Saigon 21 review

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Gyosa

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First off - mike , thank you so very much for the opportunity to try and review the sample ....

Secondly , I have been using his rubs for years now - really all I use - top notch stuff !

Review .... honestly .... just my taste buds ......salt .
Way too much salt .

I coated some shrimp with olive oil and liberally applied the Saigon 21 and let sit in fridge for 8 hours or so ...

Just grilled them ...

The background flavors were great - but totally overwhelmed by salt.
It was all I could taste.
I really , really liked the background flavors.
I liked the slight background heat.
So salty my wife wouldn’t eat it.
Probably the saltiest rub I’ve ever used , and certainly the saltiest I’ve ever had from mike - and I’ve almost used them all .

Dial the salt down to about 5% of where it is now and it’ll be a winner ....

Please don’t flame me ....
just my honest review ....
Your taste buds may vary ....

Bk
 

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It seemed like the only critique from others was that it lacked salt. Maybe the salt from those bags was accidentally put into yours.
 
Could be ...
I dunno ...

I CAN tell it would be a winner without all the salt ....
And I’m not “salt adverse” ...

Everything I’ve ever used from oak ridge has been fantastic ...
Maybe I just got a mis-mixed batch ...

Bk
 
Maybe it had something to do with how long the shrimp sat in the seasoning? I too cooked shrimp but I applied the seasoning immediately before cooking, and lighter than I’d done on the chicken wings and Orange roughy filets I’d tested it on previously. I feel like shrimp are easily overwhelmed by seasoning and always go lighter with whatever seasoning I use. Oakridge BBQ Smokey Chile Lime is something I often use on shrimp and I scale it back too. My taste buds say salt is more forward in SCL than Saigon 21, but everyone’s perception is different.

Maybe try it on something else and see if you still feel it’s overly salty?
 
Last edited:
That’s really weird about the salt. I did chicken thighs, and let them sit for an hour. Everyone at the table commented on how it wasn’t salty at all. I had made a honey soy drizzle, and the extra salt from the soy made everything pop more with even a tiny bit of the drizzle.
 
Could be ...
But salt is salt.
I almost always let a rub sit on the meat over nite before cooking .....
Never experienced anything like this .
I mean so salty , it made my mouth pucker.


Don’t think the fact that it was shrimp made a difference...
Perhaps just a mis-mixed batch .



I will continue to use oak ridge as I do feel that his rubs are the best in the biz ...
Been a loyal customer for years , and turned many friends on to his rubs....

Bk
 
I really think the time you let salt sit on those shrimp had a bearing on your results. It’s a good seasoning, try it on some wings or thighs and see if you still think it’s too salty. :thumb:

My guess is all 5 ounce sample bags were mixed in the same batch.
 
That's surprising, when I did my wings I put the Saigon on them and then put them in the fridge for about 3 hrs. They were not the least bit salty, I added some salt to mine when I ate them, they were very good.
 
DBBQ said:
I was wanting to try it..but not if over salty.
Click to expand...

Give it a shot.

I've literally never found anything from Oakridge to have a preponderance of salt... to include Saigon 21. Most of us added a touch of salt, to be quite honest.
 
Gyosa said:
First off - mike , thank you so very much for the opportunity to try and review the sample ....

Secondly , I have been using his rubs for years now - really all I use - top notch stuff !

Review .... honestly .... just my taste buds ......salt .
Way too much salt .

I coated some shrimp with olive oil and liberally applied the Saigon 21 and let sit in fridge for 8 hours or so ...

Just grilled them ...

The background flavors were great - but totally overwhelmed by salt.
It was all I could taste.
I really , really liked the background flavors.
I liked the slight background heat.
So salty my wife wouldn’t eat it.
Probably the saltiest rub I’ve ever used , and certainly the saltiest I’ve ever had from mike - and I’ve almost used them all .

Dial the salt down to about 5% of where it is now and it’ll be a winner ....

Please don’t flame me ....
just my honest review ....
Your taste buds may vary ....

Bk
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review. I didn’t pick any up as I don’t know enough about the flavors of the region to have been able to provide any useful feedback. In general, I’ve found Oakridge rubs to be lower on salt than most so surprised it came through that strong.
 
