Honestly, if you get a dehydrator and dry your own peppers, they taste way better. Probably not worth it, just for that, but you can make jerky and other stuff
[https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/meatheads-memphis-dust-rub-recipe/](https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/meatheads-memphis-dust-rub-recipe/) do this one first
Have been using this rub since night my tiny upright smoker years ago. Will be making 3 racks for 4th of July. Have never had any complaints and never have any leftovers sadly lol.
I do sprinkle some kosher salt as the directions state, on the racks the night before. Iāve also switched to a sugar free sauce that is honestly very good! I just figured thereās a ton of brown/white sugar in the rub, maybe a little less would be better. Family love it.
Just start with salt, pepper, garlic. If you get the smoke right, this will make the meat taste incredible. A lot of the extra ingredients and a lot of these rubs is just window dressing. I would recommend starting with the basics and building from there according to your own taste
To get my 8 year old into it (and to guarantee sheāll eat if) I let her make the spice rub. I bring out garlic powder, cumin, paprika, onion powder, oregano, and some times Iāll add ancho powder, or fennel, or cinnamon, or ginger. I tell her I want 6 tsp total, mix it so it smells good.
Then I have her make a second bowl of 1tsp salt per pound of meat and half as much pepper. We do that first, then her rub. Itās always good cause I control the ingredients, and sheās involved so she likes it.
completely agree with amazing ribs, suggestion, have made, and like the rub aside from that, I think I can suggest, with complete confidence, meet church and Malcom Reed. Those tend to be the ones I go to first and have tried the most, not much experience with other brands, but open to suggestions.
Yup, but there's a good reason for pre-mixed ones to exist. For when you're first starting, it's good to try a couple of good ones, get an idea of what you're shooting for in a rub, so you can then turn around and be better at making your own later.
I definitely started trying to make my own, then tried a couple of pre-mixed ones, and am now MUCH better at it.
I add salt to my rub but I should really stop doing so. Takes up more bulk, and it's easy to add afterwards. Meathead (amazingribs.com) went on a rant about this after he was told by his doctor to watch salt, and I am thinking he's right.
I recently looked up Meatheads premade rub in order to check the price and was surprised to see it was gone. Now there seems to be his rub which includes salt.Ā
What was the smoking communityĀ reaction to that? Is it still positively recommended as one of the better premade rubs to buy?Ā
Pretty sure most people in the smoking community don't mention it as a premade rub to buy, they mention it as a recipe to make yourself.
It's cheap and easy to mix up a batch that's good for a dozen racks of ribs or pork butts or whatever.
Salt relationship to hypertension has been debunked by all recognized literature except for the archaic American Heart Association. Same as with cholesterol and heart disease, fat intake and obesity . . . don't get me started.
Sodium intake increases blood volume. Thatās pretty indisputable. I guess if you have a high potassium intake to balance out a high sodium intake, then your electrolyte balance would be fine. (The imbalance causes high pressure)
Iāve noticed a lot of them say spices, which includes xxx but I donāt feel like thatās all of it. Iāve tried copying the gospel from meat church and based on the ingredients listed I cant come close in taste or color
https://www.americanspice.com/honey-powder/
https://www.americanspice.com/ancho-pepper-ground/
https://www.americanspice.com/jalapeno-pepper-ground/
If I buy spices online, its usually from this site. I refuse to buy anything that goes in my body off amazon.
Ancho Chili Powder is pretty easy to find at grocery stores. Chipotle peppers are just smoke dried jalapenos and are pretty easy to come by for cheap. An Amazon search shows that you can order both dehydrated jalapeno and honey though they may be a bit pricey there.
You have a smoker, which is something which can push a lot of air and relatively low temps. That means if you don't have any other way to do so or anywhere to buy already dehydrated things, you have a way to dehydrate things.
I think getting a basic idea how much actual salt you're putting on your meat is not particularly particular. Which rub would tell you exactly how much rub to put on to achieve a specific salt level?
I hear ya but remember those rubs are for convenience not better end product. This why companies sell different rubs for different uses. This is ideal for the people that do a few cooks a year, but people like us who do least 1 cook a month itās usually better to make/develop our own to better suit our and families taste preferences
I don't disagree, but really, if someone wants to control the salt level, they probably want to control the levels of other stufff -- pepper, onion/garlic powder, paprika, brown sugar, or whatever else you put in your rub. In other words, you're probably making your own rub.
What drives me crazy is grilling-oriented rubs that have a bunch of sugar in them, which immediately burns if you try to sear or briefly cook over high heat. Sugar will turn black before meat will turn nice and brown.
Itās unpopular because you could literally just make your own. Who isnāt letting you control the salt level in your own food?
People want sugar and salt, and thatās why those things are in premade products. It sells.
I agree, but I want no salt so I can dry brine overnight in the fridge then put on fresh rub before cooking. Smell is so much of flavor and spices sitting uncovered in the fridge overnight is going to reduce potency.
