First of all these new rubs are great! Ive almost gone through all 3 of them. And the sauce is fantastic as well.
Can anybody tell me how much salt is in a tablespoon of the rubs? I like to try and control the amount of salt I put on my meat. I know roughly how much I and my family like. I don't want to overdo the salt since salt is already in the rub.
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
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Whenever I use a salted rub I have to guess. I was hoping meathead would have put a salt % by mass or grams/container on the label so you could calculate the difference you need.
I understand the need to include salt in the rub for commercial sake, but I won't buy/use them unless I know the amount.
The back label of the red says 6% sodium, poultry 7%, pork 4%. But it has been my experience that it is much less than most others and on occasion I want more salt on my steaks, pork, or chicken.
Label says sodium and that is what I said above. I do not know what the percent of salt is, but I think people watching their salt are actually watching their sodium, aren't they? The chloride isn't a health factor, that is why ingredient labels only show sodium.
Don’t care about health (sodium) in this instance. Want to know how much I change my salting/dry brining recipe when using a rub with salt in it. So the salt content by mass is the most useful.
Unless something has changed, the 6% listed on the red meat version is the percentage of the recommended daily intake of sodium. My cardiologist insists that I should stay under 1500 mg, but it's probably higher for the "normal" public.
We sent the manufacturer a recipe. He sent back a sample. We asked him to add some of this, subtract some of that. He sent us another sample. More tweaks. On the third sample we said "Perfect"! We didn't calculate ingredients by weight or by volume. We calculated them by taste. We dialed back on salt because you can always add more but you can't take it away. In use, I find that I often want a bit more salt on my meat at the table, despite the fact that I apply the rubs generously.
Salt is high on the ingredients list because the order of ingredients is by weight, not volume, and salt is a roc. It weighs a LOT more than things like oregano. The nutrition panel (which can be viewed on the bottle or on this page https://amazingribs.com/flavor) shows the % of sodium. As I understand it, and I am not an expert on nutrition (and you will notice that we never portray a recipe as healthy or other misleading terms), people who are watching their salt intake are actually watching their sodium intake since that is the part of salt that has been accused of causing high blood pressure (although I have read research that questions whether this is really true, linked below). Remember, salt is NaCl, two atoms, sodium and chloride. I have never heard a doc say "Watch your chloride intake." So that is why nutrition labels show sodium content not salt content, I think.
In my article on the Science of Salt on this page I wrote the following
Here's what you need to know about table salt, kosher salt, pickling salt, sea salt, seasoned salt, curing salts, and how to use them. Learn also about brines, measuring different salts, and the health aspects of salt.
Salt is not evil
I know that a lot of health experts are taking potshots at salt because it makes food taste better and can entice us to eat too much. I know that many of us have been told to limit salt intake because it can raise our blood pressure, but before you swear off the stuff and start posting the "you idiot" comments below, know this:
Salt is vital to all living things. It is called an "essential nutrient" for humans, which means that our bodies do not make it, so all our salt must be ingested. From the Mayo clinic: "Your body needs some sodium to function properly because it: Helps maintain the right balance of fluids in your body; Helps transmit nerve impulses; Influences the contraction and relaxation of muscles."
When dissolved in water, salt conducts electricity and it is essential for aiding the transmission of signals along your nervous system and in your brain. It also regulates the amount of water in all your millions of cells. On average we all have about seven tablespoons of salt in our systems. That’s why all your bodily fluids are salty: Blood, sweat, and tears.
On the flip side, too much salt in your diet can increase the blood pressure of some people (but many people are not impacted), a condition that has been implicated in cardiovascular disease. Because of this, there are a lot of people worried that we consume too much salt, especially because prepared foods like frozen dinners and fast food from restaurants have a lot added. But the correct amount of salt consumption is still not known, varies from person to person, and its impact on our health is still being explored. In 2013 an expert committee, organized by the Institute of Medicine at the request of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, studied the research, especially recent research, and reported that there is no reason to aim for sodium levels below 2,300 milligrams a day (about 1/10 an ounce) as some doctors recommend. In fact, the group said low sodium diets may be as risky as high sodium diets, although it would be hard to avoid enough salt to endanger yourself. Click here to read an analysis of the report in the New York Times, and click here to read the original report. In addition, my article on undertanding what you read about diet and health might be helpful.
If you remain worried about too much salt in your diet, the secret is to control it yourself. The secret is to cook! Buy unprocessed foods and season them yourself. If you avoided fast foods and processed foods, you will never have to worry about too much salt in your diet.
We recommend about 1/2 teaspoon of Morton Coarse Kosher Salt per pound of meat. That’s equivalent to 1/4 teaspoon of table salt. Table salt weights 5.69 grams per teaspoon. But most of us don’t eat a whole pound of meat. Say you eat 1/2 pound, that’s 1/8 teaspoon of table salt or 0.711 grams or 711 milligrams, or less than 1/3 of your recommended daily intake.
Sorry I wasn’t referring to health aspects, just a way to calculate how to offset my dry brining recipe and account for the mass of salt in the rub I’m applying. The mass of salt in my recipes (most based on recipes here) have been dialed in over the years and I want them to be consistent.
The "Salt is not evil" section would apply to an otherwise healthy person; however, if you are managing a medical condition (like heart disease), statements like, "If you avoided fast foods and processed foods, you will never have to worry about too much salt in your diet" wouldn't apply.
Murdy perhaps "never" is the wrong word, but the point is that if you cook for yourself and apply salt judiciously, carefully, you should not have a problem. Also, click the links and read the latest research on salt and heart conditions.
I recommend a lighter coating of salt for the dry brine, then Meathead's rub as you would apply any other rub.
We have Sodium-Potassium Pumps, but Sodium still makes its way around without the Pumps. The Pumps help put the Potassium content on some labels as well.
Adding salt, after the cook, tastes different in my opinion.
You don't need much salt to enhance the flavors, and food shouldn't ever taste salty. A site I follow on cooking, the guy adds cayenne pepper to a lot of stuff, just a bit, another flavor enhancer, you wouldn't know it was there but it does make food taste more flavorful.
A number of years ago there was a movement against any salt at all. Most cooks didn't like that. My younger brother is a fantastic cook and has been in the business his entire life, and he bought into the no salt movement. Unfortunately, he made Beef Wellington one Christmas for the family in the midst of this, with no salt in anything, and it was very bland. The only time I have ever had that dish. I didn't want to insult him by adding salt, but adding salt wouldn't have been the same as having it in every ingredient in the right amounts.
As for dry brining, my experiences so far is that for things like steaks, chicken, chops, there is enough salt in the bottle. For really thick steaks, turkey breasts, or brisket, you will want to add a bit more, let's say about 1/8 teaspoon Morton Coarse Kosher Salt per pound. For thick steaks, I have been enjoying sprinkling large grain salt at table for pops.
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