Why mist with Apple juice/cidar vinager??

I do it for flavor, it won't make them any more moist. -RP

I used to mist ribs, but don't know that it ever added much in terms of either moisture or flavor, so I stopped doing it.

If I remember, I'll do it on longer butt cooks, because there I think there's a little chance of the food drying out.

I baste/glaze a lot of my leaner meats and shorter cooks - like chicken breasts or pork chops.

I usually use 1/3 each apple juice, apple cidar vinegar and water. When in a sweet mood I will use orange juice in place of the apple cider and when in an oriental one will use soy sauce instead of the apple juice. Some one years ago a seasoned Q'er told me that the vinegar helps break up the meat to make it more moist. I start to spritz my ribs after 3 hours and do so every 1/2 hour or so after. Works great on poultry also. Starting about 20 minutes into the cook.
Here are some quail I stuffed and wrapped with bacon the other night. took 45 minutes and spritzed twice. Was not really necessary with the bacon, but am a creature of habit.


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90897

Spraying, spritzing, mopping, basting.... what ever you call it is one of those greatly debated techniques. Apple juice is very common, but there are countless recipes for mops. many are very simple. I'm an old baster and the quick answer i give to "why baste?" is:

It adds flavor.

It keeps the surface moist while the inside is cooking, this helps with the smoke ring.

It helps with the color


The long answers are:

Flavor: Apple juice is sweet so it does add some sweetness. A vinegar/cayenne mop will add some zip, a salt and pepper mop adds two of the flavors we all like....

Surface moisture: Even if you sprayed water on your barbecued meats you will keep the surface moist... but the theory here is to keep the surface of the meat moist while the fats are rendering out. Once your fats begin to rise to the surface a mop might wash them off, so some care is needed. Certain meats (goat and lamb are two that come to mind) don't produce a lot of fat on the surface so a little oil in your mop works a lot better. The rest of the story is that when wood burns, nitrogen combines with oxygen in the air to form nitrogen dioxide. Nitrogen dioxide is highly water-soluble and early in the cook, it's absorbed into the surface of the meat and forms nitrous acid. The nitrous acid travels inward and creates a colored smoke ring. So, you get a better smoke ring if your meat is moist early in the cook. (After it reaches 140°, ring formation stops)

Color: No matter what I am barbecuing, color is important to me and I spend a little time on it. Mopping, brushing on some oil or butter at appropriate times definitely helps.

Heheheee. "Go to the mall???" .... "Nah, I got some stuff on the pit, grab some ice on the way home will 'ya".

I do it cause Car Wash Mike said to. Most would agree, his 'King of Ribs' reign will never fall. I've never done them without, so I'm not sure what it adds, but I feel that I have gotten to, what I believe, is Great Ribs and won't change a thing. I tried Mikes just over a year ago and that has been my goal.

Very informative, thanks.

I never cooked ribs till Car Wash Mike taught me how. He said mist with Apple Juice/Apple Cider Vinegar so I do it that way!

hilarious!