An avid BBQer and reader of this site has emailed me with some questions regarding BBQ rubs. I did some research on some various rubs and was able to talk with the manufacturer(s) and get some vague but similar answers to a few of the questions. I can understand them not giving proprietary information so I chalked the “vague” part up to that.

The questions posed are as follows:

1. Do you use a commercial or your own rub recipe?
Although I have dabbled in making my own rubs, I generally use a commercial variety. Which one, depends on the situation. For catering, I will give the customer their choice. For cooking at home, I tend to use a Memphis rub mentioned below. For competition, I will use a variety of rubs, depending where I am at.

2. Do you use one general rub or one for each meat?
For competition, I use one for each meat. Personally, I use 2 basic rubs…actually 3 basic rubs. The 1st, for chicken, is “David Klose’s Poultry Mix”. The 2nd is “Head Country’s Original” for pork… both ribs and shoulders. This rub has been used locally for many years with considerable success by BBQ teams. The 3rd I use is an old standby I picked up on my travels to Memphis, which again, you will see the name of, below. And I will use its general ingredient list in an explanation to follow.

3. Do you have any recommendations you might care to share?
I highly recommend, for cost’s sake, you find a commercial rub that you like, and buy it in quantities small enough to be used relatively quickly but large enough that UPS will not come to know you on a first name basis. However, if you buy larger quantities, a quick pulse in an old electric coffee grinder will release oils from the spices…“refresh” the ingredients, if you will…which makes for a “brighter” taste. A word of caution here…do not pulverize your rub…in other words, don’t “pulse” it to a powder. And, the size of the particles should be as uniform as possible. This is for both appearance sake and not to be too heavy and overbearing on the meat.

The final point our reader questioned…
4. Should MSG be avoided, for some flavor reasons and since some folks are allergic?
If you have found a commercial rub you like, and it contains MSG (monosodium glutamate), you can’t remove it. If you are making your own rub from scratch, you can certainly omit it, if you so choose. Again, personally, I think, by my research, MSG has been given a “bad rap” in the past. There is no question some people are allergic to it. Their bodies react accordingly when they consume it. But, it is prominent in most all BBQ rubs, and in the competition arena. I have never heard of a judge suffering an allergic reaction from the use of MSG. Heck, if he or she is allergic to MSG, what is he/she doing judging a BBQ contest where it is so widely used. Let’s just say, as a flavor enhancer, it stands alone.

Our reader pointed out he has read numerous dissertations on the makings of rub for BBQ. I would agree with him. There are literally thousands of rub recipes available on the internet. Some guidance I might give a perspective rub maker would be:

A. The sugar you use should be a raw sugar.

B. The type of salt…a coarse grind Kosher.

C. The type of paprika…the newest fad is smoked paprika…I would avoid it simply because of the cost. There are generally two other types of paprika available…Spanish and Hungarian…choose the Hungarian. The accepted BBQ color for rubs is red, or a shade thereof. Paprika and various chili powders will achieve this desired color. But careful on the amounts…if you have ever tasted scorched paprika…enough said.

D. The freshness of all spices you buy, whether from a “specialty” shop or at the grocery store, is suspect. You can say, with some certainty, that an obscure spice or one that is not widely used will tend to have sat on the shelf longer than one that has gained more popularity. There are also subtle differences of the same spice from different regions of the world where they are grown. An example would be an oregano from Mexico vs. an oregano from the Mediterranean. Another example would black pepper from Madagascar, compared to black pepper from the Caribbean. Again, this is a personal preference decision and I leave it to the reader to choose which one they like best. Although I will add a note here on pepper…black pepper is NOT a member of the capsicum family so if you are using it for heat, the heat generated is quite different on the palate than a spice whose heat does come from capsicum. Chili powders hold up well to the rigors of a BBQ cook, use some caution here as not to over-power a rub.

E. Grind of pepper or salt…as I mentioned above, the size of the individual particles in your rub, should be as close to uniform as possible. One way to achieve this is to get the largest “grind” available of your individual spices and pulse them, largest first, adding the next size, pulsing it, and the smallest size last…with a just a quick tap of the button. This is easier said than done, but if you are careful, the results are worth the effort.

