Tag: rubs

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BBQ Notweet

Rubbed the Right Way

I was looking for a little different wrinkle on the usual rub I use when cooking ribs. I’ll be smoking some spare ribs on the ol’ WSM tomorrow. A few minutes of googling revealed this rub recipe. It looked promising, so I’m going with it, although I’ve made a few modifications based. Here’s what I whipped up:

  1. 1 cup brown sugar
  2. 2 tablespoons chili powder
  3. 2 tablespoons paprika
  4. 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  5. 1 tablespoon onion powder
  6. 2 teaspoons black pepper
  7. 1 teaspoon cumin
  8. 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

A whole tablespoon of cayenne, which the original recipe calls for, would have had everyone screaming. So I reduced it significantly. I didn’t see the point of all the paprika, so I replaced some of it with chili powder. I never include salt in my rubs- I prefer to salt the meat directly and then apply the rub. In this case, I used a pink salt we recently purchased- it has a funky twang in addition to the normal salt taste. Wow, can’t believe I just wrote that. Finally, I like cumin too much to not include it.

The rub tasted good, we’ll see what the overnight does for it. Most importantly, we’ll see what a little heat and smoke does to it tomorrow.

Categories
BBQ

Pulled Pork in Our Future

In anticipation of the game tomorrow, the Wife suggested cooking up some pulled pork. I haven’t cooked anything on our WSM since the ribs from back around Christmas, so I was more than happy to oblige.

Fortunately, cooking pulled pork is nothing new to me. I’ve tried several different techniques and my favorite involves prepping it in a brine followed by applying a rub. The brine is nothing more than salt and some brown sugar, about a half-cup of each. I use enough warm water to completely submerge a 9-lb butt. I do start with hot water to help dissolve the salt and sugar, then ,because the butt was frozen, I add the butt and then top everything off with cold water.

As for the rub, here’s what I’m trying this time:

  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1 tbsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp orange peel
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp ground thyme (I used a mortar a pestle for grind up thyme leaves)
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne
  • 1/4 tsp chipotle chili powder

I’ve applied the rub and have wrapped it well using plastic wrap. For the now, I’ve got it sitting outside on the deck, since it’s about 20 degrees out. I’ll move it inside tonight (I don’t want it to refreeze) and then get things started nice and early tomorrow morning with the WSM. Probably around 7, if not earlier. I’m planning a nice, long, slow cook.

Tune in tomorrow to find out how it turns out.