the_rose•17d agoProlific Poster

Threw away $60 on a fancy rub blend last month

I saw this new BBQ rub at the store, it had a cool label and promised some kind of "award winning" flavor. Paid $12 for a little jar, about 4 ounces maybe. I used it on a rack of ribs for Sunday dinner and man, it was just salty with a weird chemical aftertaste. My buddy who came over took one bite and asked if I changed my rub recipe. I couldn't even finish the ribs, ended up ordering pizza. That $12 stung but then I realized I'd spent like $48 on the pork and charcoal too, all wasted. You ever buy a hyped up rub that just flopped on the meat? Got any go-to cheap rubs that actually work?

3 comments

3 Comments

parker_hall516d ago

Yeah I had almost the exact same thing happen with some "smoky mesquite" rub that was like $10 for a tiny jar. Ended up just going back to the basic store brand seasoning salt mix and add my own brown sugar to it, works every time and costs pennies.

torres.riley17d ago

Man that $12 rub thing got me thinking. You actually spent $48 on the pork and charcoal? Ribs around me are usually like $15-20 for a good rack and a bag of charcoal is maybe $8-10 unless you're buying some fancy stuff. I mean I get it all adds up but that's more like $30-35 total unless you bought like 3 racks and a whole bag of lump charcoal. To answer your question though I've been burned by those fancy blends too. The best cheap rubs are the ones you mix yourself. Take some brown sugar, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper and you're golden. I've got a little shaker jar I keep filled with that combo and it's never let me down.

logan_anderson4017d ago

My first homemade rub was basically just brown sugar and paprika because I ran out of everything else (which I discovered mid-mix, of course). It turned out tasting like I was trying to candy the ribs, which I guess isn't the worst problem to have, but not what I was going for.