Looking for help with Rubs

There are different rubs for everything we smoke or grill or barbecue. Brisket rub, chicken rub, pork rub, rib rub, fish seasoning, prime rib rub, roast rub, steak seasoning, general rubs, regional type rubs, etc, etc, etc. There are hundreds of variations for each item you want to cook.

If you want to barbecue something, just ask folks here what their favorite rub is for ribs, for example. You'll get several examples.

My recommendation is buy Paul Kirk's Championship Sauces. In it, he explains basics for rubs, sauces, seasonings, marinades and such. For each, he offers several suggestions including what each rub or sauce can best be used on.

You can make your own or go down to your local grocery or barbecue store and find rubs already prepared. The label will tell you on what product the rub is best used. My pantry has over a dozen types ready for whatever I'm ready to barbecue.

Thanks is that a book you seg. as I could use some of those to

That's a book I'd recommend. Also, Dr. BBQ’s Big-Time Barbecue Cookbook. You can find it on his site or Google it.

Here's a link with some popular recipes. Check them out and pick one you like.

that's like say, what flavor do I drink? water, alcohol, soda, etc.

Thee are TOOOOOOOOOOOO many options.

First. Pick a type of food, not all of them. You're wanting to learn your brinkman, so focus on one meat and learn to do it well. Multiple rubs and multiple meats will just overly complicate things.

We have individual forums for the major food items and in those forums there are lots of suggestions about methods and seasonings.

Maybe start with chicken/poultry (it's cheap) and get your smoker temps to know where they are. You won't be successful if you can't hold near a desired temp. Say 250, you want it to start and stay there or else you'll be working other issues.

Hope down to one of those forums, start a topic and we'll help out.

There are also 101's of many of them (although not a chicken 101) but some research will help you and us so we can focus in one one area.

The four cornerstones of a BBQ rub are sugar, salt, pepper and paprika. As a very basic starting point, you could begin with equal amounts of each.

Now the fun begins. Each component has variations. Sugar could be Turbinado (sugar in the raw) brown or brownulated, or plain white cane sugar.

Same with salt....you could use Iodized, Kosher or seasoned.

Same with Paprika...Spanish, Hungarian, smoked. Given that Paprika id derived from dried, pulverized peppers, you could also use (part or partial) chili powders (the list is endless)

Same with pepper...white, black, pink & green (dried peppercorns) The heat factor pepper contributes can be amped up by substituting (part or partial) amounts of Cayenne or Chipotle.

Once you're happy with your blend of the BIG FOUR see how they interact differently with say, pork vs beef. Pork butts and ribs can stand more sugar; brisket cooks generally prefer less sweetness.

Next comes herbs and spices. The most commonly used are garlic and onion powder. Thyme, Cumin, Nutmeg, Coriander and even Curry powder can also be incorporated to create your signature rub.

In the end, it's all about trial and error and good note keeping.

Thanks for the help as this is a lot of what I was thinking after watching abunch of foodnetwork shows . Just needed a little push to get me started again thanks for the help Scott

Okay, I am going to share with you what I use. I have tried my hand at making my own rub. By the time I bought all of the spices, I just felt like I could buy a ready made rub a little cheaper. So, I went to my local meet market and they had Bad Byron's Butt Rub for around 3.99. I add some brown sugar and rub it in. I love this rub. However, I have now changed. (Don't laugh too loud at this). I now use another bought rub. My wife and I went to eat at Steak and Shake. I noticed they sell their seasoning. I asked how much and they get 2.49 for 8oz. Again, I add a little brown sugar. My wife and I love our new rub, and you can't beat the flavor in our opinion. Just a suggestion.