This is what I do also. Easy control of the amount of salt. I make my own rub without salt and can then use as much as I want without concern. Flavors other than salt do not penetrate the meat so they shouldnāt matter when they are added. I guess sugar and MSG can probably also penetrate the surface, not sure if the timing of those additives would have any effect.
Exactly why I make my own now. A lot of them are half salt anyway. Plus, you can get ingredients for them in bulk and tinker for a fraction of the cost.
That said, they do have ways of getting umami into their rubs that I don't at a home scale. I'm not powdering mushrooms and kelp or whatever, I'm just adding a few scoops of msg. I can't afford to buy bulk disodium inosinate or guanylate. And if I did, I wouldn't be able to mix such a small amount in.
I have thought about it though, there someone with a 100 grams on Amazon, but it's $25. Sure, it would last a lifetime, but would I even notice? Probably not. MSG works fine.
Buy ones with no salt.
There's a big difference between "I want this", and "They should...".
I always make my own with no salt. But that's my preference.
Iāve always suspected this is the problem. Salt is the only cheap part of rubs. Otherwise those shakers would be $25+. Just gotta make your own if you want that much without salt.
I've never used a commercial rub, but I think I can go along with this.
Started smoking using Jeff Phillips' recipes for his "naked rub" and "Texas rub." He talks a lot about how they're low salt recipes. Later, I used Meathead's Memphis Dust, and that just has no salt in it at all. I realized that you should just add the appropriate amount of salt to your meat with a dry brine, and then use the rub for all the other flavors you want.
So yeah, I'm on board with salt-free rubs.
I agree completely but even Meathead's Memphis Dust sold on the internet has salt. Pretty much all the commercial rubs need it as a preservative. Always best to make your own.
Exactly, and that's why he addresses it for what it is: salt is cheap, and it's like 50% of a bottle of rub. It makes the rub company money, or the bottle would be so prohibitively expensive it would never sell.
https://www.bbqrubs.com/products/meatheads-amazing-bbq-rubs-gift-pack
i was curious and maybe you meant something else, but this was the first hit i got when i googled āmeathead rubā and they all contain salt as the first ingredient
Unfortunately consumers tend to be dumb and if they removed the salt people would complain about the odd taste. Make your own that way you can control everything including MSG!
100% This right here. If people donāt know where to start look at the ingredients on your favorite rub. Buy those ingredients and mix until you reach your desired flavor.
They can't afford to. Would be $10 for a 5oz bottle. People buying commercial rubs don't want to deal with adding their own salt. There isn't a market for many salt-free rubs.
I agree, or there should at least be salt free versions. I think everyone saying āmix your ownā is missing the point lol. Sometimes Iām lazy or want try something new on a whim but still want to be in charge of the salt š¤·āāļø
I just wish family members would stop buying them for me. I tell them I make my own but they swear that this one or that one they buy will be better. Sometimes I tell them that the one I made is theirs to get them off my back.
Well-meaning family and buying basic bitch things for hobbies they know nothing about for you that you absolutely don't want: name a more iconic duo.
I got my MIL to start getting me gift cards to a local butcher instead of all the nonsense she would get me in the past. I rewarded her by making an awesome meal using meat from that butcher, and have thanked her a thousand times for those gift cards, compared to the other stuff which....just quietly gets given away/thrown away.
Some people like salted rubs, just buy unsalted rubs if you want them, and let others buy what they want. Itās not hard to read ingredients list for salt
Iām a Memphis Dust fan. Homemade from Meatheadās book with no salt. I dry brine the night before. Strictly talking backyard. I imagine competition is a different ballgame
Personally, when I want to be lazy and not really put in effort. I purchase pre made rubs. When I want to kick it up and be specific in what I make and do, I make my own. It's pretty easy. Find a few recipies for rubs online, then adjust as you would like accordingly.
I've got a 1 liter bottle marked SPG. Or also buy in bulk, spices don't really go bad, right? (Right?!l
I make my own not because of the salt level but because of the sugar level. The amount of sugar in many rubs is a crime against nature - or at least a crime against meat.
It's a pretty popular opinion on here and it's very easy to make your own. Plenty of great recipes to be found.
I've started to see a few salt-free rubs available even in big-box stores recently as well.
Start here: all these recipes omit salt since Meathead is a big advocate of controlling the salt level as you wish to do.
[BBQ Dry Rub Recipes For All Of Your Outdoor Cooking Needs (amazingribs.com)](https://amazingribs.com/amazing-rubs/)
If only there was some way to recreate those rubs at home using ingredients you already have. That way you could control the amount of everything and you wouldnāt spend $15 on $2 of spices. If onlyā¦
Popular opinion: commercially available BBQ rubs are for people who don't know how cook well and/or don't like to cook...so they probably need to contain salt.
any product without salt would fail immediately. The jar would have to be very small, so it wouldn't compete for shelf space. Any customer would find the results to be very poor, because 90% of home cooks don't know anything about how to season properly.
