Alright, it was a good season but everything ends sometimes. I will also play scout next season if the mood strikes me, but be aware that I will be rusty for the first little while.
This is my pork rub. It's one that I'm honestly proud of, as it lends great flavor to pulled pork (and, as I learned recently, ribs,) can be used to make a neat barbecue sauce, and is simple to put together.
This is a pretty big batch, because I usually use it on larger pieces of meat. If you want to scale it up or down, it works perfectly fine, but do the math your goddamn self.
2 cups dark brown sugar - This is your workhorse. It's what holds the whole thing together, it lends that lovely molasses flavor, and it slowly caramelizes and holds onto your meat over a long cook time.
5 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Ancho chili powder - Ancho is simply one of the best powdered chiles you can get. I use it in all sorts of shit, it's great for lending some extra deep, smoked flavors even to things you aren't going to smoke, and it's a great all-around flavor enhancer. Just use it. Also, for reference, I get pretty much all of my spices from either Penzey's, an online retailer, or McCormick, which can be found in grocery stores at least across America. Penzey's is where I get my Ancho.
2 Tbsp + 2 Tsp Smoked Paprika - Another Penzey's spice, this paprika further deepens the smoke notes while also helping to provide a pleasant backing flavor. If you can at all help it, make sure your paprika is relatively fresh, because it loses basically all of its flavor when it stales.
2 Tbsp + 2 Tsp Ground Chipotle - Penzey's again. Chipotle is frequently given more airtime and hype than Ancho, but I would still hold Ancho to be the superior pepper. That does not mean, however, that Chipotle is bad, far from it. Chipotle is still delicious and you would be silly not to include some.
1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Cumin - McCormick this time. Cumin is such a unique flavor. I'm incredibly glad it exists, and it's an important part of the funkier flavor aspects of this rub, but I don't want it to play center stage here. Make sure it's there, but don't overdo it.
1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Ground Mustard - Whenever I taste it alone, I want to die, but ground mustard helps bring an extra something to all sorts of dishes where you might not otherwise expect it, and it's no different here. It scares me but I respect it. McCormick by the way.
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder - Whatever variety you have on hand is probably fine, just adjust the amount if you know it's more or less strong. Otherwise, it's garlic. What the fuck do you want me to say about garlic? It's delicious. Why WOULDN'T I include it?
1 Tbsp + 1 Tsp Chinese Five-Spice Powder - Here it is, the "secret ingredient." The thing that will leave people who don't know any better asking what that last flavor is. I built this rub around Ancho and five-spice, and I wouldn't make this rub without it. It's strong, though, and the absolute last thing I want to do is overwhelm the rest of the flavors in this rub with cinnamon, so I went easy. Pretty sure mine's from Penzey's.
That's it. Mix it up and rub it on meat. Oh, and the bbq sauce. It's kind of in development, but the (one) time I made it, I enjoyed it, though it was a little sweeter than I hoped.
For bbq sauce:
3/4ths cup combined soy sauce and apple cider vinegar
Few dashes fish sauce and Worcestershire sauce
Fill the same measuring cup that's holding all of those ingredients up to 2 cups with water
Add some tomato paste, the more the merrier
Put into a pot, add one unpacked cup (I used a liquid measure the time I did it, sue me, it's an approximation,) of the rub, and cook down to your desired consistency, adding any meat drippings from whatever pork product you happen to be cooking at the time if you want. Probably not bacon fat, though, that'd be way too strong and salty. Anyway, it's an experiement, so feel free to tweak the sauce to your liking. Maybe add mirin in there somewhere, I love mirin.
Anyway, pick me up s31.