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Membrane stripping, injecting, rubbing, saucing, wrapping, drying before rubbing vs wetting it down with a binder, soaking your chips in salt water, fat cap up, fat cap down, water pan, no water pan...

When it comes to "the rules of BBQ", only a Sith deals in absolutes my friends..
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

It's the "ritual" that matters. The "bite" is subjective.
I've listened to quite a few of the "celebrity" BBQ chefs and most of them at one point or another have been pretty clear that when they are cooking for their family - they don't do a lot of the crap they do on TV or during a competition.

A TV "rib guy" said straight up that all he puts on "his" ribs are salt and pepper. What Aaron Franklin does to the briskets that he sells by the truck load is not the same thing as what he critiques people for when he is judging a contest.

If I get a nice looking rack of spare ribs - there's no way I'm going to do as much trimming, cutting, shaping, and carving as a competitive BBQ chef does before putting them in a presentation box. That huge slab of meat is getting seasoned and tossed on the heat - and in most cases - they aren't going to taste all that different.

Does anybody really think that Chili's employs a bunch of middle aged dads, clad in a pair of New Balance running shoes, Bermuda shorts, a Bass Pro Shops Baseball hat, and a "Go Sportsball Team" t-shirt - standing over a smokey open fire all day long just to lay out a few racks of ribs while he sips on a Miller Lite?

Fuhgeddaboudit...
...they pre-cook them bitches in a pressure cooker
...true BBQ is not always what it seems
...true BBQ is spiritual
...you must become one with grill
...use the smoke, let go

Its just like the trouble they go through to get "bite through skin" on a competition chicken thigh - nobody "really" cooks like that as a matter of routine.

It's the ritual.



Of course, "my ritual" is more correct than "your" ritual...
...but that's a topic for a different time.