The moisture from a mop will attract smoke to your ribs in a good way, giving them more smoky flavor in a shorter amount of time. Also, if you are cooking your ribs low and slow—which we hope you are—a mop will help keep your meat from drying out.

When should you start mopping ribs?

A mop is a basting technique to add flavor. Our mop consists of apple cider vinegar, barbecue sauce, Dijon mustard, and the dry rub. You can adjust in any way you like. We apply the mop after the third hour of smoking by gently dabbing the ribs in an up and down motion to avoid losing bark or pushing off the dry rub.

Do you mop both sides of ribs?

Immediately after you have flipped the meat, mop the side of the meat facing up while it is still sizzling and hot. This way the mopping sauce will have a chance to sit and soak into the meat. Some pitmasters prefer to spritz as they feel this won’t disturb the surface of the meat as much as mopping would.