My aunt's husband will not share......

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shoneyboy

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Nov 3, 2010
1,895
58
Denham Springs La
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I’m asking for help
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, when I was young, my aunt’s husband had a rub recipe for BBQ chicken (Not smoked) that was really good. Well, I have tried for years to get the recipe from him
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and he thinks he has a golden egg and will not share it with me
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. Don’t get me wrong it is a really good recipe
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, but if he will not share it with me, it’s no good to me
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….I have been trying to get him to make me some, but that’s like pulling teeth, he just keeps saying I'll make you some and well you know how that goes
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… (That is just one thing I have never been able to do….if some one ask for a recipe, I’m more that willing to share….maybe it’s just me though….. ) I just can’t see being like that….So, from what I remember from eating his chicken, I know it has salt, sugar, black pepper and  paprika in it, but after that I’m lost and I don’t know any of the amounts of any of the seasonings either.  It’s not hot at all and to me it’s just the perfect dry rub for chicken…. So what I’m asking is, what is the best chicken dry rub you ever have had on BBQ chicken (grilled chicken)
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? What I'm thinking is that its not really that good, it's just because he will not give me the recipe or some more of the rub, is why I think so much of it... does that make sense !?!?!?
[h3]Thanks ShoneyBoy[/h3]
 
I dont get that attitude at all, he's not Colonel Sanders! Down here I do a North African dry spice rub that I  put on chix marylands mostly.Its really a shortened version of ras el hanout that you can find in Africanmeat's thread. Its a bit left field but very tasty.Let me know & Ill post it.
 
LOL I feel your pain there, as well as see where you are coming from. It's like my Buddy's spiced beer recipe. I keep bugging him for it so I can share it with you all. He will not give it up, keeps telling me, I will when it is perfected. I don't think that day will ever come. I think it's GREAT the way it is. However he tweaks it every batch and I can't tell much difference but he can. There is a plus side to it though I get to be the taste tester. He wants to get it perfect and sell it to a brewer, so it's not quite the same as your rub.  I could see if it was some commercial rub or a BBQ joins rub. 
 
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If he is not going to mix and market that rub, it does no one any good; with the recipe in his head it will eventually be buried with him.
 
I'm more of a baker and cook than a smoker, but I'll say this. I will give people my ingredients but I don't like to give out the measurements. For one reason, I rarely measure things out so it's an eyeball thing. Second, most of my recipes evolved into the final product after many batches of trial and error followed by adjustment. I personally believe that's the fun of cooking/baking/rubbing so I'll give the ingredient list and tell people to figure it out on their own...kind of like telling someone what the fish are biting on but not revealing your honey hole.
 
 
I'm more of a baker and cook than a smoker, but I'll say this. I will give people my ingredients but I don't like to give out the measurements. For one reason, I rarely measure things out so it's an eyeball thing. Second, most of my recipes evolved into the final product after many batches of trial and error followed by adjustment. I personally believe that's the fun of cooking/baking/rubbing so I'll give the ingredient list and tell people to figure it out on their own...kind of like telling someone what the fish are biting on but not revealing your honey hole.
 
 Who taught you? Family recipes passed by watching Mom are great but limited to a few dozen. The last two generations of Mom's learned to cook from being given copies of Fanny Farmer, Betty Crocker, The Joy of Cooking and watching Julia Childs and Graham Kerr on PBS...There would have been a lot of bored hungry kids if everybody took your point of view...What would all the future Thomas Kellers, Grant Achatz, Bobby Flays, Etc, study in Culinary School if everybody took their recipes to the Grave?...How FREAKING BORING would this Forum be if all you got to look at was pictures of great Q with the title, " Best Family Secret Brisket, Sorry! "...Should we delete all the Answers to your posts and tell you to, " Figure it out on your own!"...Not Cool!...Sorry Bro but all the Great Recipes are Shared all the rest are Secret!...JJ

Sorry if I am being Harsh...
 
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You are on the $ Chef JJ. Isn't every chef that does something on TV giving away the secrets? Or in any cookbook celebrity or not? Hell of a lot of good karma in sharing. The recipe for Coke another matter but there is no protectable intellectual property in a recipe thats already out there in use by general public.

Funny in all the cooking shows I  watch by guys like Bourdain ,Rick Stein Antonio Carluccio etc where they are in other countries in peoples kitchens  ,chef or non chef you never get that attitude of this is mine only work it out yourself.
 
I have great pride in sharing a recipe when someone is so excited about my recipe they want to cook it and share it with others.  To me that's cooking with love!  I can understand if you sell, compete, or make a living on a certain recipe and don't want to share it. That's fine.

The only time I don't share recipes is when my brothers and I are having a cook off cause then it's serious! But after they admit defeat, buy me beer, I tell my recipe.

Back to the point, let's find Shoneyboy a good rub for his chicken so he can listen to his relative beg for it! haha    LINKS
 
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A "good" cook shouldn't have to worry about sharing recipes, there's more to good cooking than the recipe.
Just because I've got a Jacques Pépin cookbook, doesn't mean i'll be able to cook like Jacques Pépin. :biggrin:

Just sayin'......

PS: Having said that, what irritates me to no end is when someone alters one of the recipes I've shared in a way that's nothing like the original recipe......them said person proceeds to bitch about the recipe!!!!
That does sometimes make me think twice about sharing recipes.

