Rub (got me) Down

[kwas68]

I’m always testing new sauces and ribs. It is just the engineer in me. At least one slab is always the control variable – my rub and my sauce. I’ll tinker with the other slabs using a commercial brand or a modification of my recipe. Usually my stuff wins the day. But twice now, my rub has been edged out by a commercial brand. Tasting it on the tip of my finger doesn’t leave me impressed either. It makes some mighty fine ribs though. I have to admit, it stings a little bit.

It seems like a lot of the brethren don’t want to be bothered with making their own sauce or rubs. I can’t believe I’m alone in feeling like this. Am I?

By the way, I’m already tinkering to take this sumbitch down on the next go-around.

[deguerre]

The only time I make my own rubs are when I'm not going "traditional" and am using spices/herbs that are more normally found in Asian/Mexican etc... dishes. There are just too many really good commercial rubs available like Simply Marvelous, Oak Ridge, The Rub Co. and BigButzBBQ just to name a few of my favorites.

[aawa]

Tinkering with rubs is fun. However commercial rub companies have put in countless hours and tweaks into their product to appeal to the masses and I don't think there is anything wrong with using a commercial rub.

Rubs such as Plowboys and Simply Marvelous are amazing and quite hard to beat with a homemade rub. And both are tried and tested in peoples backyards/businesses and competitions. I don't think there is anything wrong with doing this.

[Bonewagon]

Due to my family/work schedule, I rarely have much time to devote to bbq. I prefer to use commercially available stuff to maximize the time I'm able to find. But, while I prefer to use commercial stuff, I stick to brands like Simply Marvelous, The Rub Co., or Dizzy Pig. Made by people who actually are into bbq, vs. industrial - commercial rubs.

That being said, if you find something you like - use it. This is just what I've found works with me.

[ButtBurner]

I used to make my own

But, now I use some of the ones mentioned in this thread.

it has really opened my eyes to what else is out there, and they are excellent.

I am really glad I decided to try them. May not go back to home made

[1911Ron]

I use the rub i learned how to make in Harry Soo's class, i have used other rubs to add varity to my cooks.

I have heard that you should taste for saltiness but not taste before cooking as the rub tastes different after cooking.

[Garrett]

Up until I became a member to this forum, I always made my own rubs and sauces, it was what I liked and mostly a pride thing for me. With seeing some things other folks use I have tried a lot of commercial stuff. For me it's cheaper to buy sauce than to make it. I still like my rubs and sauces that I make, but like the variety from all the commercial stuff.

[El Ropo]

Most of the time recently, I just eyeball my rub by sprinkling various items on the meat. SPOG and a little P (paprika) is hard to beat according to my taste buds. This goes for all things pork and poultry. For beef, I like uncle chris' gourmet steak seasoning from Fiesta spices. It's a bit salty, but I don't cake it on. This is great on chuckies and all things steak. For brisket, I think SPOG works wonderful.

[John Bowen]

I make my own rubs when I want to play with the taste profile. Our top rub we use for comps is homemade but our base rubs are store bought.
IMHO I like adding a quality chili powder that I don’t get with the store bought rubs.

[kwas68]

I am always surprised by the number of people who would rather buy rubs and sauces than make their own on a message board dedicated to BBQ. I kinda figured everybody would have their “secret” blends.

I don’t think that there isn’t anything magic behind making a good homemade rub. There are plenty of recipes out there that you can start from. Wicked Good BBQ has a good one that I like. I use a modified Chris Lilly recipe on pork butt. Those recipes seemed to have served their inventors well.

I find the fun (and challenge) is in the tinkering. I guess that I would have expected more people to share this same desire/affliction.

So I’ll keep tinkering. It is good to know that there is a market out there. Because who knows, you all might be buying mine someday!
(very unlikely)

[deguerre]

It's the engineer in you.

Seriously though for an analogy, my dad (Aerospace engineer) always prefered drawing up his OWN plans to scale when making flying model airplanes and generally hated kits. Different obsession, same thing.

[aawa]

Originally Posted by kwas68

I am always surprised by the number of people who would rather buy rubs and sauces than make their own on a message board dedicated to BBQ. I kinda figured everybody would have their “secret” blends.

I don’t think that there isn’t anything magic behind making a good homemade rub. There are plenty of recipes out there that you can start from. Wicked Good BBQ has a good one that I like. I use a modified Chris Lilly recipe on pork butt. Those recipes seemed to have served their inventors well.

I find the fun (and challenge) is in the tinkering. I guess that I would have expected more people to share this same desire/affliction.

So I’ll keep tinkering. It is good to know that there is a market out there. Because who knows, you all might be buying mine someday!
(very unlikely)

I think there are plenty of members on these boards that tinker with their own rubs. I recently started messing with making my own rubs after using commercial rubs for about 9months. This is because now I know what is out there and what I liked about some of the rubs and trying to use some of the different flavor profiles in the rubs I like and make something my own.

However I still do have some Simply Marvelous Cherry Rub and some Plowboy's Yardbird in my pantry whenever I do not have the time to tinker with a rub.

[TroyA65]

I guess I've done the opposite of some folks, I've always made my own rub and now I'm going to try commercial rubs. I've tried some that were available in the grocery store, and my family has always preferred mine. Now I'm going to try some plowboys and maybe SM. If I win again I'll be done with commercial (it's expensive). One thing I do differently is I cut way back on sugar in favor of a more savory profile. If it needs to be sweeter that's easy to add with sauce or glaze. That being said, I've only done low and slow, never tried 3-2-1, but I've got ribs in the fridge for another test run (woot!)

Does anyone else go low sugar/sweet?

ps. I love the fact that I've now "Got Wood" funny stuff

[DavidJ]

I've only been BBQ'ing for 2-3 years, and on occasion I did make my own rub based on others recipes, but I found it to be more expensive than buying some of the rubs already mentioned here.

Also, there's been a few rubs that had a unique flavor that I enjoyed, and by reading the ingredient label I've been mentally thinking of what I'd add to my own blend. So there's more than one good reason to use the commercial rubs.

David

[firefighter4634]

I too have played with making some rubs. But, with the quality of commercial ones out there I rarely do it anymore. Much easier to go to the store, lol.