Dry Rubs

Its going to depend on what kind of meat your putting this on, but here are my go to, and of course you can tweak them, add delete I always do
Pork
•1/2 cup/120 mL paprika
•1/4 cup/60 mL kosher salt, finely ground
•1/4 cup/60 mL brown sugar
•2 tablespoons/30 mL mustard powder
•1/4 cup/60 mL chili powder
•1/4 cup/60 mL ground cumin
•2 tablespoons/30 mL ground black pepper
•1/4 cup/60 mL granulated garlic
•2 tablespoons/30 mL cayenne
Beef
1 *part Kosher salt
3 parts course black pepper
1 part Mrs Dash Lemmon Pepper (contains no salt)
*parts can be any measurement
3:1 Pepper - salt is by volume if using weight then 1:1
Chicken
•4 tablespoons kosher salt
•3 tablespoons brown sugar
•2 tablespoons sweet paprika
•1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

I would recommend Oakridge BBQ rubs, lower salt and sugar contents than most others.

Get a sample pack including shipping delivered to your door for $4.95
https://www.oakridgebbq.com/product-tag/sample/

But if you want to make your own and tweak it, there is Chris Lilly's 3 time championship pork rub recipes all over the web...

.

If you are looking for competition rub advice, might want to post in the Competition BBQ forum. What competitor's find that works seem gawd awful sweet to me...

Try ordering some unusual ingredients. Mess around with some here and there to set yourself apart. Some suggestions would be:

Mushroom powder
Worcestershire powder
White pepper
Taragon
Siracha powder
Lakeshore drive seasoning from Chicago spice house
Different types vinegar powders
Different types chili powder (new Mexico, habanero, jalapeño, ancho)

Also....


Arron Franklin's Evolving Base Rub from his video (below)
*Note - his measurements are in "parts","bits", "smidges", and "touches" so these are approximates as seen by the volume added in the video.

Arron starts with an even mixture of salt and pepper for his brisket rub
1/2 cup of course black pepper
1/2 cup of kosher salt

Optional ingredients for Texas style brisket rub
(or an all purpose rub).
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon of chili powder

He then states to make this rub for pork add the following
3/4 teaspoon of hungarian paprika
1/2 teaspoon of mustard powder

For ribs use the complete blend above, but double the pepper
add another 1/2 cup of black pepper

He then says to make this a chicken rub add
3 Tablespoons of brown sugar

He says he wouldn't add sugar to a pork rub or a rib rub, because sugar burns over time making it dark, whereas chicken cooks faster so it doesn't seem to burn as easily.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGwmaq6y6iU"]BBQ with Franklin: Special Rubs - YouTube[/ame]

I started with The Barbecue Bible and another book and developed my rub from there. It takes time and a lot of practice to get it just right. This book is THE bbq rub & sauce reference book though

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761119795/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687762&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0761149430&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1XQ9VS5CD7P9Y0C2YKH7"]Barbecue! Bible Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades, Bastes, Butters, and Glazes: Steven Raichlen: 0019628119797: Amazon.com: Books@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61ADP6JyEBL.@@AMEPARAM@@61ADP6JyEBL[/ame]

Don't do measurements, I always have different brands of spices which affects it.

Salt
Pepper
Turbinado or brown sugar
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Cumin
Chili powder
Cayenne
Paprika

Then I optionally will add mustard powder or a few other things Depending on what it's for.

One would think you'd save a lot by making rub yourself, but it may not be as much as much as you imagine. I recently did a pretty granular comparison (no pun intended) between the cost of making my own rib and pork rub versus one of my favorite commercial rubs, and the savings was only a few bucks for every five pounds of rub (5lb homemade batch vs. 5lb bulk commercial bag). The real benefit, of course, is having the control over every aspect of the flavor profile -- Which is great if that's your interest, but not everyone needs or wants that control, and are perfectly happy with a good-quality commercial rub.