F. Flavors for various meats…this is a subjective question, and there are no set guidelines of what should be used or what can be used. I would only caution against using exotic flavors in the competitive arena. Most judges do not look kindly on their scorecards to an oriental 5-spice powder incorporated into a rub, for example. You may think it is the greatest thing ever, but the judge is the ultimate test. He or she, for whatever reason, may not be as impressed as you were with your flavor profile. The best guideline here is keep it as simple as possible, and use rub guidelines, i.e. the ingredients list found in a typical BBQ rub. Chances are that same 5-spice powder, or anything like it, is not included in the more popular rubs. Regional rubs have a tendency to reflect regional tastes, but can differ in the same region greatly. The following is taken verbatim from a package of “Memphis style” BBQ spice. The ingredients list, in order of proportionality, are salt, chili powder, red pepper, celery, MSG, tumeric, garlic powder, onion powder, tcp, yellow lake #5, red lake #40. The last three ingredients are color enhancers and stabilizers. Notice the absence of sugar.

By the same token, here is the list of ingredients by another manufacturer in Memphis, TN, “Flavorama #5 BBQ Seasoning”(registered trademark)…sugar, salt, paprika, MSG, chili pepper, onion powder, spices, garlic powder, spice extractives, salt, natural smoke flavor, polysorbate 80, and less than 2% calcium silicate to prevent caking. (Another side note, don’t rush out and try to buy this…it has since been acquired by another company.)



G. Longevity of rubs stored…again buy your rub in the smallest quantities possible and keep it tightly sealed, like any spice, in a cool dark spot in your cupboard. If you want to go the extra mile, use a vacuum sealer to remove oxygen between uses. Depending on your storing method, it is generally agreed; most spices will stay fresh for up to 12 months. This is a little long, in my opinion, but again, a quick pulse in the old coffee grinder will freshen your rub considerably. But only pulse what you are going to use immediately. Let the remainder continue “resting” until they are needed.


Added note about the “Flavorama…” package pictured above, I found this rub in the meat case of a Memphis grocery store, and judging by the size of its display, which was quite large and its close proximity to the BBQ cuts of meat, it was very popular, and since it was only $3.59 per pound, I took a chance and purchased some. We subsequently used it at “Memphis In May” garnering two trips to the stage, and I still use it today. So a rub does not have to be pricey, nor does it have to have 29 ingredients, to be good. Did the team’s success have something to do with the rub??? Let’s just say I took this rub to a local spice purveyor and asked them to duplicate it, with a few adjustments on portions of the listed ingredients and the addition oregano.

Custom rubs you have made are expensive and you usually have to buy it in quantities of at least 25 lbs. or more. The price varies with the amount ordered…this can easily run into a couple hundred dollars, even if you only use just a few ingredients.

Finally we must be aware of how much of an influence a rub actually has on the finished product. Coupled with long cooking times and sauces or glazes…the 1/8th teaspoon of nutmeg, for example, or any of the other minimally used ingredients that comprise your rub, might have some bearing in its pre-cooked state. But coupled with heat exposure and sauce, it might get “lost in the mix”. Assertive spices such as garlic and onion will fare much better than say tumeric or mace, to name just a couple.

In our BBQ classes here at the ranch, we provide a couple dozen spices, and encourage the students to make a rub that they like, being careful to write down the spices and amounts used. The purpose of this exercise is not to make a rub, but to give an understanding of what a rub actually is. We have, on hand, three to five commercial rubs, for them to explore. In subsequent follow-ups with the graduates, it is a rare case to find them using their original custom recipe from the class. They usually find that their original had too many ingredients. They seem to gravitate towards the simpler commercially available products you see on store shelves. Your tongue has the ability to identify only 5 basic tastes. If you cover these tastes, in your rub, or your BBQ, as a whole, one might say your rub is complete. So, at least for the case of a good rub, I would say that “less is more”.