Flavor profile and commercial rubs, do you like them?


 
MKEvenson

MKEvenson

TVWBB Wizard
I like to do things for myself which includes making my own rubs. I don't mind following others recipes and make some changes. I also have been known to buy "stuff" gadgetts, rubs, sauces, books etc. What I have found almost universally is that rubs I buy that have been made for the public are generally WAY TOO SALTY. I have recently bought rubs from top competitors and even they are too salty. Now this may just be my taste buds here, but my main food taster also says,"too salty". I know that some say the reason commercial rubs are so salty is that salt is the cheaper of the ingredients in the rub, but come on, why would a reputable competitor market a product that he/she knows is over the top with salt?
Maybe it's just me.
Back to the laboratory, to make my own stuff.

Mark
 
The salt (and MSG factor) tends to be punched in comp rubs because they are usually designed with the one-bite thing in mind. Too, application amount is critical - for this or non-comp commercial rubs.

Make your own. Leave out the salt and salt the meat first, separately. This removes the salt from the equation, allowing you to apply the rub lightly or heavily; the salt level stays the same.
 
Salt is the main ingredient of most of the commercial rubs I use but but there isn't a salty taste after smoking the meat. Maybe your taste buds are a bit sensitive to salt.
 
I've tried making my own rubs. Sometimes Pammi likes them,other not so much. So I buy mine. I've tried several,with varying success. But I've never tasted any that were too salty. And Pammi likes her salt!
 
I prefer to make my own. I have used Butt Rub before but I don't remember it tasting to salty. They do put something in commercial rubs to make sure it doesn't clump together. I'm not sure if maybe that has some kind of salty flavor.
 
I've found that most recipes found on these boards are better (and cheaper) than anything you can buy in a store. They're either too sweet, or too salty. Same with sauces and marinades. Lately, everything tastes too salty to me - especially at restaurants.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
Or maybe you apply much less than Mark does. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
That's a good point, as I don't put on much more than I would put on unseasoned cooked meat.
 
I've never really had a salt issue with commercial rubs I've used. I actually just bought some Dizzy Pig and Steven Raichlen rubs (Dizzy Dust, Jamaican Firewalk, Swamp Venom for Dizzy and Kansas and Lone Star for Raichlen).

Per Kevin's comment, I don't use as much commercial rub as I do homemade when seasoning and I salt the meat, not the rub with homemade as well.
 
I never buy rubs but maybe a half-dozen times a year someone sends me one to clone. Frankly, this only confirms my resistance to buying them. Some are good, flavor profile-wise, some not so, but most are fairly salt-centric, many have more sugar than I'd want, many have too much in the way of useless (imo) ingredients (paprika, dry mustard, et al.); many use what seem to be ingredients of not-so-good quality.
 
I only buy one commercially available rub (which isn't salty at all and made here in Houston). So I can't the say the issue I'll describe below applies to rubs, but it definitely does to some BBQ sauces and marinades.

When someone develops a product like a sauce, etc that he believes can be a commercial success, it can quickly become too much work to do it at home/garage/small warehouse etc. That means that one then has to go to a commercial operation where they specialize in making third party products to your recipe. It has been my experience and the experience of a few friends that invariably the contractor begins looking for ways to make your product cheaper. They have a fixed price contract with you and they can generate more profits by substituting inferior spices, etc into the product and or changing the recipe slightly to get the same result. This could explain why some "famous" rubs don't taste like what the original creator intended or uses in his competitions.

I saw this first hand in both a BBQ sauce and bloody mary mix I helped put together for a bar in Chicago. Early production was spot on, then it seemed to change to our taste buds. We went to their plant on a day they were making the bloody mary mix and they had made several cheaper substitutions. We changed to a supplier in San Antonio

Randy
 
On the both of the last two commercial rubs I had, they were salty. One wasn't too bad once it was on the meat and cooked, but the other was like pouring salt in your mouth.

Salt is cheap, so it's a great filler for commercial rubs. I prefer to make my own, then if it's too much of something you can alter it for next time. I also back out the heat on some rubs when I cooking for people who might not want that. Plus, making your own is very cheap.
 
In my little corner here, there are 4 venues that retail meat. All the pork products available here (at reasonable prices) are 'enhanced'.
Since a heavy infusion of salt is included in the enhancement, commercial rubs just add more to mix.
As Mr. K suggests above...much better to remove the salt from rubs and apply to the meat as needed.
 
I usually make my own rubs, but when I do buy one, it is ALWAYS Texas BBQ Rub. The Texas Wild and Grand Champion rub are AMAZING on pork (ribs or butt/shoulder).

http://www.texasbbqrub.com/shopping.html

Admittedly they are quite sweet, but the flavour profile is insanely good with the perfect sweet/salty/spicy combination (****, you could eat this stuff straight out of the bag).
 
I am embarrassed to let people know how many of the top competitors rubs that I have tried only to find myself thinking, "there is no way that they use this stuff". Maybe most do but I dont believe it. lol I just dont believe it.
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One of the best tips I have taken from Kevin is the saltless rub idea. I really like to salt the meat then add the salt-free rub. Thanks for that Kevin Kruger.

I have tried many rubs that folks mention and hate to admit that I do not care for most of them because of the salt/sugar issue. There are some brands that people just go nuts over that I thought was OK or just flat out hated it because it was either a brown sugar rub or just a tweaked seasoned salt.

With that said there are some rubs that I purchase off the net that are hard to beat. I can buy it from them cheaper then I can make it. Theirs is better than mine any how.

My favorite rub that I have from any site hands down is Larry Wolfes "Wolfe Rub Bold". That stuff to me is like crack. I cant get enough.


Taste is objective.
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, Thanks for listening.
 
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