Been mixing lots of spice the past few days. Hanging out in the kitchen with spices and blender and spreadsheets, putting some new ideas together for pork rubs. What makes this such an interesting challenge is the test of hitting several goals simultaneously: I start with the nature of the heat I want in the rub and put together a selection of chilies to make a complicated heat that moves across the palate through the bite, but doesn’t over power the other elements of the rub. Then there’s the quest for that perfect balance of salt, sweet, heat and savory. Add to that the question of how long the rub needs to be on the meat. Do I want it to work on the meat for a day or a few hours? For today’s purposes,

By the time it was all said and done, I’d put together three different rubs, each of which promised an interesting profile. Good thing I had three rack of ribs!

The rubs went on at 11 am for a midday cook tomorrow, so they’ll have had a solid 12 hours on the meat by the time the smoke’s risin’ tomorrow.

Stayed tuned, amigos. We shall see.

All the best to all y’all. “Where there’s smoke, there’s MEAT!”
– Clarence “Porkchop” Dupree