Apply the sauce after the meat is ready. Sauces, especially sweeties, will burn if you add them too early in the process and they can prevent the smoke from penetrating the meat. Penetration is good. Sauces will also generate steam when they heat up and steam can make your meat mushy. So apply the sauce at the end of the cook, just long enough to heat it and cook it without burning it. Some sauces are great right from the bottle, but most sauces benefit from baking on the meat. If you are cooking over indirect heat, low and slow at about 225F, you can add the sauce about 30 minutes before removing it.

Play it safe. Remember, all uncooked meat contains microbes and spores and is therefore poisonous. Pour the sauce you need into a cup or bowl and dip your brush or spoon into the cup or bowl. When you are done, throw it out. Never put it back in the fridge. Even if the meat appears to be cooked, uncooked meat juices get on the brush and then get into the sauce. If you have a bit of sauce left in the cup when you are done painting the meat, do not serve it as a dipping sauce. It is contaminated. Even if you boil it or microwave it, and you have killed the microbes, spores are not all killed by heat. Use fresh uncontaminated sauce for serving at the table. Your motto is: When in doubt, throw it out.

Don't over do it. Most barbecue sauces are sweet. But some are sweeter than others. Go easy on the sauce. One coat is usually enough. Especially if it is very sweet. You can always add more at tableside. You will need 1/3-1/2 cup of sauce per slab of ribs. If you are serving cut ribs, sauce them first. Don't sauce the cut sides and cover the meat.

Warm the sauce. If you can, warm the sauce on a sideburner or in a microwave to take the chill off. No sense on putting 40F sauce on 180F ribs. It will also make the sauce less thick and it will penetrate the meat better.

Sizzle and crisp the sauce over direct heat. If you like your sauce caramelized and crispy, perhaps even a little burnt, you can paint on the sauce and place the slab over hot direct heat for ten minutes or so per side, watching carefully so it doen't burn. Sauce can go from red to black faster than a clean hog can get sloppy. But if you like it a little charred, go for it! Burning is not the only hazard with this method. If you have perfectly cooked ribs coming off a smoker, sizzling the sauce is a great opportunity to overcook the meat. If you use this method, shorten the cooking time by about 30 minutes. The high heat will overcook the meat if you don't. Here's some techniques for sizzling the sauce depending on the cooker you are using:

If you're cooking on a charcoal grill. I cook with the method described in Best Setup For A Charcoal Grill. When they are ready, I remove the top water pan and put the slabs right over the coals and heat for about ten minutes on each side until the sauce bubbles. Again, stand there and watch the slabs so the sauce bubbles but does not burn!

If you're cooking on a gas grill. I cook with the method described in Best Setup For A Gas Grill. When they are ready, I crank up the heat to high and slather on the sauce for about 5-10 minutes on each side or until it bubbles.

If you're cooking on a smoker. If there is an offset firebox, perhaps you can sizzle the sauce over the flame on a grate in the firebox, but there's a lotta heat in there. I recommend using a gas grill for sizzling if you have one. If you have a gas grill in addition to your smoker, fire it up to medium or high about 30 minutes before the time to serve the meat, transfer the slabs to the gas grill, paint on the sauce, and stand there and watch them so the sauce bubbles but does not burn! If you don't have a gas grill, just place the saucy slabs about three inches under the kitchen broiler, back side first, for about ten minutes per side. Again, keep an eye on it.

Torch it! Another good way to crisp the sauce is to whip out your propane soldering torch or invest about $30 in an amazingly hot butane culinary torch (above) and scorch the sauce enough to caramelize the sugars. Do this at tableside to dazzle your guests (or send them running for the exits). Hooo-ah!

Apply the sauce at the table. Another good strategy is to serve the meat without sauce and allow your guests to apply it at the table as a finishing sauce in whatever quantity they like.

Skip the sauce. If the meat tastes good, sauces will just mask it's natural flavors. If you have a good dry rub, proper smoke penetration, and it is not overcooked, go nekked.

This page was revised 5/5/2008