.R.I.T.U. recipe in a several years. It's my first bbq session in 2012, so why not go back to basics?

For anyone that might be stopping by the blog for the first time looking for pork rib recipes, B.R.I.T.U. is a nice beginning. Virtual Weber Bullet has a nice write-up for first timers and others (like me) who haven't used that recipe in a while.

If you're going to try B.R.I.T.U. for the first time, be sure to watch the video below that features the originator of the recipe - Mike Scrutchfield. His interview starts at about 2:54 if you don't want to watch the rest.  His tip about wood bark is priceless.