From The Vault: Summer Rubbin'

Editors Note: This was orginally posted in May of 2009 - the second ever post to Prix Fixe. While I know it's not summer, this can be used at any time. The is out here in Molalla - and got lost thinking about Spring and Summer, and the grilling to be had...

Anyways, please enjoy! -TD

Ok, so you might want to get your inner 7 year-old to quit snickering....

It was about this time last year, when I was pondering what I was going to do next. There wasn't a lot on the radio job front in Oregon, and I really didn't want to move out of state to find another gig. I had in the past, but as I've gotten older the whole moving thing was starting to annoy me or than something I found exciting. It was also at this time, that I was considering Culinary School - it was just a mere idea at this point.

But one thing was for sure, summer was upon us - and nothing like grilling in the summer. So I started experimenting with rubs, and bbq sauces. So I started experimenting, using different flavors all wrapped around a sugar base. Now I'm going to warn you, I'm not so big measurements - the only constant measurement for me when it comes to my rubs is the sugar base. Usually that base is a cup to a cup and a half depending how much I want left over. I've always got at least two or three rubs in my pantry at all times.

This (and if not all of my other rubs) are good equally on meat and poultry - though to be honest I haven't tried any of them on fish (the fam isn't much into fish, unless it's catfish and it's fried and served with french fries) so I can't speak to how good it would be on fish. The beauty of rubs is, it doesn't take much to get the ball rolling and come up with your own.

I stick with three different sugar bases.

1. Plain Old Granulated Sugar
2. Brown/Dark Brown Sugar
3. Turbinado Sugar (sugar in the raw)

From there the limits are (not to sound overly cheesy) endless. And some I'll even leave the salt out, if I know I'm going to put it on something like bacon or something with enough salt that putting salt in the rub would be salt overkill. When I do use salt, I only use kosher salt - anything else would be a waste of good salt as the other flavors would over power it.

TD's Go To Rub

1 Cup Brown Sugar

The rest of these ingredients I would say are to taste. Play around with the flavors!

Paprika
Kosher Salt
Granulated Garlic
Onion Powder
Cayenne Pepper (Be careful!)
Chipotle Chile Powder
Black Pepper
Dried Mexican Oregano
Cumin

Combine all in a bowl and mix together.

This one is great leaping off point for you to experiment with different flavor profiles. If you want to make a smaller batch I would suggest going from a cup of brown sugar to a 1/4 of a cup. What you have left over, after your done applying that rub to your favorite meat - store in a air tight container. It'll last a couple months, but I know at least with me I'm making this quite a bit during the summer.

I use Morton and Bassett dry spices - I find they have the best quality for supermarket brands. If I can't find a certain spice, I'll look at Spice Island before anything else. Call me a snob, but I'm willing to pay a tad bit more for quality ingredients.