Barbecue Spice Rub
Greetings fellow food friends! Welcome to another edition of SPF. This week is the first part of our three part barbecue installment. Barbecue is about as American as it gets. It involves meat and smoke. That sounds pretty good to me. Good barbecue, however, is a process. I wish I could tell you what region we are sticking with through this process, but I think we’ve created such a melting pot that I can’t identify a region. Good barbecue, regardless of region, starts the same.
A healthy seasoning is key to good barbecue. A blend of sugar, salt, and spices should be applied liberally to all meat. This spice mixture will be referred to as a spice rub. Today, I have put together a spice rub recipe that I think works well with pork, but it can be applied to chicken easily. Because this is part one of a three part recipe, I will just give a rundown, but not go over what exactly to do with it yet. You’ll have to keep tuning in to figure that out.
Feel free to adjust spices to your liking. I will, however, caution against putting more sugar in the spice rub. There’s a time when you can do that, but you want to be careful with sugar. It caramelizes and can burn when exposed to high temperatures for long times.
Jeff’s Barbecue Spice Rub:
4 Tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
2 Tablespoons paprika
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon thyme
¼ teaspoon oregano
¼ teaspoon Dutch processed cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon ground mustard powder
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until evenly combined.
That’s all there is to this recipe. It’s a fun spice mixture that is very versatile. What kind of things can you do with it? Well, if you want to know the answer to that, you’ll need to keep tuning in. Until next time, be well! What are the ingredients to your favorite spice rub? Let us know below in the comments!
Crystal is the founder of Simply Playful Fare. She has been in the kitchen for as long as she can remember. She has a degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing.
YUM! pinned and tweeted! 🙂
Thanks Lea!