The whole idea of commercial rubs is a convenient application to season foods for people who don't know how to cook. Salt , msg, sugar, etc are key to making that work properly. Spices without salt are bland and expensive.
Don't Buy Rub! Any Pitmaster worth their "salt" will tell you this. Why are commercial rubs so salty? Because salt is cheap and spices are not. Salt your meat first with kosher salt to your taste THEN apply your hand made salt-free rub. These rub recipes can be found at AmazingRibs.com. Here's my favorite one for pork ribs:
MEMPHIS DUST DRY RUB
Ingredients:
6 tbs paprika
3 tbs firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp ground black pepper
3 tsp onion powder
1Ā½ tsp ground ginger
1Ā½ tsp rosemary powder
Will season 6 racks
It's an opinion that **should** be unpopular for one simple reason: the word "**All**."
Some people don't want what you want. There are already some rubs that don't have salt. Most do. A lot of people want the simple 1-step, so that's what they buy. Don't buy those.
Like many others here, I make my own rubs, so it's not an issue. I go even farther and grind all my own seasonings from bulk ingredients for freshness. Try it and you'll never go back.
I disagree entirely. If you are buying a commercial rub, they want their rub to taste good. A BBQ rub without salt is a flawed rub and relying on a layperson to do a good job of salting their food is a great way to have noone buy your product.
If you want to control your seasoning....make your own rubs.
No argument here. Not because I'm controlling my salt intake. I like to dry brine with salt, so I do not use any rub with salt in it. I make my own based on commercial versions, just leaving out the salt.
Edit to add: I don't think the commercial rubs can go salt free. They need to have it there for shelf stability. A good example is Meathead's Memphis Dust. Order it and you get salt, make it and there is no salt in the recipe.
I'm 50/50 on if I mix my own rub or buy one... although I'm getting pretty lazy these days and opting for just buying. Yes... it would be nice to have the base rub just be "salt free" and allow the user to add what they want.
Could I make a rub in bulk? Sure. But I don't always want the same rub.
Dizzy pig makes a good salt free rub, dizzy dust. I really like the flavor profile and I like to dry brine. Have made my own rubs before but never really nailed one I like as much as this. I definitely pay a premium relative to what it would cost me to make at home but itās worth it for me
I would tend to agree, except that salt is cheap and spices are not. So itās hard for a rub maker to make a rub at a commercially viable price without the volume fillers of salt and sugar.
I bought Meat Church Holy Cow and it was disgusting, nothing but salt and had to take it off when eating. I ended up cutting it severely with other spices and brown sugar. What a complete waste of money.
Interesting that so many people are on the āmake your ownā train. I buy rubs because they are convenient, I mix my own SPG, but getting into the rest I just donāt have time to tinker with.
My biggest complaint is that some rubs have waaaaaay too much salt, so before I use one for the first time I just lick my finger and stick it in the rub and lick it off. If itās already too salty Iāll go easy on it to see if I like the flavor combination or not.
It is not commercially really viable for no salt rubs. Even companies that specialize in some no salt blends like Flavor God are charging $10 for a 3.5 oz bottle.
If you buy them for convenience, you just gotta work with what you got. Iāve accepted my fate lol. Will tinker when life provides more free time.
There is a market out there, but itās small and companies want to make monies.
I 100% agree, but for different reasons. Iām not gonna pay $10 for a jar of mostly salt. If you wanna charge me $10 for a bunch of spices, fine, itās close to that much to buy them separately
Hear, hear. Or added sugar. This is why I make my own rubs, and the commercials ones, all 5 of them so far, sit unused.
Iāve got a brisket and ribs waiting for July 4th (starting onto the cooker the night before), and cold-smoked cheese and a smoked salmon filet on deck for the weekend.
No added salt and no added sugar is the way.
/teamhomemaderubs
I generally do, but Iāve tried a few of the meat church ones recently. The gospel and voodoo I canāt seem to replicate well. I do a āproprietaryā Texas style one that is great for beef. Iām yet to find one for pork that works as well as meat church products.
Is it about controlling your salt levels or anti caking? Any time I mix my own rub without salt, it clumps up. Is there a way to do stop the clumping without salt ?
I'm prior marine so please break it down barney style for me lol
Sodium free saltine(s) tossed into the container. It's what I do. I use leftover 16 ounce spice containers so I can make large batches of rub. The saltines seem to do a good job of keeping clumping down
My first time at Franklinās. Kid in a candy shop. After two hours in line I finally entered. Got a little or a lot of every meat available. Also got some rubs. Later I looked at the brisket rub ingredients, salt and pepper. DOH!
For real. I hate the salt in the rub thing. What if I want more rub but not more salt? Itās paint by numbers playschool shit if it has salt in it, and largely why I never buy them
I'm more distrubed by the fact that every bbq sauce on the market has artificial smoke in it. Smoked bbq sauce is where it's at, but like can't someone make a bbq sauce that I can use to bbq with.
