spices for rub

Rubs, Spice Blends, Pastes, Marinades, and Brines

"What really sets one BBQ joint apart from another isn't the way it's cooked, it's the way it's seasoned." Doug Worgul, Oklahoma Joe's, Kansas City

By Meathead Goldwyn

Dry Rubs

The Science Of Rubs

Here's some theory on what is in a good rub, and how to use it.
Meathead's Memphis Dust

Memphis is second only to Kansas City as a town of barbecue renown. Many Memphians prefer their ribs "dry", with only a spice rub, so Memphis is justifiably known for rib rubs. A restaurant's gotta have confidence in its meat to serve it with spices only and no sauce. My Memphis Dust is the result of years of fiddling. Folks want me to bottle it and sell it. Nah. Not my style. You can have it for free.
Rendezvous-style Memphis Dry Rub

Perhaps the most revered dry ribs are served at Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous (called "The Vous" by the locals). There are a lot of recipes on the internet that the owners have palmed off on gullible media. They aren't close. I've reversed engineered the recipe, and my version is a LOT closer to the real deal than the red herring going 'round the net.
Big Bad Beef Rub

In Texas, the preferred barbecue meat is beef. That's why they're called cowboys, pahdner. Here's an authentic Texas rub for your brisket.
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow Crust

This is a different kind of spice rub for beef, especially beef roasts, flank steak, and chuck steaks. It's both a dry rub and a wet rub.
Simon and Garfunkel Rub.

This is my favorite all purpose spice mix. I sprinkle it on chicken, turkey, pork chops, potatoes, asparagus, omelets, you name it. It can go on as a sprinkle or be mixed with water as a paste. You'll love it.
Dolly's Lamb Rub & Paste.

You can't make lamb without garlic and rosemary, can you?
Signature Chili Powder

Chili powder is a blend of chile peppers and herbs and spices, and the actual blend can vary significantly from producer to producer. Originally developed to season chili con carne (chili with meat), a classic Texas cowboy chuck wagon trail stew, it is a handy spice to have for all kinds of cooking. The best chili powders have multiple layers of heat and complexity that come from different kinds of chiles. It is a great opportunity for you to make your own signature spice blend.
Seasoned Sea Salt

Our dining table is always set with a pepper mill, a table salt shaker, and a small bowl with this Seasoned Sea Salt. It is easy to make and the large grains really add a spark to potatoes, pastas, pizza, veggies, and just about everything else that needs salt.
Ras el Hanout

Is Arabic for "head of the shop", is a spice mix often used as a rub for meats, especially lamb and goat in North Africa and the Middle East. Every spice shop, every restaurant, every home has its own recipe, and it can contain dozens of ingredients. It is also used as an ingredient in sauces and marinades, and to flavor rice or cous cous. Some say it is an aphrodesiac. Let me know if it works for you.
Five Spice Powder

One of the specialty spices in many Asian dishes is Chinese five spice powder. It is a blend of cinnamon, cloves, star anise, fennel, and Szechwan peppercorns. Here's how to make your own.
Poultry Seasoning

An easy all-purpose spice mix for chicken, turkey, and even pork (pigs can fly, can't they?). They sell it in bottles, but you can make it yourself easily, and modify the ingredients to your taste.
Pickling Spices

A versatile spice mix with just about every seed on the spice rack thrown in. It is used for pickles of all sorts, from cucumber pickles to pickled eggs, even pickled pigs feet. It is perfect for home made corned beef. Foods are often simmered in pickling spices and water, suck as pork chops, sauerbraten, New England boiled dinner, and corned beef and cabbage.
Marietta's Fish Rub

This delicate herb based spice blend brightens up all fish.

Pastes, wet rubs, and slathers

Pastes come in two classes: Water based and oil based. Most are just dry rubs mixed with water or oil. They have the advantage of sticking better and can be layered on thick. Most herbs and spices dissolve well in water. Oil has the advantage of helping keep food from sticking to the grates.

Genovese Pesto

The Italian basil based classic is super all by itself on meats and as an additive to other sauces. Make a batch in summer and freeze it.
Mayo Mojo

Here's a spice blend you can keep in a jar and mix with mayo whenever you need it. Since mayo is oil based, it does a great job of extracting flavor from the spices. Use it in egg salad, deviled eggs, potato salad, or a sandwich spread. Now that's convenient.
Harissa

The best hot pepper paste going. Make up a batch, put it in the fridge, and add it to anything that needs heat.
Charmoula Herb Paste

Charmoula is an all-purpose North African herb paste used as a marinade, sauce, relish, dip, and spread. It can be used as a sauce for meat or couscous or pasta, or as a spread on pita bread, or as a marinade.

About our recipes

I am very proud that I get almost no complaints that the recipes on these pages don't work or taste bad and when I do it is usually because the cook left something important out or made a wierd substitution.

That's because I create them from scratch, test, and test again, and I have a professional chef on staff to test them again. It is not unusual for me to try a recipe on a gas grill, charcoal grill, and pellet grill. Then I listen to your feedback in the comments.

That's the difference between recipes created by cooking professionals versus the recipes on large recipe sites where anybody can post a recipe. I have a standard procedure for writing recipes and testing them. I do this for a living. Select recipes from professionals like me. A poor recipe can be a health risk and a waste of time and money.

For example, my recipes specify table salt or kosher salt or another salt. A recipe that says "1 tablespoon of salt" could easily lead you astray because kosher salt is larger grain and has more air between the grains so 1 tablespoon of kosher salt is roughly equal to 1/2 tablespoon of table salt. If a recipe calls for "four ounces of grated cheese" you have a bad recipe. I will say "4 ounces by weight". If you grate cheese and pour it into a measuring cup to the 4 ounce mark, it will weigh only about 2 ounces, and if you pack it down you might get in 3 ounces. Big diff.

So remember, not all recipes are created equal.

I have a large section of links to trusted websites by professionals.

Marinades, Brines, Injections

Wet brines

Brines are salt water solutions, often with sugar and other flavors added. They are primarily a technique for getting moisture into meat, but they can also add flavor, especially when you add spices, stocks, and bouillons to them. When meat is soaked in a salty liquid, chemistry happens.
Injections

Rubs, mops, and sauces can deliver a lot of flavor to the surface of meat, but if you want to get the flavor into meat, the solution is brining, marinating, and injecting. The problems with brining and marinating is that they take a lonnnng time to get the flavor deep into the meat, and some flavors never move more than 1/8" past the surface. But injecting is a sure fire way to get the flavor and juiciness down deep.
Dry brines

Dry brining is different from wet brining, where we submerge the food in a salt water solution of 5 to 10% salinity. It is different from injecting, where we pump the meat with a brine with a needle. With dry brining we simply salt the meat a few hours before cooking. Sounds simple, but something complex and wonderful happens.
Marinades and brinerades

Like brines, marinades are a liquid bath that penetrate meats. They are usually high acid, and often have oil in them. Most marinades do not tenderize, but some contain fresh pineapple juice or papaya juice which contain enzymes that can tenderize. Most vinaigrettes make great marinades because they contain oil, acid, and herbs and spices.

Ingredients

As background, read these articles, The Science of Herbs & Spices, The Science of Chiles, the Science of Garlic, and The Science of Salt.

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