How to Get Chafing to Stick to Meat
Shredding and rubbing meat is an important part of barbecue cooking. The seasoning and spice mix is meant to stick to the surface of the meat, where it will hopefully dissolve a bit and help form the much-desired crust (mixture of spices, meat protein and smoke from your smoker). Unlike salt, which must be applied separately , rubs don’t actually penetrate the meat – we actually want them to stay out. But that means they have to stay there, and sometimes a little help is needed to stick to brisket, ribs, chicken, or pork.
You can make the meat stickier with oil or water, or use your favorite seasoning. Most rubs are more water-soluble than oil–AmazingRibs.com even did an experiment to confirm this–so choosing something water-based is more likely to encourage crust formation. In terms of flavor, I’ve used mustard and mayonnaise and never noticed any of them contributing much, but perhaps those with more sensitive tastes will be able to detect such nuances.
One of the benefits of using mustard, mayonnaise, or anything with a bit of color is that you can see where you’ve already seasoned, resulting in more even seasoning and then rubbing. This works best if the color of the seasoning does not match the color of the meat. Barbecue sauce might seem like a tempting option, but it’s also red, the color of raw beef, so it can be harder to see once it’s applied.
When applying a rub, feel free to rub it in for real. There were rumors that this could “hurt the meat” by leaving small cuts, but that’s stupid. As Meathead of AmazingRibs.com points out , you won’t harm your sternum with powders :
The surface has already been stabbed, and there are millions of muscle fibers that have been cut. In addition, there are millions of microscopic ridges, depressions, cracks, fissures, pits, pockmarks and pores on the surface. The surface is far from smooth. Rubbing rubbing into the surface won’t hurt in the slightest. It won’t lose any more juice than if you just sprinkled it on. And rubbing may just help the meat stick better to the rubbing.
So slather on something wet and then start rubbing to get a nice, fragrant bark that won’t harm your precious brisket in any way.