sauce and rub ideas

[smokedad]

I am looking for suggestions for some sauces and rubs that I can make at home.  We don't care for the vinegar-based sauces in our house, but we do like tomato-based ones.  We like thicker sauces that are sweet but not overpoweringly so, with a little heat (I am a fan of more heat than everyone else, so I can tweak a recipe that is hotter).  we like BBQ on most any type of meat, and I am planning on smoking some ribs in the near future, so a sauce that I could use for that would be great.

As for the rub, we like the Memphis dry rub that we have had in restaurants before.  Generally we prefer a rub that is, like the sauce, a little sweet with a little heat.  

We eat quite a bit of chicken and pork, so if there are ideas for sauces and rubs for those meats, that would be appreciated.  I have been directed to Jeff's recipes that I can buy, so I may give those a shot, but I like to keep my options open.  Thanks for any help.   

 

[n8pee]

Ever tried making our own Jerk? I love the heat and sweet combo jerk can bring. Great on poultry and pork.

Jerk ribs are my next experiment.

 

[smokedad]

No, I haven't tried jerk.  I will look for that, thanks for the suggestion.

 

[jeffinn]

There are lots of rub and sauce recipes in the SMF recipe collection. Its located here:
Links To Free Recipes/SMF Recipe Collection.

 

[inlandempirebbq]

Jeff's rubs and sauce good stuff

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

[smokedad]

While looking for recipes on this site, I have noticed that some of them that I thought I would like use alcohol as an ingredient, mostly whiskey.  Is there something that can be substituted for alcoholic beverages in recipes that call for them?  We don't have alcohol in the house and I don't want to buy any and waste most of it if it turns out we don't like the sauce, as we wouldn't drink it anyway.  I know that the alcohol would burn off while cooking the sauce, but I was wondering if something else would give a similar flavor that the whiskey would give the sauce.

I also see in some recipes that "cider vinegar" is listed as an ingredient.  Is this the same as "apple cider vinegar" or are they different?

 

[sauceboss]

I'm not sure what you can substitute for whiskey to get a similar flavor, however you can always do a beer based sauce and the you only risk wasting a six pack. Though if you follow the rule of cooking wine (if you wouldn't drink it don't cook with it) it would not be a waste. I typically pick a specific beer or cider that I like to savor (amberbock, dunkelweizen, honey lager, hard cider, etc) and reduce that with the same spices in whatever rub I'm using. If it's not thick enough I may add little corn starch. Maybe throw in some fruit that pairs well with it if it's a cider based sauce. I don't have any recipe for sauces because I kinda just wing it.

As far as rubs go, I like sweet, heat, and complexity. Alton Brown did a special on BBQ years back with a general guide for a rub: 8+3+1+1
8 parts brown sugar
3 parts kosher salt (table salt is too fine)
1 part chili powder (not powdered chilies)
1 part whatever spices you want
I go a little crazy with that and the following:
Garlic powder, onion powder, fresh ground black pepper, chipotle powder, ground cayenne, ground thyme, ground oregano, ground sage, and mustard powder.
That was last rub I made. Every time I switch up the spices and see what happens. You can always go simple and just add another part of chili powder instead. I've used that general mix on pork, chicken, and beef tri-tip.
Oh, and cider vinegar is apple cider vinegar.