Who knows RUBS? Please read....

[boogiesnap]

Originally Posted by El Ropo

8 parts sugar substitute.

I'd be perfectly content with a rub that has zero sweet, 30% cracked pepper, 20% k salt, 20% gran garlic, 10% gran onion, and 20% mix of hot stuff like cayenne, chipotle/habanero powder, ground chili tepins. Would like to hear from others about this sweet thing in a rub. I get plenty of sweet just from a decently fresh gran garlic.

Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, I love candy, just don't use it when making meat.

philosophically, i couldn't agree more. the onion, garlic, smoke, and natural sugars in the meat should provide enough "sweet".

however, we are addicted to sugar, myself included. my ribs are sweeter than a snickers bar.

with that said, johns, patio dadio, rub, is the best i've ever made homemade and use it for my comp pork. but to get the best out of it , it can be pricey.

i'd suggest:

making a batch of PD's and butt glitter, tweak to taste, then,

oakridge secret weapon for your sweetish side and smoking guns hot for your savoryish side.

test and go from there.

[kcmike]

Originally Posted by El Ropo

I'd be perfectly content with a rub that has zero sweet, 30% cracked pepper, 20% k salt, 20% gran garlic, 10% gran onion, and 20% mix of hot stuff like cayenne, chipotle/habanero powder, ground chili tepins. Would like to hear from others about this sweet thing in a rub. I get plenty of sweet just from a decently fresh gran garlic.

Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, I love candy, just don't use it when making meat.

Hey Ropo, let me see if I can at least explain why we use sugar in our rubs (without giving away any of our trade secrets …), and contrary to what one might assume, it’s not to create a sweet finished product. As you may know, we use a very high grade of natural raw cane sugar in all of our rubs (not turbinado or Demerara, but actually one less processed than even those). Some have more than others, but all of our rubs have at least a little of this sugar in them. I’ve tried rubs with zero sugar in the past and they always seem to come out kind of flat, mono-dimensional or way to salty. Which leads me to the first reason we use sugar in our rubs; it helps balance and round out the flavor profile. The sugar we use is also a great “bark-builder”, plus you have to work pretty hard to get it to scorch, even at direct grilling temps. It also helps build a sticky matrix on the surface of the meat that helps hold all the spices together in a “gel” on the meat. And finally, as the sugar cooks it adds its own unique flavor to the food.

One other thing I’ll add is that just because a rub has a sweet component to it when tasted raw, this does not mean that it will taste sweet after being cooked. I can’t speak to other rubs besides Oakridge, but I can assure you that the flavor profile of our rubs do change as they cook. In our Comp, Game Bird, Venison and Secret Weapon rubs, the original sweetness mellows considerably, giving way to savory, spicy, salty, peppery, etc., with maybe only a very slight mellow sweetness remaining in the background. And, good luck even detecting any sugar in our Santa Maria or HDD on the finished product (but it’s there doing its job…).

Hope this helps,
Mike

[Rich Parker]

There are a lot of great commercial rubs. I really can't tell you how cost effective it is but try a couple smaller size shakers of commercial rubs and then make some like the Magic Dust recipe floating around or the Big Bob Gibson's whole shoulder rub. Both are readily available in any search engine. Compare the cost of these to how much you cook and then you will be able to determine if it is efficient to you.

[Q-Dat]

In my opinion you can't go wrong with a simple four equal part formula.

1 part sugar

1 part salt

1 part mixture of parika, chili powder, and black pepper in whatever ratio you like

1 part other flavors (onion, garlic, celery, mustard, etc)

Just remember to keep everything balanced.

[Ryan Chester]

Originally Posted by El Ropo

8 parts sugar substitute.

I'd be perfectly content with a rub that has zero sweet, 30% cracked pepper, 20% k salt, 20% gran garlic, 10% gran onion, and 20% mix of hot stuff like cayenne, chipotle/habanero powder, ground chili tepins. Would like to hear from others about this sweet thing in a rub. I get plenty of sweet just from a decently fresh gran garlic.

Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, I love candy, just don't use it when making meat.

You WONT FIND ANY sugar in The Rub Co. Original & Santa Maria Style rub. Some like it, some don't. For those who don't. There you go. Our other rubs do contain sugar.

[Bludawg]

I mix my own normally S&P and I keep a supply of Pitmaster T's Butt glitter on hand those two do all I ever need.

[Deeg]

Whenever I see the myriad of expert responses to a question like this I always think of the quote from "Raiders of the Lost Ark":

Obviously, we've come to the right men.

[Lake Dogs]

Originally Posted by El Ropo

8 parts sugar substitute.

I'd be perfectly content with a rub that has zero sweet, 30% cracked pepper, 20% k salt, 20% gran garlic, 10% gran onion, and 20% mix of hot stuff like cayenne, chipotle/habanero powder, ground chili tepins. Would like to hear from others about this sweet thing in a rub. I get plenty of sweet just from a decently fresh gran garlic.

Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, I love candy, just don't use it when making meat.

Mine isn't too far from this. At the very end, on ribs and sometimes on pork I will add just a tad (and I mean a tad) of turbinado, but mine is something like:

20% black pepper
20% chili powder
20% tony's creole (which is season salt with some garlic and onion in it)
10% spanish paprika
10% hungarian paprika
10% island bbq spice mixture (similar to jerk, but not exactly)
10% mixture of hot, like ground cayenne, ancho, chipotle, red jalapeno

For bbq chicken (cant believe I even typed those two words together) I'll use this straight up. Pork and ribs a tiny amount of turbinado added
at the end, and for beef (chuckie, brisket, etc.) I'll mix in about 2 parts above with another 1 part black pepper (no turbinado).

[cricky101]

I buy the 5lb bags of Plowboy's Yard Bird. I have a large shaker I fill and vacuum seal the rest in a large mason jar and keep it in the pantry until I need to refill the shaker again. I use it on poultry and pork.

For beef I just use Montreal Steak Seasoning and get it in big shakers at Costco. I think the savings on that seasoning compared to the cost at the grocery store pays for my annual Costco membership alone.

[Flat_Rate]

Originally Posted by cricky101

I buy the 5lb bags of Plowboy's Yard Bird. I have a large shaker I fill and vacuum seal the rest in a large mason jar and keep it in the pantry until I need to refill the shaker again. I use it on poultry and pork.

X2 on the 5lb bags, I buy mine from Fred, Yardbird is great on pretty much anything.

[Chaser]

For commercial rub you can't go wrong with Butchers BBQ. The premium rub on pork. The honey rub on ribs and chicken. And the steak and brisket rub on beef and cheese. I tried his prime injection on a chuckie the other day and it is amazing. He also has the best sauce I have ever tried.
But you can't go wrong with plowboys yardbird or drapers ap rub.