An American (or maybe just Texan thing) that I have whole-heatedly embraced is using a dry rub when grilling meat, whether in the broiler (grill) or the barbecue. Dry rubs are spice mixtures that are rubbed onto raw meat before cooking to impart flavour and caramelisation, however unlike marinades they don’t tenderise. To begin with I used a shop bought dry rub that contained papain, a tenderiser made from papayas, which had some of the benefits of a marinade. This was a fairly general dry rub and I used it on everything, chicken, fish, vegetables, beef, pork, ribs etc. Once I had become used to using it, I experimented by myself and now have an everyday dry rub that I use on everything. I still include a tenderiser in the mixture, but I had some difficulty in getting a hold of papain, so use bromelain instead, which is an extract from pineapple that does the same thing in breaking down the protein bonds in meat. Though the rub mixture has a lot of spices it only adds a subtle flavour when cooked, while still tenderising and caramelising the meat.
Stewie’s Dry Rub for Grub
- 8 tbsp Hungarian paprika
- 4 tbsp Salted meat tenderizer (Bromelain)
- 4 tbsp Chili powder
- 4 tbsp Packed brown sugar
- 4 tbsp Celery salt
- 4 tbsp Ground Cumin
- 4 tbsp Garlic powder
- 4 tbsp Ground black pepper
- 4 tbsp Oregano
- 4 tbsp Coarse cornmeal
Store in a suitable container in your spice cupboard and sprinkle liberally on everything for a couple of hours before cooking.
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Hi Can Where can I purchase Stewies Grub Rub?
Thanks Dan
Author
Sorry Dan it’s not for sale, but feel free to make it yourself with the recipe above.
WTF is cornmeal used for in this recipe??
Author
It’s to prevent clumping due to moisture. The same reason some people add rice grains to salt.
Hi from downunder – I use this rub all the time – my family have a thing about ribs. It’s great and I know the ribs wouldn’t taste the same without it. Thanks Stewie.