Williams-Sonoma "Adam's Steak Rub" deconstructed


 

JMGarciaJr

TVWBB Fan
Originally posted by Jay Rogers:
Joe - Can you post your deconstructed Adam's Rub? I bought it for a friend named, of all things, Adam and was curious. I know it had a bit of mustard seed.

Jay,

Here is my latest version. It is NOT identical to the original, because I believed I should change some of the things I didn't like "while I was at it." I'll note those as I go.

(This is all by volume, use teaspoons, cups, whatever.)

3 parts granulated garlic (the original rub had granulated roast garlic, but I found it got bitter over high, dry heat so I switched...oh, make sure you use the granulated and not the powdered stuff!),
1 part EACH black pepper and red pepper flakes (in the original, I couldn't detect much heat from the seeds/ribs...but I tend to like a bit of heat, so I used flakes instead of a seeded dry chile...although next time I might experiment with a varietal such as árbol or cascabel chile)
2 parts each coriander seed, dill seed, yellow -- I s'pose you could try brown -- mustard seed.

Put all in a spice mill and whiz 3-4 pulses...you want a pretty good crack, but not a homogeneous powder. I like mine a TINY bit finer than the Adam's Rub straight out of the tin...in my opinion you get better adhesion that way.

Oh, and note the lack of salt. I like salting the meat first, letting the juices flow back and forth and then adding the spices.

Hope that helps!
 
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UPDATE

I used this rub last night on some flap steak (some places have it as "steak tips" or "sirloin flap") and it was a monumental hit.

Salted the beef with coarse salt flakes on both sides, let it rest +/- 45 minutes then sprinkled on the deconstructed (and de-salted) rub. One good teaspoon for +/- 2 lb. of beef. Let it sit for another +/- 45 minutes.

Gave the beef a hard sear and immediately put it over the barest possible heat. Pulled it on the rare side of medium-rare and let it rest.

Sliced thin on the bias and served.

This was for a dinner for my father-in-law's 75th birthday and even my in-laws, who often seem allergic to "flavor" cheerfully consumed seconds and thirds.

The very pronounced grain of the flap steak seems to take really well to rubs and other external flavor boosts. (I might try to turn this into a wet rub)

My only change would be to give (before adding the rest of the ingredients) the red and black peppers an extra zap or two in the spice mill as there were a couple of peppercorns which remained untouched and which my 11 year old didn't enjoy biting into.
 

 

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