what-are-your-"must-have-go-to"commercially-bought-rubs-and-spices

[FireMan]

With all due respect to Henrik & our new member Malcom, I don’t buy any rubs. Make em all, up cuz I belong to AR & not cuz I’m a genius or I just put a little this & a little that & go at it. 🕶

[Steve B]

I hear you FireMan I do make a lot of the rubs that are posted here. They are awesome.
Just looking to get some more tastes and flavors to experiment with.

[RustyHaines]

It does not frighten me to say this, but FireMan, you and I are of a like mind ! My rubs are all from AR.

[Dadof3Illinois]

Malcom Reeds The BBQ Rub and pretty much anything from Meat Church.

[Al S.]

"Back of the Yards garlic pepper butcher rub", from The Spice House in Milwaukee, Wi.. Amazing on beef, we love it on almost anything.

Al S.

[klflowers]

Back of the Yard is great. I always have it on hand.

[Steve B]

Sounds like this could be a winner. Thanks.

[tbob4]

I was fortunate enough to have volunteered with BBQ Relief a couple of times and their pork rub is really good. I was given a bag of it each time I left the deployment. I was told that they sold it but just looked online and did not see it. Maybe Meathead could reach out to them and see if they could have some for AR club members to purchase. It would make for a good tax deductible donation and once you try it on a pork butt you will be happy you did so.

[Meathead]

On it.

[Meathead]

But remember, almost ALL rubs contain salt, mostly expensive salt. Do you want the same amt of salt on ribs as on butt? I think not. Make yer own, salt free. Add salt separately.

[W.A.]

Plowboys yardbird. I like Oakridge rubs but I always run out of them. I’m experimenting on several new ones right now.

[Rfhd69]

+1 on Plowboys yardbird! It’s great on pulled pork!

[Meathead]

As I just pointed out to another member: almost ALL rubs contain salt, mostly expensive salt. Often 50% salt. Do you want the same amt of salt on ribs as on butt? I think not. Salt should be applied based on weight. Spices based on surface area. Make yer own, salt free. Add salt separately. Read this, especially the section on "no salt in rubs" https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...s/science-rubs

[Steve B]

You are definitely right Meathead That’s one of the reasons I started this thread.
I’m looking for rubs that will enhance the meats. Not over salt them.
One of my favorite companies is Heaven Made.
Their salt content is WAY down on the list of ingredients. So it’s minimal. Very much like the rubs that Henrik has put out.
So if you’re good with that let’s keep this going. 👍

[tbob4]

Maybe BBQ relief can make a "no salt" version of their rub for AR members. We can dry brine in advance and apply their "no salt" rub. It could be a benefit to both. I have no idea what goes into their rub. We typically rub a couple of hours in advance of cooking, at most and then put the pork into the pits. When taken home, I applied the night before without dry brining and the results were good. I used it on butts and tri-tip without the brine method.

[Meathead]

Would OBR make us a rub? Doubt it. I know them well and was an early donor and we still are among the largest donors. But to most BBQ guys rubs are loaded with salt. It keeps the price down. Salt is a lot cheaper than spice. The answer is to make your own. a LOT cheaper.

[glitchy]

I make a couple of my own, but need to do more. I use too much of McCormick’s Montreal Streak and Chipotle and roasted garlic. I also use a fair amount of Oakridge Secret Weapon, Habenaro Death Dust, and some of their others.

[Steve B]

Thanks glitchy these are the kind of responses I’m looking for.

[glitchy]

If you like spicy, the Oakridge Habenaro Death Dust has amazing flavor with the heat. Learning the right amount is key. Makes fabulous vortex hot wings. A coworker uses it on ribs too. i have a pretty high heat tolerance and first time I used i I said wow, these are hot! My wife still tried them and stared jumping up and down after her first bite, I was laughing so hard. I toned it back too much the second time, they were ok, but needed a little more for flavor.

[Steve B]

😂😂 Excellent. I will definitely add some Death Dust to my arsenal. 👍👍

[klflowers]

Oak Ridge Black Ops brisket rub. These days I am down to that, the Spice House Back of the Yard and Lawry’s Chicken and Poultry Rub. Montreal Steak once in awhile.

[HouseHomey]

Salt, MSG and Pepper.

[Steve B]

If Ellie ever found out I used MSG she would kill me. She thinks/swears she’s allergic to it. 🤷🏼‍♂️

[texastweeter]

MSG gets a bad rap, but I use it all the time. All started with the infamous "Chinese food syndrome". The MSG allergy thing has been busted so many times... Better stay away from mushrooms, anything tomato, or aged beef/cheese, lol.

[Steve B]

Haaaa texastweeter I have shown my wife articles about this many times to no avail.
Oh well 😔

[barelfly]

I saw it listed above, OakRidge BBQ Black Ops for brisket. I won’t use anything else on brisket. Just love the flavor it provides. I also like like their Carne Crosta rub. I think this one would be easier to replicate than the Black Ops but I have tried at this point. Majority of the OakRidge rubs have been good, and a few were just ok or something that were similar to rubs I’ve made on my own.

Those are are the only two rubs that I have consistently bought over the past few years. I’ve tried some others that are decent, but nothing that has wowed me to buy again. But the most recent rub I bought was Kosmos Hot Dirty Bird. I’ve used it on wings on the kettle twice and that turns out really well. I may try to replicate this when I have some time off later this month.

[Steve B]

How about using Black Ops on plate ribs and chuckies?

[barelfly]

Steve B yes, I have on plate ribs. Very good on brisket on a stick! I haven’t it tried it on a chuckie, but I’m sure it would be great!

Especially when cooked on that LSG!

[Steve B]

Oh Yeah. 👊👊 And thanks. Gonna grab me some.

[Thunder77]

Chicken: Weber Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning. Low sodium, and delicious!
Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin,
Dizzy Pig Mediterraneanish: great on seafood, veggies, and mixed with oil for bread dipping.
Dizzy Pig Swamp Venom: Heat!

[fuzzydaddy]

I like the salt-free rubs from https://snsgrills.com/collections/ru...12115780436004 when I’m not using my own BBBR or Memphis Dust. On pork butts I’ll use Rocky’s rub with a bit of not just for beef. Good stuff.

[texastweeter]

they sent me a bottle of each with my maverick xr. Taste a lot like a doctored BBBR and MMD to me.

[David Parrish]

I will 110% confess our rubs are grounded in BBBR and MMD, which most here would say is a good thing! Both have been tweaked so the flavor pops a bit more and, well, they'll give you a better smoke ring. No salt so you're getting a good bang for your buck. And you won't have 8 to 10 bottles of high quality spices going stale before you can really use them. We even ground the pepper right before bottling for peak flavor. =)

[Steve B]

David Parrish Just ordered a second SnS 1.0 and a 4 pack of rubs.

[Jon Liebers]

love plow boys yard bird, Butcher BBQ -especially their honey rub, Championship head, cowboy kent rollins original and mesquite, and don't forget the Williams Rib Tickler for Johnny Trigg style comp ribs. I have many others but these are used the most frequently .

[Craigar]

Trader Joe's chili lime for chicken and pork. Willingham's for an after cook rub/sprinkle, mostly for beef. I make everything else. I have tried many others over the years just to get an idea of the flavor profile they are trying to achieve and I always go back to the rub recipe I found online back around '97. Over the years I have changed a few things here there, namely eliminating the salt after reading Meathead 's article years ago (before The Pit came into existence).