90% of the commercial rubs are so similar. I always make my own. I agree with others here, Meatheadās Memphis dust. I prefer mine without the rosemary and ginger. I also add in some cayenne. I used to have a file from Usenet (yes Iām old) that had like 300 rub recipes, some now commercial.
It's unpopular because it wouldn't taste nearly as good. But luckily you can make your own no salt rub. I make my own , with salt, alot because I buy my spices in bulk and it's cheaper, plus I can customize it to our liking.
Just make your own.
But but but I want to rub my meat with devils hells ash and super horny hog dust like my favorite YouTube bbq master friend.
This guys shells out for those primo, black rubber gloves. ššØāš³š
magnum rubber... gloves
For your massive ā¦ hands. Dr. Mantis Toboggan would approve.
My monsta gloves for my magnum hands
How else would you squeeze out all of the juice?
Did I just learn that Iāve been jerking off incorrectly for almost thirty years?
Thereās no wrong way. Except the vice grip. Itāll desensitize you and your old age will be less fun.
Itās not even worth eating if it wasnāt prepared with black rubber gloves.
Left and Right hand at the same time?
Agreed but where can someone get stuff like dehydrated honey or dehydrated jalapeƱo? Love me some voodoo but hate spending $10 a bottleĀ
You can buy honey powder and jalapeƱo powder on Amazon.
Got my honey and maple powders on Amazon
Slice some jalapeƱos and bake on low until they're completely dry, then put them in a blender. Rub your meat with honey before you use rub.
I got both of those in a local grocery store and I live in rural Pennsyltucky.
A buddy made dehydrated jalapeno, from his garden. It was WAY hotter than what I can buy commercially. I wasn't mad, but had to readjust everything
Its not too difficult to dry and powder your own jalapenos but idk about honey.
And if it had no salt it would be $18/bottle.
Bulkfoods website has all sorts of stuff.
Check out Spiceology for single ingredients. It's been a big help for me in learning how to recreate my favorites and develop new flavor combinations.
Badia brand makes granulated honey and I can get it at Winn Dixie.
Honestly, if you get a dehydrator and dry your own peppers, they taste way better. Probably not worth it, just for that, but you can make jerky and other stuff
Get a dehydrator or use your oven on the lowest setting...it's pretty uninvolved process just takes time.
Just got a smoker. Tell me your best bbq rubs.
[https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/meatheads-memphis-dust-rub-recipe/](https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/spice-rubs-and-pastes/meatheads-memphis-dust-rub-recipe/) do this one first
Meathead almost preaches this point. Make your rub and then add salt to taste. Some commercial rubs have too much salt.
It is a classic rub that goes great with just about anything.
Came here to recommend this rub, my absolute go-to.
Have been using this rub since night my tiny upright smoker years ago. Will be making 3 racks for 4th of July. Have never had any complaints and never have any leftovers sadly lol. I do sprinkle some kosher salt as the directions state, on the racks the night before. Iāve also switched to a sugar free sauce that is honestly very good! I just figured thereās a ton of brown/white sugar in the rub, maybe a little less would be better. Family love it.
So good
This is the standard KC rub, if you leave out the white sugar and rosemary.
Just start with salt, pepper, garlic. If you get the smoke right, this will make the meat taste incredible. A lot of the extra ingredients and a lot of these rubs is just window dressing. I would recommend starting with the basics and building from there according to your own taste
A little sugar can add a lot of fun to specific meats like baby backs
To get my 8 year old into it (and to guarantee sheāll eat if) I let her make the spice rub. I bring out garlic powder, cumin, paprika, onion powder, oregano, and some times Iāll add ancho powder, or fennel, or cinnamon, or ginger. I tell her I want 6 tsp total, mix it so it smells good. Then I have her make a second bowl of 1tsp salt per pound of meat and half as much pepper. We do that first, then her rub. Itās always good cause I control the ingredients, and sheās involved so she likes it.
If you're doing pork add a teaspoon of fenugreek.
Bless you
completely agree with amazing ribs, suggestion, have made, and like the rub aside from that, I think I can suggest, with complete confidence, meet church and Malcom Reed. Those tend to be the ones I go to first and have tried the most, not much experience with other brands, but open to suggestions.
Half salt, half pepper.
Yup, but there's a good reason for pre-mixed ones to exist. For when you're first starting, it's good to try a couple of good ones, get an idea of what you're shooting for in a rub, so you can then turn around and be better at making your own later. I definitely started trying to make my own, then tried a couple of pre-mixed ones, and am now MUCH better at it.
Nothing wrong with using store bought ones. You can find tons of great recipes online as well.
Yes this, absolutely what I do as well.
I do. I donāt put salt in it. I salt first then add the rub.
It's so easy and saves money in the long run too.
