Paul Kirk’s Barbecue Flavorprint
Tomorrow Andy will be back with Friday’s Rub Of The Week, but let’s talk a little bit about the basic spices that you’d use to put together a classic BBQ rub.
A while back, Matt Fisher, the editor of The Cook’s Kitchen and blogger The Hampton Smoker and I brought Paul Kirk, The Baron of BBQ, to NYC to teach his School of Pitmasters to us crazy Yankees. The Baron taught us his secrets for developing our own rubs, or what he calls a flavorprint.
Paul brought a treasure trove of spices for the class to use and Matt and I dove right in. With the Baron’s help we created a new rub for use on pork and ribs. I can’t tell you what’s in it, but I can tell you that after some initial skepticism, we impressed the good Baron.
Read the secrets of Paul’s Barbeque Flavorprint after the break…
Paul Kirk’s Barbecue Flavorprint
Here’s the barbecue flavorprint, as described in Paul Kirk’s Championship Barbecue Sauces:
- Allspice
- barbecue spice
- bay leaf
- Cajun spice blend
- cayenne pepper
- celery seed
- chili powder
- cilantro
- cinnamon
- cloves
- coriander
- crushed chiles
- cumin seed
- curry powder
- dill weed
- dry mustard
- fennel seed
- garlic
- ginger
- MSG
- nutmeg
- onion
- orange
- oregano
- paprika
- parsley
- pepper
- poultry seasoning
- rosemary
- sage
- salt
- seasoned salt
- sugar
- sweet basil
- tenderizers
- thyme
Well, that’s it. That’s the basic building blocks to a great barbecue rub as presented by a master. Feel free to add and subtract from this list as you see fit. Just be sure to balance your flavors. We’d love to hear about your results.
It’s interesting that Paul included commercial ready mixed blends in there - barbecue spice, Cajun spice blend, curry powder, poultry seasoning and seasoned salt. Most of those except the curry powder could be made up from the list. I think the best fun is mixing them up for yourself. Far be it for me to argue with a master, but is tenderizer a flavour? For me that’s more about mouth feel than taste.