Commerical vs homemade when competiting.

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Wicked Smoke BBQ

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Please excuse me if this has been answered before. I'm trying to decide which is better, commerical or homemade rubs. Ever since I started we have made our own rubs. The reviews from others have been great, but yesterday I tried a commerical rub and the comments coming back were outstanding. I've only used the rubs we have made when were at competitions, but after our practice yesterday and the comments it has me thinking about commerical rubs.

Thoughts?
 
I use commercial rubs and start with commercial sauce, I add a few things to the sauce though. I have enough to keep up with and prepare before a contest, I don't need to have to make rubs and sauces, plus I think it's more consistent this way.
 
Why not try a combination of both to layer the flavors? Commercial rubs are marketed and sold for a reason - they are good. But, if you have good success with what you make at home, you might as well try a combo at home and see what happens. I have good luck with commercial rubs and making my own isn't worth all the hassle for cooking at home. On the other hand, I do use a combination when competing, though, and it seems to work well. Just my two cents!
 
I use well known, successful commercial rubs and add a bit to them to personalize. A little heat. A little sweet.
 
Either works. The key with spices is that they be fresh. Whether you buy somebody else's mix or do your own, it's crucial that the time between when the components are ground and when the product is eaten be as short as possible.

For example, if you are making your own rub "fresh" with spices that have been sitting around a supermarket warehouse/shelves for several months, you won't get the same punch out of the spices that a rub that is ground, packed and shipped straight from the packer in short order.

Of course you can always grind your own spices at home if you are willing to go through that effort...
 
Why reinvent the wheel? There are bad ass rubs and sauces that you don't have to do anything to them. Smokin Guns Hot, Cimarron Docs, Blues Hog, The Slabs, FAB
 
Go commercial and have consistency every time, Order a few pounds ahead, keep in a cool dark place and you won't run out! As far as sauce, go commercial and personalize if you like, just measure and write it down!
 
A lot of folks, particularly those new to competition cooking, cook what they like. Nothing wrong with that, but know that when you cook for judges you're cooking to please the broader general public. If your tastes love salt, that's not good. If your tastes are like mine, you'll have food TOO spicy for the average Joe. One would think I'm making the argument for commercial rubs. There's certainly something to be said for them. However, I never found one that I couldn't do better. Perhaps because when doing my own, cost was no object. As Gavin said, make sure they're fresh.

Try them, as you did, on your friends. Also, try them on your friends when they're not starving to death and when they're stone cold sober. Try multiple recipes at the same time, let them judge them against one another, you'll find what works best for you.
 
make your own out of a combination of commercially available (hint: Simply Marvelous) rubs.
 
I make my own. I have tried commercial rubs and have found some good ones but I still like mine better. That said the judges have no idea what is commercial and what isn't. They judge solely off taste, tenderness and appearance not commercial vs. homemade.
 
Homemade on my brisket, half commercial / homemade on ribs and commercial on chicken...
 
+1 for the homemade. I just think it is part of the fun is trying to make everything from scratch, but we only do a couple contest a year
 
We originally started using our own rubs and sauces. Had a little success. Very little. Then we moved to commercial rubs and sauces. Had a little more success. Began mixing commercial sauces to combine the best of what we were using. Got a little better. Then we developed our own rub and sauce following the same flavor profile we came up with from our mixed sauces. Even more success...and now we save a ton of money over the year in rubs and sauces..even selling a few bottles to our friends. It helped us to find a flavor profile the judges liked by using the commercial products that were scoring well. In the end.. scoring well with your own product is just a cherry on the top.
 
I think it depends on why you compete. I started competing in order to eventually start catering, so for me I make my own rubs and sauces in order to develop my own flavor profiles. This year I switched to commercial sauces with added ingredients, then finished with my own sauces after I had my flavor profile figured out. If finishing well at competitions and hanging out with friends is why you compete, then using commercial brands might be the way to go for you. They are tested, tried and true recipes and have proven to be successful in competitions.
 
$billBBQ said:
+1 for the homemade. I just think it is part of the fun is trying to make everything from scratch, but we only do a couple contest a year
Click to expand...

I would think winning would be even more fun than making my own rubs and sauces. Even the big guns use commercial rubs and sauces.
 
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