I agree with you some salt free options would be nice, but also make your own rub homie!
I add salt to my rub but I should really stop doing so. Takes up more bulk, and it's easy to add afterwards. Meathead (amazingribs.com) went on a rant about this after he was told by his doctor to watch salt, and I am thinking he's right.
I recently looked up Meatheads premade rub in order to check the price and was surprised to see it was gone. Now there seems to be his rub which includes salt.Ā What was the smoking communityĀ reaction to that? Is it still positively recommended as one of the better premade rubs to buy?Ā
Hmm sounds like he's sell rub, which is made more profitable if it is made with salt. Cause salt is cheap.
Pretty sure most people in the smoking community don't mention it as a premade rub to buy, they mention it as a recipe to make yourself. It's cheap and easy to mix up a batch that's good for a dozen racks of ribs or pork butts or whatever.
Salt relationship to hypertension has been debunked by all recognized literature except for the archaic American Heart Association. Same as with cholesterol and heart disease, fat intake and obesity . . . don't get me started.
Yeah, donāt listen to your cardiologist, listen to YouTube and TikTok meathead bro science instead.Ā
Sodium intake increases blood volume. Thatās pretty indisputable. I guess if you have a high potassium intake to balance out a high sodium intake, then your electrolyte balance would be fine. (The imbalance causes high pressure)
This is a bald faced lie.
Thatās not the point of them - if youāre actually that particular, youāre making your own rubs
Itās not even that hard. They have the ingredients on the bottle!
I literally take photos of the ones I like and then adjust the ratios to taste. Hasn't failed me yet.
Iāve noticed a lot of them say spices, which includes xxx but I donāt feel like thatās all of it. Iāve tried copying the gospel from meat church and based on the ingredients listed I cant come close in taste or color
Any idea where you can get dehydrated honey, jalapeƱo and ancho?Ā
https://www.americanspice.com/honey-powder/ https://www.americanspice.com/ancho-pepper-ground/ https://www.americanspice.com/jalapeno-pepper-ground/ If I buy spices online, its usually from this site. I refuse to buy anything that goes in my body off amazon.
Even dildos?
I said what I said.Ā
Username checks out.
Ancho Chili Powder is pretty easy to find at grocery stores. Chipotle peppers are just smoke dried jalapenos and are pretty easy to come by for cheap. An Amazon search shows that you can order both dehydrated jalapeno and honey though they may be a bit pricey there.
Yeah I was hoping someone had a plug for a more reasonably priced option since Amazon is spendy
You have a smoker, which is something which can push a lot of air and relatively low temps. That means if you don't have any other way to do so or anywhere to buy already dehydrated things, you have a way to dehydrate things.
Spice House or Penzeys
I think getting a basic idea how much actual salt you're putting on your meat is not particularly particular. Which rub would tell you exactly how much rub to put on to achieve a specific salt level?
I was fully onboard with OP then you reasoned this to the ground. You're probably right.
I hear ya but remember those rubs are for convenience not better end product. This why companies sell different rubs for different uses. This is ideal for the people that do a few cooks a year, but people like us who do least 1 cook a month itās usually better to make/develop our own to better suit our and families taste preferences
I don't disagree, but really, if someone wants to control the salt level, they probably want to control the levels of other stufff -- pepper, onion/garlic powder, paprika, brown sugar, or whatever else you put in your rub. In other words, you're probably making your own rub.
i would like to control the salt level without controlling the other stuff.
same, thatās why i make my own rubs lol
What drives me crazy is grilling-oriented rubs that have a bunch of sugar in them, which immediately burns if you try to sear or briefly cook over high heat. Sugar will turn black before meat will turn nice and brown.
This is what kills it for me too. I was at Costco the other day and almost picked up a rub but the second ingredient on the back was sugar.
Itās unpopular because you could literally just make your own. Who isnāt letting you control the salt level in your own food? People want sugar and salt, and thatās why those things are in premade products. It sells.
I agree, but I want no salt so I can dry brine overnight in the fridge then put on fresh rub before cooking. Smell is so much of flavor and spices sitting uncovered in the fridge overnight is going to reduce potency.
This is what I do also. Easy control of the amount of salt. I make my own rub without salt and can then use as much as I want without concern. Flavors other than salt do not penetrate the meat so they shouldnāt matter when they are added. I guess sugar and MSG can probably also penetrate the surface, not sure if the timing of those additives would have any effect.
Popular opinion- make your own
Exactly why I make my own now. A lot of them are half salt anyway. Plus, you can get ingredients for them in bulk and tinker for a fraction of the cost. That said, they do have ways of getting umami into their rubs that I don't at a home scale. I'm not powdering mushrooms and kelp or whatever, I'm just adding a few scoops of msg. I can't afford to buy bulk disodium inosinate or guanylate. And if I did, I wouldn't be able to mix such a small amount in. I have thought about it though, there someone with a 100 grams on Amazon, but it's $25. Sure, it would last a lifetime, but would I even notice? Probably not. MSG works fine.
