Pepper free beef rub

[cftarnas]

Tomorrow I’ll be smoking some beef short ribs. One of our guests has a black (and white) pepper intolerance - any thoughts on a good rub? I was probably just going to leave it out of the Big Bad Beef Rub on a couple ribs, but wondered if anyone had any suggestions or experience with black pepper free beef rubs?

[ecowper]

I think I would leave out the black pepper in the BBBR and go with that. Alternatively, for beef ribs, you could go with just salt in a dry brine and nothing else.

[mnavarre]

You could also try using grains of paradise as a substitute.Not something you're going to find at Vons, but Pezney's would probably have it or a middle eastern or african market almost certainly would.

[RonB]

My wife and I both prefer just salt and pepper for a beef rub.

[Mr. Bones]

Might consider lookin at th online Montreal receipts, leavin out/reducin th pepper...
Just a thought.
I have them so very rarely, I kinda tend to blurt it out, when it happens.
My Bad.

[cftarnas]

Thanks for the help all. I’m dry brining now, and will do one or two of the ribs with BBBR w/o black pepper. The rest with the real stuff.

[ComfortablyNumb]

Troutman , the only AR member to fail the Dale Carnegie course! ;-)

[JGo37]

A miss the days when anger management was a technique instead of a class.

[EdF]

Troutman Cruel but effective!

[customtrim]

I have done plenty of beef for the dogs nakid( no rub) I find it very good

[JGo37]

Me too - no garlic, onion, or pepper allowed.

[adamjs83]

I’ve done BBR without the black pepper several times and also with the pepper ratio reduced by various factors to accommodate kids, including my own. Personally, I prefer with the pepper but it’s still quite tasty without.

[MBMorgan]

What about subbing green peppercorns (they’re not really pepper at all)? Never tried it myself ... and the flavor profile will definitely shift a bit ... but you might get some of the "pepperyness" you like.

[EdF]

I was wondering similarly about Szechuan pepper. But if his food sensitivity is about the nightshade family in general, it wouldn't work.

[cftarnas]

The food sensitivity is actually to back pepper, which is unrelated to capsaicin peppers like jalapenos and bell peppers. Szechuan peppercorns would be fine - those are actually a dried citrus. I did wonder how those with their numbing effect would do in BBQ...

[EdF]

I've made a 5 spice rub using the Szechuan peppers and put it on ribs. Very nice!

[cftarnas]

They went for about nine hours 225, never got above 195 but I pulled them by probe feel. They were totally soft and tender, fall off the bone, it was almost like eating pulled beef.

[Potkettleblack]

Curious about the smoke flavor on the ones without pepper versus the ones with pepper. Aaron Franklin thinks the pepper is in the rub mostly to hold smoke.

[cftarnas]

Potkettleblack :Interesting thought... no one ate from both types of ribs last night, but we do have one of each left over - the wife and I will need to do a taste comparison. I will report back!

[Potkettleblack]

Thanks. Interested to know.

[cftarnas]

We had the leftovers last night, and to answer Potkettleblack ‘s question, the pepper free ribs had just about the same amount of smoke - if not more - than the regular with black pepper rub. Both had a nice smoke flavor, and had deep vibrant smoke rings. FWIW I smoked them with 8oz of hickory and cherry, one chunk of each.

The pepper definitely makes the bark much better tasting and the texture of it is nice.

[cftarnas]

Potkettleblack I was thinking about this more and Aaron likes offset smokers with fairly high airflow and highish temp at 275; I smoked this in a kettle with a SnS at 225. Could the "gritty ness" of the coarse pepper have more of an effect on the airflow, as opposed to the kettle where the airflow is quite a bit less so the smoke already hangs around the meat for a while.

[cftarnas]

I also agree, I think Aaron comes up with an explanation for why his method "works" for him, but I doubt he actually does any rigorous testing of his different hypotheses to see if there are other factors.

[Potkettleblack]

The deeper you go trying to find the science of why it works for Aaron Franklin, the more lost I think we get. 225 works well, 275 works well. He has so many stories about completed screwed up cooks that came out fine, you start to wonder how tight you really have to be.

[boftx]

Fix them some tofu with brown sugar and serve real BBQ for everyone else. If you think that is too cruel, just keep in mind that they won't be bothered by the dog(s) begging for food.

[EdF]

Spoken like "that operator"! ;-)