Knifemaker, that looks fantastic!
Is this the longest thread ever?
I can't remember but I'm sure I have some replies in here... I love smoked foods. Now I'm going to be picky and cause a ruckus here, but... I am not very much of a sauce guy. I see so many things in this thread absolutely buried and OD'd in sauce. To me that takes away form the flavor of the meat, which IMO is the most important. I like my meat rubbed, and my pork pulled. I love that saying. I rarely use sauce and when I do it's only to try and enhance a bit and it's put on very sparingly. The flavor of the meat the smokiness, etc., to me, again, some feathers will be ruffled here, too much sauce means, you don't care about anything but sauce flavor. That's fine, make soup. Or you're hiding poor quality smoking or true BBQ. Take your pick and have at'it.
I have some pet peeves with too much heat, too much sauce, etc. You can have a delicate balance of herbs and spices and then drown it in sauce or heat and those herb flavors are wasted, you'll never taste them. Like putting a ton of hot sauce, ketchup, or steak sauce (YUK), on some meals why? Or having a Belgian style, peach, wheat brew, (BTW I hate fruit in beer but it's for the lesson) IPA. As soon as you add too much hops for the IPA portion, the style and flavors are lost. So what's the point of going to so much trouble to drown it in something at the end? Now that's just me. So be kind, or not.
