To Rub or not to Rub

where i work we rub ribs and chicken only.
why they dont rub beef and butts i cant answer but that's the way they do it
jack

I always rub my butt.. maybe it's a local thing.. but I do like the added flavor. Course, you guys in that part of the south have taught the rest of us how to do good Q'in.. but, it never hurts to experiment to see what it is that YOU like..

We rub everything in our business. I like it to taste like it needs no sauce. If folks want sauce that's fine, too. I know people will sauce it to death if you leave the sauce available. I notice a lot of Mexican restaurants here give a small bowl of salsa and say the next bowl costs so much. I wonder if any BBQ places do that with their sauce.
Peggy

haze
here's an idea
find out if where you are is wet or dry
by that i mean is your area like texas or like memphis (oh i know this will get it going) where they like dry ribs or q
or is it like say the midwest where they like it more heavily sauced?
after that all you have to do is find your area's predominate sauce (myself i have always been kinda partial to the south carolina mustard sauce with my pork)and you are home free
hope this helps
jack

Like Jack says,a Southern Pride is capable of producing good Q-if in the hands of a good cook with attention to detail.

With minimum wage help and no desire to be great,they can turn out pretty mediocre Q.

I have been fortunate to cook with some successfull restaurant/caterers and their advice is always"let someone else be cheaper,try to produce the best you can" .

There are volume rub producers,that will work with you.

haze
a good rub maker that i can personally vouch for is www.homebbq.com
i use their stuff for comp and custom smoking work so you might want to give kevin a try
hope this helps
jack

So...back to the question.

I don't find, when I eat out, that 90% of the companies put any rub on. I think they only do it from a cost perspective, they want to save money.

And like you mentioned if you're going to put sauce on it, why waste a good rub.

Now in Memphis, where they don't sauce them, they only rub them.

You can do them good

You can do them cheap

But you can't do them good and cheap...

Thanks to all for the advice. It sounds like I won't be able to have it both ways. Perhaps its the goodwill in their reputations that allow the big chains to produce cheap but "good" bbq. Anyway back to the lab to try to spend straw into gold.

Thanks so much,

George

haze
you are giving up too ez dude
my rub costs me about 76.82 cents per 9 pound butt. that icludes the cost of my homemade and adding my favorite homebbq.com rub to it.
that works out to around 9 cents per pound.
now is it overkill to both rub and sauce?
only you can decide that.
but i know i get the flavor profile i am after for less than a dime a pound so in a way it is like spinning straw to gold since we are providing a special butt order at 8.95/pound.
dont give up hope man just crunch a few numbers and more importantly cook the best meat you can!!!!
like smokin said
they's old bikers
and
bold bikers
but theys aint no old bold bikers lol
and welcome to the wonderful world of food service
hope this helps
jack

Thanks, prisonchef313. I'll put my best butt forward and work from there.

George

Well, I rub my butts.
And briskets.
and ribs.
And chicken.

I like the bark. I think the taste and texture of it really add a lot to my product.

I do add sauce but not a lot of it, and not before the sale. I like the sauce to complement the meat, not overpower it.