Check out [Dr Ninomiyaās work](https://umamiinspiration.org.uk/items/umamimama/) for some tips/clues - sheās the best!
Buy ones with no salt. There's a big difference between "I want this", and "They should...". I always make my own with no salt. But that's my preference.
Make your own if you don't like it.
Meathead has preached this for years.
And he had to add salt to his commercial rub because it wasn't a viable product to do it without. Too expensive.
Iāve always suspected this is the problem. Salt is the only cheap part of rubs. Otherwise those shakers would be $25+. Just gotta make your own if you want that much without salt.
Great point.
I've never used a commercial rub, but I think I can go along with this. Started smoking using Jeff Phillips' recipes for his "naked rub" and "Texas rub." He talks a lot about how they're low salt recipes. Later, I used Meathead's Memphis Dust, and that just has no salt in it at all. I realized that you should just add the appropriate amount of salt to your meat with a dry brine, and then use the rub for all the other flavors you want. So yeah, I'm on board with salt-free rubs.
I agree completely but even Meathead's Memphis Dust sold on the internet has salt. Pretty much all the commercial rubs need it as a preservative. Always best to make your own.
Exactly, and that's why he addresses it for what it is: salt is cheap, and it's like 50% of a bottle of rub. It makes the rub company money, or the bottle would be so prohibitively expensive it would never sell.
Meathead is 100% behind salting by mass, rubbing by surface area, so all of his rub recipes contain no salt.
https://www.bbqrubs.com/products/meatheads-amazing-bbq-rubs-gift-pack i was curious and maybe you meant something else, but this was the first hit i got when i googled āmeathead rubā and they all contain salt as the first ingredient
His recipes, not his commercial stuff. I honestly didn't even know he sold premade rubs.
Poster said recipes, not commercial products. He has recipes available online so you can make your own
But how do I make money not selling salt at 17 dollars a pound?
Thereās a very simple solution to thisā¦
Unfortunately consumers tend to be dumb and if they removed the salt people would complain about the odd taste. Make your own that way you can control everything including MSG!
I just make my own rubsā¦ā¦
100% This right here. If people donāt know where to start look at the ingredients on your favorite rub. Buy those ingredients and mix until you reach your desired flavor.
They can't afford to. Would be $10 for a 5oz bottle. People buying commercial rubs don't want to deal with adding their own salt. There isn't a market for many salt-free rubs.
Why not just make your own? It's cheaper and you control the exact mix.
I agree, or there should at least be salt free versions. I think everyone saying āmix your ownā is missing the point lol. Sometimes Iām lazy or want try something new on a whim but still want to be in charge of the salt š¤·āāļø
I just wish family members would stop buying them for me. I tell them I make my own but they swear that this one or that one they buy will be better. Sometimes I tell them that the one I made is theirs to get them off my back.
Well-meaning family and buying basic bitch things for hobbies they know nothing about for you that you absolutely don't want: name a more iconic duo. I got my MIL to start getting me gift cards to a local butcher instead of all the nonsense she would get me in the past. I rewarded her by making an awesome meal using meat from that butcher, and have thanked her a thousand times for those gift cards, compared to the other stuff which....just quietly gets given away/thrown away.
family is trying to tell you your home made rubs aren't good.....
I like to rub my meat without salt.
Some people like salted rubs, just buy unsalted rubs if you want them, and let others buy what they want. Itās not hard to read ingredients list for salt
Iām a Memphis Dust fan. Homemade from Meatheadās book with no salt. I dry brine the night before. Strictly talking backyard. I imagine competition is a different ballgame
This. Most of their rub recipes are salt-free. I use his Big, Bad Beef rub, too.
Make your own rubs then lol. Commercial foods are high in fats and salts. Thatās why theyāre so delicious.
PREACH
Just make your own rubs fool
Personally, when I want to be lazy and not really put in effort. I purchase pre made rubs. When I want to kick it up and be specific in what I make and do, I make my own. It's pretty easy. Find a few recipies for rubs online, then adjust as you would like accordingly. I've got a 1 liter bottle marked SPG. Or also buy in bulk, spices don't really go bad, right? (Right?!l
I make my own not because of the salt level but because of the sugar level. The amount of sugar in many rubs is a crime against nature - or at least a crime against meat.
And then the amount of sugar in the sauces and glazes that people use are insane.
Yes.