People never cease to amaze me! :biggrin:

~Martin
 
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I'm more of a baker and cook than a smoker, but I'll say this. I will give people my ingredients but I don't like to give out the measurements. For one reason, I rarely measure things out so it's an eyeball thing. Second, most of my recipes evolved into the final product after many batches of trial and error followed by adjustment. I personally believe that's the fun of cooking/baking/rubbing so I'll give the ingredient list and tell people to figure it out on their own...kind of like telling someone what the fish are biting on but not revealing your honey hole.
 

 Who taught you? Family recipes passed by watching Mom are great but limited to a few dozen. The last two generations of Mom's learned to cook from being given copies of Fanny Farmer, Betty Crocker, The Joy of Cooking and watching Julia Childs and Graham Kerr on PBS...There would have been a lot of bored hungry kids if everybody took your point of view...What would all the future Thomas Kellers, Grant Achatz, Bobby Flays, Etc, study in Culinary School if everybody took their recipes to the Grave?...How FREAKING BORING would this Forum be if all you got to look at was pictures of great Q with the title, " Best Family Secret Brisket, Sorry! "...Should we delete all the Answers to your posts and tell you to, " Figure it out on your own!"...Not Cool!...Sorry Bro but all the Great Recipes are Shared all the rest are Secret!...JJ



Sorry if I am being Harsh...

I do think that, especially on a forum where the website owner sells his recipes. (and there's nothing wrong with that) that it's going a bit to far to suggest that forum members (or anyone else) should freely share!
Folks should do with their recipes as they see fit.
It's nice when folks share, but expecting all to do it just isn't realistic. Certainly, attempting to shame someone into sharing is going WAY too far!

Honestly, I've yet to lust for a recipe that I just can't live without!!! LOL

~Martin
 
I'm sure if you went to these sites, you'd find something similar if not better- Food Network, greeneggers.com or others.  The best revenge would be to find one better than his.  As far as what things are in it that he's not telling you, I would say- salt, white pepper, cayenne, granulated garlic and maybe some cumin.  Those are pretty much standard from the ones I've read.  I doubt if he can beat some of the top chefs of Food Network.  Good luck.
 
Maybe you need to try a little reverse physiology and let him know very discreetly that you are working on or have your own really good rub and you aren't really interested in his. Who knows maybe it will work. Is he the kind of guy that likes the idea of someone wanting something from him and he enjoys tormenting you by not giving it to you?
 
Are you positive it has sugar in it?  In smoking sugar works, but in grilling it can turn black very quickly, unless that is a signature of his rub.
 
I do think that, especially on a forum where the website owner sells his recipes. (and there's nothing wrong with that) that it's going a bit to far to suggest that forum members (or anyone else) should freely share!
Folks should do with their recipes as they see fit.
It's nice when folks share, but expecting all to do it just isn't realistic. Certainly, attempting to shame someone into sharing is going WAY too far!
Honestly, I've yet to lust for a recipe that I just can't live without!!! LOL
~Martin
 Jeff sells his Rub and Sauce Recipe to support the site so all the people that don't pay a dime can continue to be here for free. All our paying member have " Premier " Badges. While anyone is free to post as much info as they wish, it is in EXTREMELY poor taste to come on a public forum asking for help...Get It...Then proceed to talk about how, You don't believe in sharing...The only SHAME here is a lack of goodwill and contribution to our community...JJ
 
That's what makes this place great, there will always be folks who freely share, it's not worth getting worked up over.
I can live without the secrets of those who are selfish.
Those types folks will probably never see the error of their ways.
 
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 Who taught you? Family recipes passed by watching Mom are great but limited to a few dozen. The last two generations of Mom's learned to cook from being given copies of Fanny Farmer, Betty Crocker, The Joy of Cooking and watching Julia Childs and Graham Kerr on PBS...There would have been a lot of bored hungry kids if everybody took your point of view...What would all the future Thomas Kellers, Grant Achatz, Bobby Flays, Etc, study in Culinary School if everybody took their recipes to the Grave?...How FREAKING BORING would this Forum be if all you got to look at was pictures of great Q with the title, " Best Family Secret Brisket, Sorry! "...Should we delete all the Answers to your posts and tell you to, " Figure it out on your own!"...Not Cool!...Sorry Bro but all the Great Recipes are Shared all the rest are Secret!...JJ

Sorry if I am being Harsh...
I guess that you guys can label me selfish for encouraging other cooks to take my recipes and make them their own. I'm strong enough to take your criticisms but I don't agree with it. I think that you read too much into my statement without thinking about your response first. Just because I don't like to give out the measurements doesn't mean that I never do. I'm not witholding recipes from 10 year old kids and laughing about it. Quite frankly I like to see how people modify my recipes and make them their own. Often times their results trump mine and then we compare notes. When someone asks me specifically for the measurements I give it to them, but not without a statement about why I think they should try it out on their own.

...and I'll go back to my fishing analogy. How much fun would it be if you parked at the landing and someone told you exactly where to anchor, what to use, and puts the fish on the end of your line? Some people want everything done for them and some don't. My goal is to get my friends to think and experiment with their cooking and baking, not just follow some detailed instructions.
 
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