BBQ & Marinades

Barbecue sauces, dry rubs and marinades season meat before, during or after cooking, from thin vinegar mops and spice crusts to thick tomato glazes and soy-based soaks.

How to choose BBQ & Marinades

  • Regional style. Eastern North Carolina sauce is thin vinegar and pepper, Lexington adds tomato, the Columbia area of South Carolina uses mustard, and Kansas City sauce is thick and tomatoey.
  • Rub or sauce. A dry rub of salt, spices and often sugar goes on at least 30 minutes ahead and builds a crust. Brush a sugary sauce on only in the last 15 to 30 minutes, or it will scorch.
  • Soy or acid. A Korean bulgogi marinade can build on soy sauce, sugar and garlic, with pear and onion puréed in to tenderize and flavor the beef. Western marinades lean on vinegar, citrus or wine, and their acid works on connective tissue.

About BBQ & Marinades

BBQ and marinades are the seasonings that go onto meat before or while it cooks, plus the sauces served with it afterward. Rubs are blends of salt and spices, often with herbs and sugar, pressed onto the surface, and any sugar in the blend helps the outside brown.

Pitmasters baste long cooks with a thin mop that holds no sugar, because sugar browns and burns too soon over hours of heat. The thick, sweet sauce comes at the end as a glaze or goes on the table. In North Carolina's Piedmont, the thin tomato sauce served alongside is simply called dip.

For smoking, hickory, apple and maple woods give the most reliable flavor. Worcestershire keeps about a year unopened and goes in the refrigerator once opened.

At a glance

Main types
Barbecue sauce, dry rub, marinade, mop, glaze
Serve with
Pork shoulder, ribs, brisket, chicken
Once opened
Refrigerate Worcestershire and hot sauce

BBQ & Marinades questions

Can I reuse a marinade as a sauce?

Only if you plan for it. The simplest way is to set aside a portion before raw meat or poultry goes in and keep it apart. Marinade that has touched raw meat needs to come to a boil for a few minutes before it goes onto cooked food, which destroys any harmful bacteria.

What temperature is barbecue cooked at?

Classic barbecue cooks slowly in smoke over indirect heat, with the fire usually held at 225 to 250°F. The method grew up as a way to make tough, well-exercised cuts such as pork shoulder and brisket very tender, so a cook can run many hours. A hotter direct-heat style at 300 to 350°F suits smaller, more tender cuts.

How long should meat sit in a marinade?

Most recipes call for six to 24 hours, always in the refrigerator and never on the counter. After about two days, the marinade can start breaking down the meat fibers until the texture turns mushy. Thin slices need far less: a Korean-style bulgogi soak for sliced beef takes about 30 minutes.

Sources: USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service; University of Minnesota Extension; NCpedia, State Library of North Carolina.

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