Rub ingredients

[vayank5150]

This may be a stupid question, but since "a cook, I am not"....when I see all of the recipes for rubs and sauces and such, does it matter what brand and/or who makes them, or will any store bought brand do?  Is kosher salt, kosher salt?  How about brown sugar, cayenne pepper, paprika?  Does it matter?  Do you all have any favorites or suggestions?

 

[jarjarchef]

That is not an easy answer. Yes there are differences in quality and potency of different dried herbs and spices. But what you do is really upto you and your pocket. I personally try to stick with what I can find locally and keep my rubs simple to let the meat shine.....

As for salts, they should be very close to the same. Meaning all kosher salts should be similar. The grind may be different, but should extremely close in taste.

You will find those that are very passionate about this subject. Diggingdogfarm (Martin) has shared a web site he buys from. I looked at it and it has a ton of different spices. I was very tempted to buy several, but am saving for a project.

What I would suggest is play with the cheaper ones while you learn your cooking technique. Once you are comfortable with what you are doing, then explore the different flavors and quality of the more expensive herbs and spices.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Best answer is, it can make BIG difference, but not always.
Some of the average stuff found at supermarkets isn't bad, but the problem is, some of it is nothing but horrible.
A couple recent examples...I helped a friend get started in sausage making, among the ingredients he'd purchased locally was some whole nutmeg, everyone is told that it's best to buy whole nutmeg and grate it fresh and I agree....but the Badia nutmegs that he purchased were very bad...small, pale, musty tasting and largely flavorless......same deal with the ground sage he purchased....almost no flavor.

You won't end up with the best final product when using junk. It's impossible!

Garbage In=Garbage Out!!!

Unfortunately, there's no way to know what's good or bad unless you buy it and try it, I've found that to be more expensive in the long run than just buying good stuff to begin with, and it's a heck of a lot less frustrating!

As far as the Kosher salt goes...Morton and Diamond Crystal are the most popular.
They're both fine.
I keep those on hand as well as David's because they're all a little different texture-wise.

Here's the link to Penzey's Spices....
http://www.penzeys.com/

~Martin

 

[vayank5150]

Thank you very much for the reply.  I am probably overthinking things and need to spend some more time "playing around" with the smoker.  Thanks again!

 

[jarjarchef]

Martin is correct about the quality of cheaper brands. From what I have noticed at work, we have a contract for our entire company to be supplied with bulk purchase pricing. Any how....... I have set 5 of the same chili powder containers next to each other and you can see the difference in colors. The cheaper the product the less quality controls it will have.

If you are new to cooking/smoking. I would focus on the basics of the cooking of the product. When you get comfortable and have played with a few recipes and gotten some of the flavor profiles down, then start looking at more expensive and exotic spices and herbs.

But that web site is very cool and can get you in trouble if on a budget......

 

[linguica]

My best way to do it is to purchase a few of the most popular pre-mixed rubs and sauces, then add to them till I come up with something I think is a keeper.  X2 on using quality herbs and spices. I order from Penzey's and like the products. Also they save money by shipping in resealable bags instead of bottles.

 

[cooknhogz]

I've been getting my herbs and spices at GFS foods, they sell Trade East Spices the price isn't bad and nor is the quality.

 

[cliffcarter]

This may be a stupid question, but since "a cook, I am not"....when I see all of the recipes for rubs and sauces and such, does it matter what brand and/or who makes them, or will any store bought brand do?  Is kosher salt, kosher salt?  How about brown sugar, cayenne pepper, paprika?  Does it matter?  Do you all have any favorites or suggestions?

I buy bulk spices because they are fresher IMHO.

Yes, kosher salt is kosher salt, sea salt works well also.

Use turbinado sugar in place of brown sugar, it stands up to the heat better without burning.

Cayenne pepper tends to disappear in the finished product unless you uas a lot of it IMHO.

Fresher is better for paprika, buy bulk. It is also my experience that buying bulk spices is cheaper than buying jars at the supermarket.