Interesting observation. We didn't get a salty flavor at all, either from the wet finger test or the post-cook flavor. 8 hours is a long time for seasoning to sit on any seafood so maybe that along with your definition of 'liberally coated' was the culprit?

Or maybe your bag came from the bottom of the hopper?
 
The “breaded wings” we did needed salt. The Pho we did tonight was salty. Didn’t attribute it to the rub, but the better than bouillon we used. Maybe it was a combination of the two....
 
Bottom of the hopper ...

That’s my guess ...

As I’ve said , nothing from him has ever been overly salty before

It was very salty outta the bag ...
I really don’t think it being shrimp had anything to do with it .


Always been first class stuff in my experience..
Actually, the best I’ve ever used .
And it’s all I have ever used for the last , well , dunno how many years now ....

No biggie ... just my personal feedback.

I’m thankful that he sent me a sample and trusted me to give a review.

Like I said , fantastic flavors trying to bust through the salt ...

Again , thank you Mike - you’re a gentleman.

Bk




thirdeye said:
Interesting observation. We didn't get a salty flavor at all, either from the wet finger test or the post-cook flavor. 8 hours is a long time for seasoning to sit on any seafood so maybe that along with your definition of 'liberally coated' was the culprit?

Or maybe your bag came from the bottom of the hopper?
Click to expand...
 
I used it on chicken thighs. Based on previous reviews that said it wasn't salty enough, I used a heavy coat and let it sit in the fridge 6 hrs. Both my wife and I thought the salt level was spot on. I'd be curious to know why the difference.
 
In my not enough salt review, I didn’t use a ton of rub and the wings were breaded, so I think it was user error. I knew I could always add to, but being first time using it, didn’t want to over do it. I think if used in the right amount, the salt is ok. Except for Gyosa. It sounds like he may have gotten an overly salty batch. The smoked chicken we made with it last night was spot on.
 
Great review. Seems like most say it lacks salt and you, at least from what I have noticed are the first one that said it was salty. Even better you are a loyal user and have no complaints of salt with Mike's other rubs. IMHO this is great feedback for Mike as it seems like either something got double accidentally or perhaps 2 variants were sent out for feedback. I haven't used many of OR because I make my own for the most part but, what I have used I enjoyed.
 
Gyosa said:
Bottom of the hopper ...

That’s my guess ...

As I’ve said , nothing from him has ever been overly salty before

It was very salty outta the bag ...
I really don’t think it being shrimp had anything to do with it .


Always been first class stuff in my experience..
Actually, the best I’ve ever used .
And it’s all I have ever used for the last , well , dunno how many years now ....

No biggie ... just my personal feedback.

I’m thankful that he sent me a sample and trusted me to give a review.

Like I said , fantastic flavors trying to bust through the salt ...

Again , thank you Mike - you’re a gentleman.

Bk
Click to expand...


Probably a fluke, an unlikely chance occurrence. Mike's products are typically spot on, with repeat orders matching previous flavor profiles. So much so, that we often purchase our favorites in 5 pound bags. Only once in our long history with OakRidge did we notice a change, and that was with a 2lb bag of Smokey Chile Lime, that was very salt forward as well, verified by comparison to the previous bag that it was replacing.

We figured it also was also some sort of "bottom of the hopper" type issue.

Can't imagine the degree of difficulty, in attempting to fresh batch ingredients into repeatable exact flavor profiles, especially when the weights of each separate ingredient vary so much.

OakRidge is going to have a winner with this Saigon 21, judging by all the other reviews.

Yep, my guess is that you got a fluke sample, as Mike's products have always had flavor that did not depend on salt as the primary base.

I personally can't wait for the Saigon 21 to become available.
 
I've use it twice on grilled chicken thighs, if anything, my sample lacks salt but that's ok for wife anyway, lol.

IMO the seasoning has a good, mild flavor, not overwhelming or strong. If anything the flavor strength could be kicked up a notch.
 
I would definitely recommend trying it again on something else. Ive used it twice now. Did thighs that we could barely taste the flavor of the rub on.

Then put way more than I thought I should on some thinly sliced breast for fried rice. I added quite a bit of soy, with extra rub, to the rice and it still didn't have an overly salty flavor. The rice was awesome by the way.
 
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