Aye, that’s the rub and the sauce

If you’re serious about cooking, barbecue sauce and dry rubs will come up. When it comes down to it, each has a different effect. A barbecue sauce allows you to make the meat juicier and it imparts strong flavor to the meat. A dry rub will do just the opposite; although it adds flavor to the meat, but it also dries out the meat. If you’re looking for an entrée with starches, the barbecue sauce is your best option;  if you are looking for left-overs or something that works with a salad, go for the rub.

Barbecue Sauce

Assuming you don’t simply go with a store brand, odds are your base sauce is going to start with two cups of ketchup, two tablespoons of Worchester sauce, a half-cup of brown sugar, and a few tablespoons of various spices, as well as a some vinegar and white sugar. A few other options you may consider will be honey, Tabasco sauce, molasses, and even a little Teriyaki sauce. You can also substitute soy sauce or any steak sauce for the Worchester sauce for a slightly different taste. For some very interesting changes, you can add in a cup of strong coffee or take out the sugar and other liquids and replace them with dark cola. You can also add in grilled onions few a little extra sweetness or grilled chiles for some extra spice. Keep in mind any dietary limits, such as diabetes or gluten allergies. But just have fun with it…

If you want a good starting barbecue sauce, try this:
3 cups ketchup

½ cup vinegar (apple cider preferred)

½ cup dark brown sugar

1 cup Worchester sauce

3 tablespoons yellow mustard
½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Stir together all of the ingredients except the liquid smoke. Bring to a boil, and then add the liquid smoke. If you add any solids, strain them out. This should give you about slightly more than four cups of barbecue.

Note that this is a generic recipe; it’s not about to win you any awards. Feel free to experiment as much as you like.

The Rub

As rubs are unique to the person, I’m not even going to make suggestions, so much as a build suggestion. Take your favorite pepper, salt, and two or three other dry spices, and combine two cups of each in a large enough tub to spread your meat in it, and have fun. You’ll need to determine what spices you like, and how they combine. You add or drop the amount of spice in half-cup increments until you find the ingredients you like; you can even change the number of ingredients to fit your needs. Just avoid wet ingredients; if you want to do mess with wet ingredients you want a sauce instead.

Good luck and have fun barbecuing!