How much pepper in a rub is pepper forward?

[jhwhite]

Like if it’s equal salt and pepper, will that taste more peppery?

I use Meat Church Holy Cow on some things and the last time I did beef ribs it was way too peppery. But the #1 ingredient listed is salt.

For those of you that have been to ZZQ in Richmond, VA I love the way their brisket and beef ribs taste. They say it’s all salt and pepper, but something in there tastes a tad sweet.

Any recommendations for a home made rub, or even a store bought that’s not overly pepper?

 

[sudsandswine]

It was probably the #1 ingredient by weight, not volume. In which case a smaller volume of salt will weigh more than a similar volume of pepper. I do equal parts by weight kosher salt and coarse black pepper in my simple SPOG beef rub. Is it pepper forward? Yeah, suppose so...is it too much? That's in the eye of the beholder I suppose. I have family that is very sensitive to any heat at all, and others like me aren't bothered by it. In the circle of people that eat my food with this seasoning applied, even the sensitive to heat folks dont find it over-peppery at the amount I apply, when on fatty beef.

 

[blackdogbbq21]

It's been a while since i've had Holy Cow but I'm pretty sure it has some Cayenne in it which might make it seem more peppery.



The size of the pepper and how long it's been ground can make a difference with how powerful it is. Most of my long cook barbecue i use 50/50 kosher salt and 16 mesh black pepper by volume. It's pepper forward but i feel like once it roasts in the smoker and bonds to the fat in the meat it's not too spicy.

 

[Vision]

You're in Richmond, check out Tuffy Stone's rubs.

 

[Charny]

Pepper sure is interesting stuff. I assume you mean black pepper.

Back in the 90's I would get whole black pepper from a friend of a friend who worked at Kalsec https://www.kalsec.com. They produce verrry high quality spice extracts for industry.

This black pepper was sourced and intended for extraction. It smelled like regular black pepper, but it was hot! Never had any other like it. You could ruin dishes with it, using it like typical black pepper (and I once did just that with some country style ribs, while visiting a friend.. ugh).

So going only by volume or weight (or a label) won't necessarily tell you much. And we all know different black peppers have different flavors - Malabar, Tellicherry, etc. Commercial blends probably aren't using those more expensive peppers.

Among many interesting high quality products, Kalsec produces black pepper flavor extract that is extremely consistent. It's just the flavor, without the heat. They have the ability to isolate those different aspects. Consistency of flavor profile is challenging when you make 50,000 gallons of chili.

We would also get interesting white pepper. As the story went, it started as black pepper (probably not the black pepper I mentioned above), and would be aged in a lake in Sri Lanka. And then a steam shovel would scoop out tons of the stuff, it would be dried, etc. My reading says black pepper is not fully ripe, while white pepper is fully ripe. So I'm not sure it was 'black pepper' when it went into the lake.