Cuban Mojo as a Rub

[Potkettleblack]

I prefer a dry brined turkey. Superior skin, blah blah.

I found a recipe on the NYT website for a mojo marinated turkey. My thought it so adapt the flavors of the mojo marinade into a rub.

ingredients for the marinade are:

2 heads of garlic, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons black pepper, plus more to taste
2 cups sour orange juice, or 1 cup fresh orange juice and 1 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves, roughly chopped

To create as a dry rub, I’m going with granulated garlic, cumin, black pepper, and some mix of kool-aid lemonade, lime aid and orange drink pouches. The pouches have no sweetener, just citric acid, some flavors, and some stuff to keep it powdery.

anyone ever done something like this before? Convert marinade to dry rub? Use drink mix?

[Thunder77]

I have not, but I look forward to the results of your experiment.

[ofelles]

Not tried either but looking forward to hearing advice.

[Troutman]

I think it's a pretty clever idea but I thought the citrus was there as a marinade (acid) as well as a flavoring agent. I take it you're just trying to get some flavor from the rub version. Also, thinking back on dehydrated juice powders, they always seem to have some sort of funky after taste. Oh well, they did take Tang to the moon so what the heck? Good luck and let us know how that turns it for you PKB.

[Potkettleblack]

Have a couple rubs that I like a lot that incorporate dehydrated cirtus juice, which is the effect I want to get. I will use the dry brine and buying a good turkey for the tenderization.

[tbob4]

I have a similar recipe for Cuban Pork from Three Guys from Miami. To make it a rub I would substitute the juices for 1 -2 Tablespoons of lemon, lime and orange peel. I do something very similar for my smoked turkey. I don't use olive oil.

[barelfly]

This is what I was going to suggest. I wonder how dehydrated zest would be? A pain to make but if getting it down to a powder?

[Potkettleblack]

I actually have dehydrated zest in my current riff on MMD. It's not quite the same as dehydrated juice, which would be the ideal, I think.

[tbob4]

I would mix the rest of the run, store and grate the citrus when it is time to rub. It is how I do my Cajun turkey rub.

[Skip]

In excited to hear more about how this works and the final rub recipe.

[tbob4]

I'm looking forward to his review, too. I would do the rub AND make the marinade on the side. I would blend the marinade really well and use it as my injection liquid.

[Ahumadora]

Potkettleblack Your'e at the point of the spear when it comes to Turkey rubs!!!!

[JoeSousa]

I would probably go with something like orange peel powder or lemon peel powder as opposed to the drink mix. Would probably bring a bit more flavor than the drink mix. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Orange-Peel-P...18C/ref=sr_1_5

[Potkettleblack]

My only concern with using powdered peels is that I'm looking for that juice taste, not that zest flavor. I might add some lime peel, but going for that juice flavor was the thought in the drink mix. The alternative was just buying some bulk citric acid.

[tbob4]

I think you will find that the mix of fresh really replicates the sourness you get from a sour orange juice.

[Old Glory]

There was someone here doing a cherry Dr Pepper rib rub with cherry Koolade I think.

Here is the link...not sure how it turned out

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/porknography-ribs-pulled-pork-ham-etc/769220-cherry-dr-pepper-injected-pp

[Potkettleblack]

Good review from the author, so I think that's validation for using it in a rub. 2TBS of base rub to a packet. I might go more like 3T of base to the packet, to maybe tame the citrus a bit. I have some chicken thighs I can try this one before risking thanksgiving.

[Michael Brinton]

I bet the juice packs will work well. The anti-cake or whatever they use to keep it powdery will probably help the rub more than just straight citric acid. It's like buying what you need premixed. Should be great.

[Nate]

Can’t wait to hear how it turns out.

[Dewesq55]

Sounds like a great idea. Suggestion: use dried citrus zest, rather that juice drink powder.

[IowaGirl]

Another thing to consider is True Lemon and True Lime powders. They're basically dehydrated citrus juice. I don't believe they contain citrus oils (from the peel) so I'd also use zest.

[IowaGirl]

I've found the lemon and lime at Walmart. Not sure I've seen the orange there. A little goes a long ways. Also the powder clumps in the jar as time goes on. They sell it in small individual-use packets, I think for putting in tea maybe?, and I've wondered if it would be more cost effective to pay a premium for the packets and have it stay good longer. Another option would be to keep the jar in the freezer as I do with other stuff that wants to clump like onion and garlic powder.

[Potkettleblack]

Each packet is supposed to equal a wedge of lemon/lime/whatever.

I got a package of 32 of each of lemon, lime, grapefruit and orange.

Between the linked cherry pork recipe and Steven Raichlen's no-salt Chili-Lemonade rub, I have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing.

Will dry brine and air dry in the fridge the day before, make the rub this weekend for testing on chicken thighs... Gonna go 50-50 orange and lime, with that mix being maybe 1/4 to 1/8 of total rub. Garlic, pepper, onion, cumin

[IowaGirl]

I'm very curious to know how this turns out, Potkettleblack.

[Potkettleblack]

Update: made a first batch.
3 packets Real Orange
3 packets Real Lemon
same volume of garlic powder
half volume of onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
salt
16 mesh pepper

baked on chicken thighs.

bright lime flavor, warmth from the cumin.

needs more garlic, more orange, and IMHO, less cumin. And maybe a bit of weak paprika for color.

but it’s a success.

[tbob4]

Good job!!!

[barelfly]

Are you going to try this on some type of pork as well? You have peaked my interest? I love that Cuban style flavor profile on pork, this could be a way of going with Cuban sandwiches.

Glad it worked out for you.

[Potkettleblack]

I have some pork chops for dinner tonight that will get the remainder of Mojo #1.

Turkey will get Mojo Mark 2.