One of the things that many people seem to have on hand in the forums that I participate in, is a measured out rub recipe. That’s one thing I just don’t think about when I’m making a rub. Assembling a rub to me is another creative outlet – it’s a work of art. You don’t measure it, you just kind of wing it based on what you have in the cupboard. You put a bunch of stuff in a bowl, you might put a bunch of ingredients in one time that you wouldn’t put in another time – it’s part of the fun of BBQing – experimentation.

Well, I realized – if I want to start shooting for consistency, I would have to start developing a signature rub blend that I could replicate.

How do you do that?

You weigh it!

So this past weekend, prior to firing up the smoker, I decided to pull out my kitchen scale and figure out a starting point! I had to pretend I wasn’t weighing my random amounts of ingredients – hitting ‘tare’ on the scale every time I was done adding and recording the weight of an ingredient.

Now, this was an experimental rub, that featured some ingredients that I usually don’t use. Until this batch, I had never used oregano in a rub, but had seen it on a lot of other pitmaster’s recipes in the forums. I figured I’d give it a shot in this batch.

For those who don’t want to read my sloppy style handwriting, here’s the full recipe:

50g Dark Brown Sugar

15g Seasoned Salt (I usually don’t use this, I use kosher and other types of salt)

12g Paprika

8g Coarse Black Pepper

8g Montreal Steak Seasoning (I usually don’t use this, but was feeling it)

8g Garlic Powder

5g Chili Powder

2g Cumin

1g Dried Oregano (which looks like a lot!)

Pinch of dried Rubbed Sage. (thought it would compliment the oregano)

Combine ingredients thoroughly by hand, making sure to bust up all clumps of brown sugar. This is what you’re shooting for:

Makes my mouth water just looking at it! Now, when you apply this rub, you want to grab handfuls at a time with a ‘clean’ hand, and sprinkle onto your meat, working it into the meat with a ‘wet’ hand. This accomplishes two things –

1: If you don’t use all the rub, it won’t get contaminated, and you can save it or put it aside for other dishes like mashed potatoes or something.

2: Grabbing handfuls rather than shaking the rub onto the meat will prevent the oregano from separating from the rest of the rub – creating a more unified coating.

I applied this to some Baby Back Ribs- and they were probably the best tasting ribs I’ve made in a while – no sauce needed! I smoked on my new DynaGlo vertical offset, with cherry chips and apple chunks at about 200-250 for 5-6 hours – The results were awesome. I didn’t wrap these ribs which allowed them to really develop a complex, delicious bark with awesome texture and flavor. Had to pat myself on the back for this recipe and the results!

Here are the ribs under two different light sources so you can see the goodness!