<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Meaning not less ingredients, just less amounts used in a rib rub, than say making a rub for a butt or brisket. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes. I know that's what you mean (from our history here on the board) -- and I come from the same place as well.
Sometimes I make rubs with just four or five ingredients (not counting salt or sugar), other times I use well over a dozen. Application quantity (or lack thereof) is important and so is ratio of a more potent flavor that will stand up to cooking (cinnamon is a good example) to one that is less potent and/or likely to mellow during the cook (many chile flavors are good examples of this, so are garlic and onion, among others).
One of the reasons I stress using quality ingredients is because with them one can 'afford' to use less both in terms of the ratios within the rub and in terms of quantity of rub applied. Another reason is that often when using an inferior ingredient --either inferior with regard to its quality or with regard to its appropriateness in the rub in the first place-- the (shall we say) negative atributes of the ingredient are amplified. Not a good thing.
This is my problem with the use of paprika in rubs (an issue I know you have too). What flavor that might be in the best quality paprika does not hold up to long cooking (and in typical run-of-the-mill paprika there is little flavor to begin with) so its negative qualities (becoming bitter over time, possible grittiness) are more pronounced, especially since it is a prime ingredient in so many recipes.
Too, if something like an paprika is used in a substantial ratio to other ingredients and it either has little flavor to begin with from the get-go, or what flavor it has will fade, or will become bitter then, respectively, it adds nothing much to the rub other than color and bulk (fine, but less can be used to accomplish this and/or other chilies with better flavor and flavor that can stand up to long cooking might be better choices); the other more flavorful ingredients that might be in the rub will take on more prominent roles (not always a good thing); other ingredients need to be used to compensate for the bitterness. In many recipes this tends to be sugar --and too much of it, imo, as significant sugar flattens a flavor profile substantially and nuances within (the high notes of the smoke and some of the spices) are pretty much shot to hell.
The use of quality ingredients --with an eye to how they will perform in a rub (or will not), apt ratios, quantity of rub applied-- can lead one down a more useful path, imo, and in fact makes this easier.
