A guy at a comp in Kansas City showed me why I was overthinking my rubs

I was at the American Royal last year, just walking through the vendor area, and this old timer with a beat up smoker pulled me aside. He saw me obsessing over a $40 custom rub blend and laughed. Told me to stop chasing fancy ingredients and just focus on salt, pepper, and garlic powder in the right ratio. I spent like 6 months before that trying every trendy rub with coffee and cocoa powder and getting inconsistent results. After listening to him, I switched to his simple mix for my backyard cooks and my pork shoulders came out way better. It really made me realize the pros keep it simple for a reason. Has anyone else had a random encounter at a comp completely change how they cook?

2 comments

2 Comments

emmasmith2d ago

I met a guy named Dave at a small comp in Texas who showed me the exact same thing. He said people overthink rubs because they want to feel like they're doing something special. He had a plastic tub of 2:1 pepper to salt with a little garlic and that was it. His brisket had a perfect bark and tasted amazing. I threw out half my spice cabinet when I got home.

miles_perez2d ago

And that Dave guy sounds like a genius honestly, because I did the exact same thing after watching a Franklin video years ago. I had like 15 different spices in my cabinet, all these fancy rubs I bought online, and one day I just said forget it and made a big batch of coarse pepper and salt with a little garlic powder. My first brisket with that simple mix came out with a bark so dark and crunchy I couldn't believe it, and the meat actually tasted like beef instead of a spice cabinet. I swear it's like people want to feel like they're doing something complex, but the real secret is just letting the meat and smoke do their thing.