Ever plan on grilling a nice meal for your neighbors or friends, then go to the grocery store and think “I wonder what rub would be good for my cook?”, but never know what exactly your looking for on the ingredients label? There are all types of rubs: spicy, sweet, tangy, peppery, salty and even bitter! When you walk in a store, it can be difficult, and often times overwhelming, to choose the right rub! You need to know that what your buying and is it going to impress your neighbors, friends or even co-workers! In this article, I will go through the different types of rubs for each meat and what you need to look for on the ingredients label. For instance, you do not want to apply a sweet or sugar rub to a nice Prime Steak. It just will not work!
Types of Rubs:
- Sweet
- Spicy
- Mustard
- Texas Style
- Memphis Style
- Carolina Style
Chicken
Chicken is a lighter, more delicate meat. You should stay clear of rubs that are over powering of flavor (unless that it what you are really going for..). Typically you want a chicken rub that has a little bit of sugar, black pepper, salt and other herbs to enhance the chicken flavor profile you are wanting.
Popular Chicken Rubs Include:
Pork
Pork is a heavier meat than chicken. You want a rub that is going to penetrate the meat, yet still give it that nice pork flavor. Typically this could be a sweet, tangy or spicy type of rub.
Popular Pork Rubs Include:
Beef
Beef is the heaviest, toughest meat of them all. You need a rub that will give the meat flavor, but nothing that will overpower that natural beef flavor! Being in Louisiana / Texas, typically this is a Salt and Pepper based rub.
Popular Beef Rubs Include: