Jacks old south rubs?

As a judge, I can tell you that a rub (commercial) won't help your scores unless what you've used before sucks. Unless somebody REALLY screws up, taste scores are typically 7's and 8's. 7's for good flavor, and 8's for very pleasing flavor.

If I award a 6, (maybe once during a contest) it means that the food tasted crappy. If I award a 5 (maybe once a season) it means I wanted to spit the stuff out. Once in a while you get a really rich, full flavored taste that suites your personal taste and makes your mouth really happy. That gets a 9. But to score well, 2 or 3 other judges at the table have to agree with me and award 9's also. NOT very common.

What all this means is that to score much better that you have been, you are going to need to have a good rub, a good glaze, and cook the meat to a very good texture. Then you need to LUCK OUT and get 3 or 4 judges that find your "taste" realy pleasing. I wish you luck.

Mitch,

Wouldn't you agree, though, with Myron's opinion of what a judge is:

Mixon: "They'll walk in and say 'everyone who wants to be a judge, raise your hand.' Then they give em a lecture for about an hour. They're not judges.... they're eaters."

Mitch gives a good example of what he is looking for to score something a 9. I thing Bob is asking a question about one aspect of his process that will help him get there. You just don't go out and bam throw all 9's BBQ in a box, you work on mastering each part over time. Be it cook temp, injection, rub, wood, sauce, garnish, etc.

Not sure if he does but if Myron uses the rub in competition then you know the rub has the ability to score well. You just have to do what Mitch says to complete the puzzle.

I think it depends what you're after. Id guess 80% of judges I judge with have similar taste. And 80% of the Q we taste tastes about the same. You can't depart too far from what people expect/prefer and score well. Mixon knows his stuff. I'm sure his rub is good. But so is the vast majority of all commercial rubs.

I recommend making your own. There are a lot of sources to start with. I suggest
looking at Paul Kirk's "Championship Barbecue Sauces" book. It has an excellent section on developing a rub. The one on Page 70 is as good as you can get. It's called "Mitch's Fantastic Barbecue Rub". But maybe I'm kinda biased.

Bob, I haven't used Myrons rubs. However, when deciding on new/which rub and
sauce combinations to go with, we have a couple test runs where we'll cook a butt
with one rub, another butt with another rub, etc. Then, taste to see how well that
rub works with your other ingredients (ala. injection of you use one, sauce if you
use it, etc). I can tell you that the last time we did this we'd found a rub that we
loved and were looing to find the right injection and marry the flavors well with the
sauce. The long-shot injection is now the one we use in comps and the sauce ends
up being a combination of a few sauces; not what we'd figured. Have a tasting
party. Bring friends (you'll want as many opinions as you can get). Then, at the
end of the day, go with what you feel works best for you.

I dont think whether you're using your own rub or an over-the-counter/commercial
rub has anything to do with it. It has to do with how flavorful they are, how well
they compliment/enhance the flavor of the meat, and making sure that the flavors
in your rub dont conflict with the flavors in your sauce.

If y'all don't mind, who is Mixon? And Jack's Old South?

Myron Mixon 3 time world champion his bbq team is Jacks Old South. Named after his dad.

Mitch, "you are a sneaky little barbecuer." :-D

Campfire Girl said:

If y'all don't mind, who is Mixon? And Jack's Old South?

Click to expand...

He's my Buddy. :-D




While I was at the Jack I got his, "Honey Money Cluck Rub" & "Hickory Meat Rub." I used the Cluck Rub on my Thanksgiving Turkey and it was great. I haven't had a chance to use the Meat Rub yet but it tastes really good out of the shaker. :thumb: