Sauces and rubs

[Davy]

Ive spent so much time reading and practicing on meats that I almost forgot about sauces and rubs. Do most of you guys here that compete make your own sauces and rubs for comps especially since you cant bring any prepared sauces as far as I know.

Having watched the BBQ pit masters series one Myron Mixon was not keen on making his own rubs and so was another chap who got first place in ribs, I think he used a Johnny Trigg recipe.

So whats the lowdown here guys, are you all making your own rubs, BBQ sauce and hot sauces. I was thinking of getting this book on my iPad as the kindle price is a steal http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0761 ... er=&sr=8-2 just as a starting point to making my own. Is it easy enough to make a good quality sauce at home. I normally make my own rubs but they are usually internet or book recipes which I would like to start moving away from, or perhaps there is nothing wrong with a solid proven recipe thats not your own creation

Any advice or tips appreciated.

[Pecker]

Hi Chris, are you only asking about rubs & sauces for competition, or in general?

Steve W

[Steve]

From a competition perspective, I'd always recommend starting with proven products. Concentrate on cooking to start with.

If you want to compete with your own rubs and sauces then work on these while getting used to competition until you have something good. I use a my own rubs on everything except brisket, I use my own sauce on everything.

There's nothing stopping you bringing ready-made sauces for putting on your competition meat. Sauce entries must be prepared on site but that doesn't mean prepared completely from scratch, many people will take a base sauce and cook it up with further enhancements on site for the sauce category.

[The Social Smokers]

In competition we make our own rubs but from recipes we've found online (or in recipe books). They are usually just basic proven rubs. Like a Memphis dry rub for pork and ribs and a Texas brisket rub. My advice would be to find those and tweak them as you go. Like we use chipotle when it calls for standard chilli powder etc. You can pre-make these and take them to competition.

[keith157]

The smokers made a good point, when it comes to chilli powder measurements please take care, I've read that most US chilli powders have some filler in them, the UK ones generally don't. So 1 tablespoonful of UK powder could be considerably hotter than the US style just on the amount of chilli it contains.

[The Social Smokers]

The smokers made a good point, when it comes to chilli powder measurements please take care, I've read that most US chilli powders have some filler in them, the UK ones generally don't. So 1 tablespoonful of UK power could be considerably hotter than the US style just on the amount of chilli it contains.

But for the stuff we don't turn in, we concoct all sorts of crazy stuff. Like our death wings are covered in Bhut jolokia, habanero and 7pot powder. Then basted in a Trinidad Scorpion sauce

[keith157]

Another group who keeps the Andrex in the freezer

[Davy]

The smokers made a good point, when it comes to chilli powder measurements please take care, I've read that most US chilli powders have some filler in them, the UK ones generally don't. So 1 tablespoonful of UK power could be considerably hotter than the US style just on the amount of chilli it contains.

But for the stuff we don't turn in, we concoct all sorts of crazy stuff. Like our death wings are covered in Bhut jolokia, habanero and 7pot powder. Then basted in a Trinidad Scorpion sauce

Excellent responses all round many thanks to all, you have just deconstructed another layer of complexity in terms of competing . I'll start with proven recipes and then tweak. Social Smokers I'd love to try them, are they anything like the wings on man v food. Do you have a recipe or are they secret

[Toby]

You will be given information on rubs and sauces at the Harry Soo class which will be a good place to start!

[The Social Smokers]

The smokers made a good point, when it comes to chilli powder measurements please take care, I've read that most US chilli powders have some filler in them, the UK ones generally don't. So 1 tablespoonful of UK power could be considerably hotter than the US style just on the amount of chilli it contains.

But for the stuff we don't turn in, we concoct all sorts of crazy stuff. Like our death wings are covered in Bhut jolokia, habanero and 7pot powder. Then basted in a Trinidad Scorpion sauce

Excellent responses all round many thanks to all, you have just deconstructed another layer of complexity in terms of competing . I'll start with proven recipes and then tweak. Social Smokers I'd love to try them, are they anything like the wings on man v food. Do you have a recipe or are they secret

Um i'd say they were different. The wings on Man V Food are most likely deep fried first. We smoke ours in an aluminium tray with an experimental rub and then finish them on direct heat whilst continually basting them. The rubs are made from powders from our own home grown rare breed chillis!