tunning the salt in a rub woes

[dewetha]

I learned an important lesson about using salt as an ingredient in rubs. I use sea salt. In particular I used Morton fine grain sea salt. I was tired of hand grinding my sea salt and didn’t have a spice grinder yet. so I decided on that product spent the next 10 rib smokes balancing out my rub(about 14 spices).

Had it where I wanted. I was out of fine grain sea slat but I have Morton course grain which use on burgers for crust. I am the proud owner of a Cuisinart hand held coffee grinder. I decide to grind it up to fine. a little too fine.

That was a bad idea. I measure before grinding and tried to compensate to the grain difference. So fast forward to eating time. The salt was over bearing to me(much like the dry ribs I had in Dallas texas) I am thinking that because the salt became so fine grained that it was able to penetrate the meat deeper and in more qty.

My guests still enjoyed them but I was very disappointed in the results. One issue with trying to achieve a finely tuned recipe is that small variables can really make it hard for a backyard cook to achieve constant better that the rest Cookouts.

just a little something to keep in mind when tuning your rub.

good Smoking,

Joe P

 

[solaryellow]

I learned an important lesson about using salt as an ingredient in rubs. I use sea salt. In particular I used Morton fine grain sea salt. I was tired of hand grinding my sea salt and didn’t have a spice grinder yet. so I decided on that product spent the next 10 rib smokes balancing out my rub(about 14 spices).

Had it where I wanted. I was out of fine grain sea slat but I have Morton course grain which use on burgers for crust. I am the proud owner of a Cuisinart hand held coffee grinder. I decide to grind it up to fine. a little too fine.

That was a bad idea. I measure before grinding and tried to compensate to the grain difference. So fast forward to eating time. The salt was over bearing to me(much like the dry ribs I had in Dallas texas) I am thinking that because the salt became so fine grained that it was able to penetrate the meat deeper and in more qty.

My guests still enjoyed them but I was very disappointed in the results. One issue with trying to achieve a finely tuned recipe is that small variables can really make it hard for a backyard cook to achieve constant better that the rest Cookouts.

just a little something to keep in mind when tuning your rub.

good Smoking,
Joe P

Next time you make your rub, weigh each ingredient Joe and convert your recipe to weight instead of cups, tbs and tsp. That will allow you to be more consistent with ingredients when you have to substitute your usual for something else when you are in a pinch. Volume measurements only work when the ingredients are consistently the same as you have discovered.

 

[dewetha]

thanks. i really think the courseness of the salt vs weight was the real issue but I will keep that in mind. maybe i will look out for gram scale and track it that way as well.

 

[solaryellow]

thanks. i really think the courseness of the salt vs weight was the real issue but I will keep that in mind. maybe i will look out for gram scale and track it that way as well.

A pound of salt is a pound of salt. A tablespoon of kosher salt is not a tablespoon of table salt.

 

[dewetha]

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. it’s the same salt from the same manufacture only different size. so you’re saying the there is no absorption difference between course gain salt and , in my case,powder size(I over ground it) in a small time frame like 30 to 60 mins?

 

[solaryellow]

Sorry if I wasn’t clear. it’s the same salt from the same manufacture only different size. [SIZE=10pt]so you’re saying the there is no absorption difference between course gain salt and , in my case,powder size(I over ground it) in a small time frame like 30 to 60 mins?[/SIZE]

That is indeed what I am saying. I am of the opinion you used more salt than you usually do based on a volume measurement instead of weight due to the grind you did. Been there myself and this is why you see the experienced sausage guys recommend weighing out your ingredients instead of measuring by volume.

 

[dewetha]

thanks

 

[solaryellow]

No problem.