Today’s rub comes to us from Austin, TX courtesy of one of the most legendary names in BBQ. Let’s check out Stubb’s Beef Spice Rub.
The Story
If you are familiar with BBQ or outdoor cooking in any sort of capacity, you know of Stubb’s. If not, I suggest you visit their site and read up on their story. In May, Stubb’s released a new line of rubs and seasonings: beef, steak, chicken, Bar-B-Q, and pork. An email I received about the rubs (one of the perks of being in the Stubb’s Que Crew) said the following about the beef rub: “This all new spice blend mixes the bold flavor of coffee, the sweetness of molasses and a dash of sea salt. It will highlight the natural flavors of the beef, turning you into a pitmaster – smoker not required.”
The Rub
Ingredients: sea salt, sugar, spices, dried onion, molasses, dried garlic, tomato powder, paprika, coffee, dried ancho chiles, dried chipotle peppers, caramel color, natural smoke flavor.
The first thing I noticed about this rub was that it has coffee in it. Personally, I love the use of coffee in rubs and seasonings. So I was excited when trying this out. Let’s take a look…
- Appearance: dark brown color; varying textures of the different ingredients in the spice rub
- Aroma: very bold; smokey; influences of coffee
- A Taste: very bold; lots of salt; the coffee and chile peppers work very very nicely together
The Results
A rub that is this bold deserves a nice sized cut to use it on. For this review, I went with a 2 lb. tri-tip courtesy of The Meat House. The tri-tip got a very light coat of vegetable oil followed by a very, very generous helping of the rub.
I cooked the tri-tip on my 22.5″ Weber One Touch Gold grill using Kingsford blue charcoal and a cherry Mojobrick. The fire was set up on one side of the grill to create two cooking zones — one zone for direct heat cooking and the other for indirect heat cooking. I cooked the tri-tip indirectly until the internal temperature reached 110 degrees. Then I moved the meat over the direct heat and cooked for another 15 minutes. It was probably about 5 minutes too long, but that was the fault of the cook, not the rub. Needless to say, I was happy with the look of the finished product.
The taste certainly did not disappoint! It complemented the tri-tip perfectly, adding just a touch of saltiness and heat. The coffee influence also shined through.
I would definitely use this on larger cuts of beef — tri-tips, briskets, and chuck roasts come to mind. I would probably not use this on steaks and burgers (although I have not tried it in that manner). Do I endorse this rub? Absolutely!!
Website: http://www.stubbsbbq.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/stubbsbbqsauce
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stubbsbbqsauce
Thanks!!
Wayne Brown
http://www.bigwaynerbbq.com
@brownkw
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