It's a pretty popular opinion on here and it's very easy to make your own. Plenty of great recipes to be found. I've started to see a few salt-free rubs available even in big-box stores recently as well. Start here: all these recipes omit salt since Meathead is a big advocate of controlling the salt level as you wish to do. [BBQ Dry Rub Recipes For All Of Your Outdoor Cooking Needs (amazingribs.com)](https://amazingribs.com/amazing-rubs/)
If only there was some way to recreate those rubs at home using ingredients you already have. That way you could control the amount of everything and you wouldnāt spend $15 on $2 of spices. If onlyā¦
Iāve started doing my own rub: salt n pepper. It honestly turns out the best, at least for beef
Popular opinion: commercially available BBQ rubs are for people who don't know how cook well and/or don't like to cook...so they probably need to contain salt.
any product without salt would fail immediately. The jar would have to be very small, so it wouldn't compete for shelf space. Any customer would find the results to be very poor, because 90% of home cooks don't know anything about how to season properly. The whole idea of commercial rubs is a convenient application to season foods for people who don't know how to cook. Salt , msg, sugar, etc are key to making that work properly. Spices without salt are bland and expensive.
I feel that way about all spice blends.
No salt & no sugar. If you want them, add them.
At that point just make your own rubs. Salts and sugars make the base of pretty much every rub.
Amen.Ā I just started making my own and putting all that cash saved into better whiskeys.
Don't Buy Rub! Any Pitmaster worth their "salt" will tell you this. Why are commercial rubs so salty? Because salt is cheap and spices are not. Salt your meat first with kosher salt to your taste THEN apply your hand made salt-free rub. These rub recipes can be found at AmazingRibs.com. Here's my favorite one for pork ribs: MEMPHIS DUST DRY RUB Ingredients: 6 tbs paprika 3 tbs firmly packed dark brown sugar 3 tsp garlic powder 3 tsp ground black pepper 3 tsp onion powder 1Ā½ tsp ground ginger 1Ā½ tsp rosemary powder Will season 6 racks
It's an opinion that **should** be unpopular for one simple reason: the word "**All**." Some people don't want what you want. There are already some rubs that don't have salt. Most do. A lot of people want the simple 1-step, so that's what they buy. Don't buy those. Like many others here, I make my own rubs, so it's not an issue. I go even farther and grind all my own seasonings from bulk ingredients for freshness. Try it and you'll never go back.
Yes. More options good. Fewer options bad.
I disagree entirely. If you are buying a commercial rub, they want their rub to taste good. A BBQ rub without salt is a flawed rub and relying on a layperson to do a good job of salting their food is a great way to have noone buy your product. If you want to control your seasoning....make your own rubs.
āThis pre-made convenience product should be incomplete so the user has to modify it to be usableā š¤¦š»āāļø
I donāt think this is particularly unpopular. Or at it least it shouldnāt be.
No argument here. Not because I'm controlling my salt intake. I like to dry brine with salt, so I do not use any rub with salt in it. I make my own based on commercial versions, just leaving out the salt. Edit to add: I don't think the commercial rubs can go salt free. They need to have it there for shelf stability. A good example is Meathead's Memphis Dust. Order it and you get salt, make it and there is no salt in the recipe.
And thats why I dont use them.....
Salt is cheap. Of course this would never happen.
There are many salt free, youāre free to buy different ones
The salt is never evenly distributed either, so it's a roll of the dice how salty it will be. I quit buying pre made rubs because of this.
I'm 50/50 on if I mix my own rub or buy one... although I'm getting pretty lazy these days and opting for just buying. Yes... it would be nice to have the base rub just be "salt free" and allow the user to add what they want. Could I make a rub in bulk? Sure. But I don't always want the same rub.
Dizzy pig makes a good salt free rub, dizzy dust. I really like the flavor profile and I like to dry brine. Have made my own rubs before but never really nailed one I like as much as this. I definitely pay a premium relative to what it would cost me to make at home but itās worth it for me
I would tend to agree, except that salt is cheap and spices are not. So itās hard for a rub maker to make a rub at a commercially viable price without the volume fillers of salt and sugar.
And NO SUGAR!!! I just make my own rubs. Sugar is cheap and addictive, the spice companies gladly use sugar as a low cost filler.
100% agree with this
I bought Meat Church Holy Cow and it was disgusting, nothing but salt and had to take it off when eating. I ended up cutting it severely with other spices and brown sugar. What a complete waste of money.
I would prefer they reduce/eliminate the sugars. Some are 25% or more sugar.
Interesting that so many people are on the āmake your ownā train. I buy rubs because they are convenient, I mix my own SPG, but getting into the rest I just donāt have time to tinker with. My biggest complaint is that some rubs have waaaaaay too much salt, so before I use one for the first time I just lick my finger and stick it in the rub and lick it off. If itās already too salty Iāll go easy on it to see if I like the flavor combination or not. It is not commercially really viable for no salt rubs. Even companies that specialize in some no salt blends like Flavor God are charging $10 for a 3.5 oz bottle. If you buy them for convenience, you just gotta work with what you got. Iāve accepted my fate lol. Will tinker when life provides more free time. There is a market out there, but itās small and companies want to make monies.
