Great restaurant style ribs ~the secret’s in the spice rub!
All photos courtesy of Astro Pigs BBQ – BBQ that’s outta this world! Check them out! They have great spice blends too! 🙂 www.astropigs.com
Do you love restaurant-style ribs – y’know, the lip-smackin’, finger-lickin’ soooo good they fall off the bone kind? You can make ribs like that at home ~ the secret’s in the spice rub! J.O. has so many varieties of specialty spices that any of them could be used as spice rubs. Whether you are using chicken thighs or breasts, pork or beef spareribs, you can choose to go sweet, savory, spicy or a combination of all ~ it just depends on the SPICE.
Spice rubs give more intense flavor than a sauce. A BBQ sauce is great added at the end of the cooking process or as a dipping side. All you do is choose your meat, then put some spices together and literally, rub on your meat and let it sit overnight (preferably) or at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. Most rubs include salt which helps to break down the tendons and get the meat ready to become the most tender, most juicy, succulent, lip smackin’, finger-lickin’ goodness you’ve come to expect from a great rib dinner!
A great spice rub to try is the J.O. Rib ‘n Chicken or the J.O. Lumberjack. The J.O. Rib ‘n Chicken is more popular because of its versatility in that it works on chicken, pork, beef, ribs, potatoes and more but the J.O. Lumberjack is still a fun rub to use on meat! It has a great smoky flavor. Another popular favorite, especially with all the employees here at J.O. Spice, is the J.O. Beef & Poultry Rub! That has a great combination of salt & sweet that works on just about any meat. It was first developed as an addition to the Venison product line but once you try it on pork chops, chicken wings and ribs, you won’t be going back to anything else.
Do you like a little sweet with your meat? Adding granulated sugar to your spice rub gives you that caramelized finger-lickin’, lip-smackin’ taste that you get at all the BBQ establishments. If you are more the spicy aficionado, try coating your wings, ribs or beef in a dose of hot sauce then spice rub your meat and let marinate for a few hours or overnight. The hot sauce gives your spices something to adhere to but just coat it enough to let it soak into the meat (maybe pat down with a towel) making sure it’s not dripping or soaking the meat. Let the spices do their work to the meat not drip off!
Experiment on your own. J.O. has great seasoning blends that make spice rubs so easy but J.O. also has a wide range of spices that you can buy and combine to get your own taste. J.O. Rosemary is a great spice to combine with J.O. Sea Salt and J.O. Cracked Black Pepper. Sometimes simple is the best way to go! J.O. Garlic Pepper, J.O. Sage and J.O. Cayenne Pepper works together beautifully and then there is the “Peruvian-style” where you combine J.O. Cumin, J.O. Oregano, J.O. Paprika, J.O. Black Pepper, J.O. Sea Salt and 2 tsp of sugar…heaven!
Never underestimate the power of Garlic Crab or Black Crab…that will have the amount of salt you need for the rub and give you a flavor that is the absolute best on chicken wings! Keep in mind that there is a lot of salt in those products because they are designed to be used in steaming crabs but if you love the taste, & have some leftover from your summer crab feasts, don’t be afraid to experiment on your football chicken wing tailgates (I mean you’re drinking beer…like you do when you eat crabs…just saying!)
Who ever thought rubbing meat would become so popular? Grillmasters like those at Astro Pigs already know the secret – it’s time you got in the know as well! It’s all about the spice rub for lip smackin’, finger lickin’ restaurant style ribs!
Have fun rubbing meat,
🙂 Pamela
