Going basic with rubs is best

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ammaturesmoker

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
May 31, 2015
641
181
Lately I have just been using garlic salt and pepper on a few rubs. I think I like this better as my BBQ sauce is later brushed on and does just fine. This weekend I took three pork toin roasts and one I hit with a a store bought pork marinade, one with garlic salt and pepper, and the other with jack danials pork rub. To me the salt and pepper one tasted better. And I normally add in much other ingrediance to the pork. This time no go. I wanted to try a marinade. I didn't really care for it. Jack Danials has too much salt for me. I might be doing more basics in the future.
 
I go back & forth with the rubs & sauces.

Sometimes naked, sometimes injected, rubbed, & sauced!

I guess I just get bored & like to experiment with different things.

But I always seem to go back to naked & start the process all over again.

Al
 
Half the fun of this whole hobby to me is experimenting. For the first year and a half of my smoking journey I made my own rubs. Then I started experimenting with commercial rubs. That ended up being great fun and there are so many to try. Same with sauces, though now I have settled on "boutique" sauces that I always doctor up just a tad.
 
On beef, I like SPOG.  It just works for me and no need to experiment.

Pork, Poultry, Veggies, and Nuts, I'll experiment my tail off.  I rarely use the same rub twice. 

I have a butt finishing on the smoker right now with a rub I shigged off the Internet and changed to my taste.  It uses Old Bay as one of the ingredients, which I've only ever used for shrimp/crab/crawfish boils.  I've never read the ingredients of OB because there isn't much on the can.  Once I checked for them online, it seemed a natural addition for pork.  Butt's been on 14.5 hours.  IT is 176F.   We'll see.  
 
Yep.....fun to experiment!! Sometimes I like to use a rub, sometimes just the good ol SPOG. And sometimes a bbq sauce is used, sometimes it's not.
 
For beef I usually just use s&p with garlic powder...sometimes a bit of chili powder. With chicken or pork ribs I found a store bought rub I normally use. I will say from time to time though I like to change it up and try new things.
 
Salt and Pepper all the way for me lately! For ribs, I like to cut my sauce with some maple syrup to make a nice glaze that adds flavor but lets the meat take center stage. A simple salt and pepper rub gives the right amount of seasoning without getting in the way. Brisket, pork shoulder, beef ribs - salt and pepper. Now, living just south of Memphis, if I have some memfolks that like dry ribs I'll do a more elaborate rub for them. But otherwise......
 
Salt and Pepper all the way for me lately! For ribs, I like to cut my sauce with some maple syrup to make a nice glaze that adds flavor but lets the meat take center stage. A simple salt and pepper rub gives the right amount of seasoning without getting in the way. Brisket, pork shoulder, beef ribs - salt and pepper. Now, living just south of Memphis, if I have some memfolks that like dry ribs I'll do a more elaborate rub for them. But otherwise......
you can get a thing called maple powder. i have used it many times before on ribs. you can use with butter and vinegar in the foil pack on 3-2-1 ribs and it makes it have a great maple flavor if that is what you like. its like dehydrated maple syrup. and its easier to work with than syrup itself. Give it a try!

Help this Helps,

phatbac (Aaron)
 
Personally with rubs i have gotten a little lazy i guess i have been using different commercial rubs. like Weber's line of rubs and grill mates or butcher BBQ's like of rubs. i recommend Butchers. you have buy a sample pack with like an oz of every rub they make and try each one and reorder the ones like.

for beef i like Montreal seasoning steaks roasts etc.




Happy Smoking,

phatbac (Aaron)
 
When I started smoking meat I was buying all kinds of rubs.. then I was making a bunch of them ... several of them had brown sugar ...not any more .. I use salt pepper smoked paprika garlic powder and maybe ceyanne if the kids aren't eating it ! I put most my major flavor profiles in injections and glazes...
 
For beef, especially brisket, I go basic SPOG, heavy on the pepper, most of the time. I'll get adventurous with short ribs or chuckies from time to time and try something different.

For chicken I use Cavender's Greek seasoning 99% of the time. The only exception is wings and I use Tony Chachere's on them after injecting them with creole butter. I played with homemade and commercial rubs for several years trying to find one I liked on chicken and never did. My wife made one of those short order smoking requests wives are so good at one time though and I just grabbed the Cavender's out of the cabinet. I didn't have time to make a rub or grab something else and we use it for roast chicken so I thought what the heck. I haven't messed with anything else since.

For pork, I have my favorites but this is where I tend to get experimental. I have my homemade rub that I use on pork butts for pulled pork. I have Mexican inspired rub we use for carnitas. I have a homemade rub I use for ribs that's something like a cross of the butt rub and SPOG.  Pork loins get heavy doses of rosemary, sage, and garlic. There's no telling what might end up on country style ribs since they're cheap enough to play around with new flavors and not feel bad if it isn't that good.
 
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