Rubs and Seasonings

Newbie BBQ_Rubs here, interested in the various rub options. Been using the standards sold in Markets, tried one from AllRecipes but looking for others too.

Thanks for asking, standing by..

At first I tried making my own, since the store bought ones are awfully expensive for what boils down to sugar, salt and a few spices.

I've had great success with Alton Brown's 8:3:1:1 recipe for rub. 8 parts brown sugar, 3 parts kosher salt, 1 part chili powder, 1 part spice. The parts can be whatever size you want. I used quarter cups, the last quarter being cumin, garlic, black pepper and paprika.

But making your own means hauling around a bunch of spices, and that just wasn't working in my small RV.

Most commercial rubs rely on a lot of sugar. I like the Cajun style that can be made at home. Salt, black pepper, white pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic salt, cumin, oregano, and whatever else you like. Go easy on the sugar and cayenne.

For pork butts, I like Southern Succor rub. The recipe is all over the internet. I originally came across it in the book "Smoke & Spice"
For ribs, the folks I cook for like something sweet and there are lots of sweet recipes out there. I've never settled on just one.
For brisket and turkey, the red-head girl likes just salt & pepper with maybe a little garlic and onion, so that's what I go with.

One of the tastiest racks of baby backs I've cooked recently was just rubbed with salt and pepper. Simple is better sometimes?

One of my complaints about store bought rubs is that the ingredient list isn't very detailed. Sugar, salt and spices. Well, I've got a cupboard full of rubs that I never use because they have chili powder in them, not a fan of chili powder in my rubs. I have found a couple of commercial rubs that I really like as a base rub and then I just start adding my own spices and sugars to make it my own. Buying in bulk from Amazon Prime has made the base rub pretty economical.

I don't have a recipe per se, but I will tell you that I use maple sugar instead of brown sugar in my rub. This is not syrup, but a refined sugar made from the maple syrup. Imparts a different taste. Folks always try to guess the spices but miss this one entirely.

I use this rub recipe for chicken, Tri-tip and fish.

Rub

2 Tbs. Garlic Powder
2 Tbs. Onion Powder
1 Tbs of Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. of Dry Mustard
1 Tbs of paprika
1 tsp. Of Salt
1 tsp of Parsley Flakes
1 tsp of Sriracha Seasonning
1/2 tsp. Chipotle Chile Powder or Chili Powder.

If you want you can add 1 tsp. of Ghost Pepper Salt, I don't.

I'm kind of a seasoning junkie when it comes to rubs. I'll by and try just about anything and in my belief..........for the most part, they're all pretty good. I've noticed some are more herb-ie than others. Some are just hot with no flavor. When all is said and done, my favorite is Zatarains Creole Seasoning in the green, white and red round card board shaker. Technically, it's really not a "rub", but I use it on ribs, brisket, tri-tip, chicken, breakfast potatoes, meatloaf, jambalaya and really just about everything but fried eggs.

I've used it on fried eggs too. Pretty good.