Can anyone out there duplicate durkee's pork rub?

[tasunkawitko]

i think i may ahve asked this before but the thread must have perished in the flames.

i am a big fan this rub - to mee it tastes exactly the way BBQ should!

my question is, has anyone been able to duplicate this fixing it "from scratch?" if possible, i'd like to duplicate this with maybe half the salt and without the added mesquite smoke seasoning. call it trying to make a perfect product just a little better!

any help would be appreciated.

 

[mikey]

Since I don't have a container of that rub in front of me, what are the ingredients on the container? You could just go by what the ingredients say, minus the salt & mesquite seasoning. A salt subsitute could be used in place of the real thing. I'm looking at their site now www.durkee.com and I don't even see that rub listed. Still checking. It could be that the product is new, and hasn't made their website yet.

 

[tasunkawitko]

i'll review the ingredients list when i get home and give it a try.

as for salt substitutes, i tried one once (i think it was pot. chloride) and it literally tasted like $h!t - have salt substitutes gotten better since then or is there a particular type to use?

thanks!

 

[mikey]

Personally, I'd leave the salt out.

 

[tasunkawitko]

agreed - or at least all but a small bit - my understanding is that at least the presence of salt is necessary for a rub due to the reaction with the meat. if i am wrong about this, i'll happily cut the salt from it entirely.

 

[smokeguy]

You can cut the salt without much problem on most meats when you're smoking IMO since the smoke can CYA for you most times. One of the best reasons for keeping some of it in there though is so that it takes the excess moisture out of the trimmed fat layer and that tends to make it more flavorful. Fat might not be good for you, but it tastes good, and if you have less water in it to dilute it, it tastes even better.

 

[the iceman]

See if this stuff might fit your needs... Bacon Salt.

They have a bunch of different varieties. I use it on all kinds of things. Its great with scrambled eggs & I would think it would work well in a rub too.

 

[tasunkawitko]

iceman - interesting idea and a very catchy tag line:

"Peanut butter and chocolate. Franks and beans. Cookies and milk. Bacon and anything."

 

[fire it up]

Hey ICEMAN, I have debated buying bacon salt, we have 3 kinds at our Acme but since it is kind of expensive I never picked any up since I didn't want to waste $6 if it wasn't any good.
Maybe I'll have to try it.
Noticed they have hickory bacon salt on the link, wish they carried that one here, if it's good (I'll probably buy the pepper bacon salt first) I'll end up ordering some from them, jalapeno and hickory sound good.

I just noticed on that site they also sell "Baconnaise".
Interesting. Never heard of such a thing.

 

[the iceman]

It is a little pricey but it goes a long way. I like both the Hickory & the Peppered. The Original is ok but I prefer the others. I haven't tried the Jalepeno but it sounds good.

 

[mikey]

Not trying to debate the issue, but common sense tells me that if you have salt on or in the fat, it's just that; salty fat, which to me doesn't taste well at all. Salt also takes some of the moisture out of what ever you happen to have on the smoker as far as meat goes. Getting back to the original post which was duplication of the Durkee rub, it's going to take some experimentation to get the right quantities of each ingredient to taste proper. Without taking a lot of expensives "shots in the dark" meat wise, how would you know if you have a winning combination? Enquiring minds want to know.

 

[tasunkawitko]

thanks for all the replies so far. i would prefer to leave all salt out if that is a viable alternative due to my blood pressure which is under control but still needs to STAY that way.

>>>Without taking a lot of expensives "shots in the dark" meat wise, how would you know if you have a winning combination? Enquiring minds want to know.<<<

well, the only way i can think of is the old lick-the-finger-stick-the-finger-in-the-rub-and-lick-the-finger-again routine, but the only way to know for sure of course would be to try it on meat. perhaps some smoked hamburgers or mini fatties, pork steaks etc. would be the best alternative for testing!

 

[tasunkawitko]

well, i am getting close, but not quite close enough.

i've got something with these rough measurements (not exact, but close)

2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp freshly-ground black pepper
1 tbsp salt (non-iodized)
5 tbsp sugar (should have used dark brown, but only have white right now)

this was an attempt to cut down the salt and also leave out the fake smoke flavor. also, due to my wife's preferences, it leaves out any cayenne pepper.

the result is close, but definitely still missing somethng of that "BBQ" flavor. there is something in durkee's that screams, "this belongs on a pig's butt." there are definitely hints of it in this, but it isn't quite coming together. i am sure i too much of some ingredients and not enough of others.

 

[mikey]

Howdy, TW; It appears that you found the ingredients for the Durkee Rub. Just as a suggestion, since the "bbq" flavor is missing, you might want to try smokin' up some granulated garlic in place of the garlic powder. Just a thought.

 

[tasunkawitko]

hey, mikey - that sounds like a good idea -

one question: i live in the middle of north-central montana, and we're missing a few things on the store shelves that are available elsewhere. does granulated garlic go under another name? it's not the dehydrated minced garlic, is it? or is it something a person can make out of chopped garlic cloves?

 

[mikey]

You are exactly correct. Granulated garlic is dehydrated finely minced garlic.

 

[tasunkawitko]

good deal - we've got plenty of that up here. i'll set a pan of it smoking sometime and add it to the next attempt! thanks!

 

[johnnyreb]

i like that rub also Tasunka.... i think that the ingredient you are missing is worsty powder

 

[tasunkawitko]

that's very possible, crazyhorse, or should i say tasunka witko (which is lakota for crazy horse!)! i don't have any available here, but on our next trip to great falls, i will pick some up and give it a try.

 

[jimr]

WHAT IS WORSTY POWDER????