different rubs - different meats ?

[brian diethert]

hey all, my new wsm is going to get its trial run this week. what i'm wondering is do you guys try to come up with a different rub that enhances each meat ie. beef, pork, chicken, does one rub do them all ? is it whatever your in the mood for that day,-- sweet or spicy ? i would guess that half the fun would be to have many in your arsenal. i'm thinking i'm going to quarter a couple of chickens for the maiden voyage ,i'll try to get some pics up to see how you guys think they look . thanks for all the info

 

[Jack Bordeaux]

It's really up to you what kind of rub you want to use with the smoke/bbq. That's what makes this hobby so fun...trying different spices with different meats. You can certainly come up with a taste/flavor that nobody had created before.

Myself, I scour the internet and books and try different rubs on different meats. Sometimes I'll tweak the rub recipe across multiple racks of ribs. I mean I'll take 3 or 4 racks and try out 3 or 4 different rubs. If none of them work out, I'll still eat them, but try something different next time.

 

[Doug Wade]

If I'm making two slabs of ribs I'll often put on different rubs because different family members have different preferences. Sometimes I'll do one that I know works and one I'm not so sure about.

That being said an awful lot of things are very good with just some salt and pepper (helps if it's a good grade of pepper you've freshly cracked). As Jack said, it's really up to you.