Pork Ribs Slather Comparison | Olive Oil VS Mustard Slather

My go to method for cooking Pork Ribs is to first pull the membrane, slather with Olive oil and dust with a great dry rub. For this cook I decided to change it up a bit and do a Pork Ribs Slather Comparison. As mentioned my usual slather is olive oil but today I have two racks of Baby Back Ribs and I am going to try out a mustard slather on one. For this comparison every element will be the same except one rack will be slathered with mustard and the other will be slathered with olive oil.

After prepping my fire for the Pit Barrel Cooker I rinsed and trimmed off a little hanging meat and fat from the two racks of Baby Back Ribs. Earlier this week I had some ribs from a local BBQ Shack. Although the ribs were great they didn’t take the time to pull the membrane. Take the time to pull the membrane for your home cooks, it is worth the extra time. I slathered one rack with French’s Mustard before dusting with The Shed Rack Attack Meat Rub. The second rack I slathered with olive oil before dusting with the same Rack Attack rub.

Everything will be the same except for the mustard slather on one rack and the olive oil slather on the other. Just before the ribs are ready to come off the smoker I will brush them with some BBQ Sauce and put them back on the PBC for about fifteen minutes. After pulling off the smoker I will wrap them separately in foil to rest for thirty minutes.

mustard slather vs olive oil — **Slathered and Rubbed -Mustard Slather in the Back**

Olive Oil VS Mustard Slather Comparison

I tried to keep everything as equal as I could for this comparison cook. I used the same rub, had the same cook time, glazed with the same BBQ sauce and rested for the same amount of time. One element that I didn’t realize till after the cook was over was that one rack was a little less meatier than the other. The mustard glazed rack was not as meaty as the olive oil rack which may have contributed to the overall results.

Both racks of ribs had the same great taste I have come to expect from my Pit Barrel Cooker. I could barely detect a little hint of the mustard on the mustard slathered rack. It’s possible If I hadn’t known the mustard was present I just might have attributed it to the rub. The mustard slathered rack was just a bit darker than the olive oil rack. The olive oil slathered rack was definitely juicier than the mustard rack.

pork ribs slather comparison — **Hanging in the Pit Barrel Cooker- Mustard Slather on Left**

My official tasting judge, Brynlee, was not here so I gave my wife the blind taste test. My wife filled in nicely though. I sliced her a rib from the middle of each rack but didn’t tell her about the mustard test. She affirmatively chose the olive oil slathered rack as the best. She said it was juicier and more tender than the other rack. Even after I told her about the mustard slather she said she couldn’t taste it.

Since starting to smoke my own ribs a few years ago I have been curious about the mustard slather technique. Now that I have compared the mustard slather with my usual olive oil slather I plan on sticking with the olive oil. Kind of like my comparison between butcher paper wrapped and unwrapped ribs this test did not produce results that encouraged me to change my methods. I have nothing against using a mustard slather but for me I’m happy with my olive oil slather.