Pretty much from the get-go, I was interested in making my own rubs, and learning to make them better. after a few years, I found myself pretty much settled in with a few recipes that I was very happy with and considered my standards.
However, after participating in many rub/sauce trades, I realized that many rubs I tried from other folks were hit and miss as to whether or not I "truly" liked them, and would go back to them on other cooks when I was either out of rub or looking for another flavor than my normal stuff.
I figured mine would be no different to other people of course, meaning maybe half liked it and would use it again, and maybe the other half would not. This made me wonder how generally accepted my rub would be, as in trying to please the most people possible. After all, while my family and I were the top priority for my goal in pleasing with rubs, I also wanted something I could confidently share with others and not have to wonder if all the praise was accurate or not. Most people will tell you that your good homemade BBQ is great, which makes it really hard to tell if yours is "great" or just "good".
So I bought a whole bunch of the most popular rubs used by backyarders and competition cooks. I kept on trying more and more over time, constantly doing side by side comparisons with my own stuff. I took part in as many sauce/rub trades as I could. I did this for a few years.
After a couple more years, I actually found myself tweaking my recipes. My new recipes were in general less spicy (I am a chile-head, so naturally my recipes were on the hot side). My wife and kids actually liked the new recipes better, they never wanted to tell me that they didn't care as much for the heat as I did. I also noticed a change in feedback I got from others. While as long as it was good or better, people still mostly said, "It's great", there was a noticeable extra enthusiasm about it. I could tell they liked it better. Frankly, so did I.
So why did I say all that? I guess because I thought someone out there might find it interesting, particularly if they are of the mindset that the only good rubs are the ones you make on your own. They could be missing out on an opportunity to make their rubs even better, like I did.
One other thing I should add, even though I truly like my current recipes as much, or more than others, I do have some commercially available rubs that I consider "must-haves", and keep on hand. I use these when I want something different than what I have. I could spend time duplicating the rub if I wanted, but so far I am just enjoying the ride. I have rubs I designed and love, and use regularly. But continually sampling others, and even regularly using some favorites, helps to keep my perspective sharp. Otherwise, I might just be fooling myself into thinking my stuff is the best, when it is only what makes me happiest, and not the average person.
Back to the regular scheduled lunacy.
