Posts Tagged ‘bbq dry rub’

The final component of barbecue flavor to be dealt with here is seasoning, most typically a dry rub and/or a sauce. Seasonings may be utilized pre-cooking, as marinades, during cooking, as a mop, or post-cooking, as a dip. Today we will deal with some of the most common styles of seasonings found in the United States. Again, when deciding what seasonings we wish to utilize, and when to use them, it is important to keep your eyes on the prize, i.e., know what final result you are after in terms of taste. We will want to balance the tastes of meat, smoke and seasonings into our equation to produce what is the ideal barbecue product in our eyes. A couple of quick reminders before moving on to a discussion of the various types of seasonings, if you are, like me, a fan of using marinades, again, be extremely careful with the use of sugar and salt in your seasonings. Extensive use of salt in the pre-cooking stage can lead to severe drying-out of your meat. Think jerky! Extensive use of sugar in a marinade, or even during the cooking process, can lead to caramelization of the sugars, which means, quite simply, with meat, burning. In general, marinades can serve two purposes, the addition of flavors which will bring out dimensions of flavor in your meat, and the tenderizing of meat. A number of ingredients have enzymatic properties which aid in the tenderizing of meats. Acid is one such ingredient, and so the judicious use of something like vinegar in your marinade will help tenderize meat. Mustard is another ingredient which will tenderize. The most concentrated form of mustard will be in its powder form, but prepared mustard with sufficient mustard powder component will also do the job. Papain, an enzyme found in papaya, works extremely well, as does bromaine, found in pineapple, and pineapple juice. Okay. “Nuff said. Let’s talk about some of the most popular forms of seasonings used in this country in barbecue.

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