BBQ Rub Recipe

by Mamooli is caught a cold

BBQ Rub Recipe

A good bbq rub recipe is the foundational ingredient for cooking great barbecue.  While bbq sauce can be important, sauce should complement the meat, not BE the flavor.  A good dry rub will permeate the meat and can be the difference between average barbecue and fantastic barbecue.  There are several core spices that make up a great dry rub.

Core Spices

Paprika

Paprika is the spice that makes up the bulk of most good bbq rub recipes.  Paprika is made from sweet red peppers that are dried and powdered.  Most often, paprika originates from Hungary, but today great paprika can come from Spain.  The author tends to prefer 'sweet Hungarian paprika'.  Paprika tends to give barbecue its beautiful red color.

Chili Powder

Chili powder is a typcially a spice mix primarily made from chili peppers (red, ancho, cayenne, and chipotle). Some mixes will include other spices such as black pepper,mace, coriander, turmeric and others.

Salt

Salt is obvious! Care must be taken because you can easily add too much salt to a rub. Smaller cuts such as ribs or chicken are easy to oversalt. Also, be careful with rubs that are high in salt content if you plan to let the rub cover the meat for long periods of time. High salt rubs can turn the meat ‘hammy' if allowed to blend with the meat too long. I prefer to use kosher salt or sea with my rubs, but you may want to run it through a spice grinder if your other ingredients are finely ground.

Sugar/Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is typcially a large percentage of the bulk of rib rubs, but is common in many all-purpose rubs. The amount of sugar will depend on how sweet you want your barbecue. It may be necessary to dry out brown sugar to avoid clumping if you are planning to store the rub for some time. Also, be careful with rubs high in sugar because it can easily burn.

Garlic Powder,Onion Powder,Black Pepper

Add to taste, and these ingredients exist in almost all bbq rub recipes.

Secondary Spices

Cumin

Not a common household spice, but a favorite of the author. Cumin is in the parsley family and has a great aroma. If you have eaten Indian or Persian food, you have had an abundance of this spice. This is a core spice for many Mexican and in nearly all Tex-Mex dishes. I love this spice and often have to hold back to keep from putting too much in my rubs. A little known fact is that cumin is the 2nd most used spice in the world (to black pepper).

Coriander

This is another great spice with an identity crisis. Most of the world refers to it as coriander, but in America it is called cilantro, yet, it is also referred to as Mexican parsley, as well as Chinese parsley. Whatever you want to call it, add it to your barbecue rub. But,make sure to use ground (dried) coriander. Cilantro leaves have their purpose, but its sweet, citrus like taste of the leaves is better left for other dishes. This is another spice often used in Asian, Indian and Mexican dishes.

Cayenne Pepper

This is the one to add some heat to your bbq rub recipe.  Go easy with this one unless you like your rub with some kick. Too much kick is possible even for those who dig very spicy rubs. I made the mistake of using fresh ground cayenne for the first time at a barbecue competition…and the judges must have thought it was a hot buffalo wing eating contest. I enjoyed the ribs, but the judges scored me VERY low on taste.

Mixing

Basically,mix your ingredients together and put on your favorite cut of meat and cook to your pleasure. A few hints. Keep in mind that ribs have a small surface area, so a little rub goes a long way. Just the opposite effect with an eight pound Boston Butt or 12 pound beef brisket. With the bigger cuts,more rub is better. Also, sweeter rubs seem to do better with ribs and chicken and less sweet for bigger cuts (they cook longer and could burn with high sugar content).

Some cooks will use what is called a mustard slather. They will literally slather Barbecue Rubs yellow mustard on the meat and then apply the rub. The mustard slather tends to bind the rub to the meat so that it will not fall off. I have tried it with mustard and without and cannot tell any appreciable difference.

Here is a great rub base for starting your own rub.  Please experiment!

Basic Barbecue Rub Recipe

5 parts Paprika
3 parts Chli Powder
3 parts Brown Sugar (more for ribs)
2 parts Kosher Salt
1 part each Black Pepper,Onion Powder, Cayenne Pepper
Part can be any measurement – cup, tablespoon, teaspoon

Remember to Experiment with other spices

Commercial Rubs

There are some OUTSTANDING commercial rubs on the market that could save you the pain of making your own. A few names to drop.  Bad Byrons Butt Rub, Billy Bones, Lotta Bull, Texas Rib Rangers and HomeBBQ.com.

Kevin Moore is a barbecue hobbyist and occasional competition barbecue cook.  He enjoys writing about bbq, cooking bbq and most importantly eating great barbecue.  Many backyard cooks are intimidated by the process, but it can be very easy and fulfulling with the right tools.  For additional tips, tricks, techniques and recipes check out CookingGreatBBQ.

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