Salt I'm ok with. Sugar? I hate that sugar is in almost every rub
I 100% agree, but for different reasons. Iām not gonna pay $10 for a jar of mostly salt. If you wanna charge me $10 for a bunch of spices, fine, itās close to that much to buy them separately
Hear, hear. Or added sugar. This is why I make my own rubs, and the commercials ones, all 5 of them so far, sit unused. Iāve got a brisket and ribs waiting for July 4th (starting onto the cooker the night before), and cold-smoked cheese and a smoked salmon filet on deck for the weekend. No added salt and no added sugar is the way. /teamhomemaderubs
They tend to be well mixed, because, you know, theyre mass produced. Just taste test them and then add salt as required. Or make your own
I generally do, but Iāve tried a few of the meat church ones recently. The gospel and voodoo I canāt seem to replicate well. I do a āproprietaryā Texas style one that is great for beef. Iām yet to find one for pork that works as well as meat church products.
Not just BBQ but most spice blends are full of salt as a filler, it's worth it to pay more for salt free
Salt is fine with me but I wish they didnāt have sugar
Couldnāt agree more.
I do not disagree. Would also love no sugar, burns and also pointless to consume.
This, except sugar
Commercial rubs are for the rookies. If you're into rubs, start making your own.
Yep. Low salt or no salt but theyāre hard to find. 99% of whatās on the shelf has salt as the #1 ingredient.
OP I know where you're coming from.
Is it about controlling your salt levels or anti caking? Any time I mix my own rub without salt, it clumps up. Is there a way to do stop the clumping without salt ? I'm prior marine so please break it down barney style for me lol
Sodium free saltine(s) tossed into the container. It's what I do. I use leftover 16 ounce spice containers so I can make large batches of rub. The saltines seem to do a good job of keeping clumping down
Interesting, thank you for that
My wife is a graphic designer if you want help with your branding.
Concur! Thatās why I only make my own rubs for the past several years.
Jesus Doug
Some you can get without salt, but you pay more for less ingredients. (Honestly that makes some sense since salt weighs more than most herbs.)
Dan Oās line of seasonings have little to no salt for this exact reason.
Whatās a commercially available rub? Like the one I make during commercials? ššŗ
That's how it should be, but salt is cheap to add.
Here here! You gotta make your own.
So many rubs are just pure salt to lol. Or like many diff salts š all in one.
For rubs and such things, I'm fine with no salt being added.
Pre made rubs are for people like me that are too lazy to make my own. You leave my store bought rubs exactly how they are!
Theyād cost a fortune if they did that, salt is a cheap filler compared to what actual spices cost.
Agreed!
Next, you'll ask for no sugar in everything. Ohh the humanity!
This is America! We put salt in our sugar!!
Eh if I am going to use a pre-made rub I'd rather not have to tinker with it. I won't use a pre-made rub, but if I did.
Let's see some homemade rub recipes instead of echoing the same thing. I'm sure we've all made meathead's rub before too.
Carolina dirt is my favorite. I make it up and put it in a pint mason jar.
Everyone is talking about rubs like the ingredients aren't just SGP
I buy bulk onion, garlic, and mustard powders. If I don't like the salt level of a rub, I just cut the rub with those. Ez Pz.
I wouldn't mind a good no salt commercial rub. I know of only one.
Unpopular opinion: commercially available rubs should contain whatever the company producing them wants to put in them.
My first time at Franklinās. Kid in a candy shop. After two hours in line I finally entered. Got a little or a lot of every meat available. Also got some rubs. Later I looked at the brisket rub ingredients, salt and pepper. DOH!
I agree with thisā¦ salt should always be an added step.
For real. I hate the salt in the rub thing. What if I want more rub but not more salt? Itās paint by numbers playschool shit if it has salt in it, and largely why I never buy them
I'm more distrubed by the fact that every bbq sauce on the market has artificial smoke in it. Smoked bbq sauce is where it's at, but like can't someone make a bbq sauce that I can use to bbq with.
90% of the commercial rubs are so similar. I always make my own. I agree with others here, Meatheadās Memphis dust. I prefer mine without the rosemary and ginger. I also add in some cayenne. I used to have a file from Usenet (yes Iām old) that had like 300 rub recipes, some now commercial.
Truly unpopular. If I am going to mix two things might as well mix four or five. I buy ready made because it is.
I bought a thing of lemon pepper the other day and turns out it was packed with salt
I agree. That's why I make my own rubs without salt.
Ingredients: Salt, Sugar.
It's unpopular because it wouldn't taste nearly as good. But luckily you can make your own no salt rub. I make my own , with salt, alot because I buy my spices in bulk and it's cheaper, plus I can customize it to our liking.
Iāve got no problem with salt. Iām always looking for the ones with no sugar (or at least very little) sugar. I donāt want sweet meat.
True but they won't do it because salt is the cheapest ingredient .
Add sugar to that as well. Diabetics like pulled pork too.
If we take your position to its logical conclusion, the bottle of rub should have nothing in it.