I have a very good dry rub that imparts an excellent flavor to pork, chicken and fish. It is pungent to the nose when in the bottle and is always made fresh. It is applied liberally, covering the surface of the meat being smoked. The situation is this: I apply the rub approx. an hour prior to cooking. This allows me time to get my charcoal heated and prepare my smoker. The smoker is kept at a constant 200-225 degrees and I use various types of wood (oak, hickory, maple, pecan) depending on the type of meat and flavor desired. When the meat is ready to come off the smoker I always try a small portion at that time and I find that the rub is almost flavorless, however if I allow the meat to cool down considerably the flavor begins to assert itself. My usual method is to cook the day before, put the smoked meats in the fridge in either a plastic storage bag or wrapped in foil, place the meats in foil pans, covered, and reheat the next day for 1.5 to 2 hours at 200 degrees, either in the oven or on the smoker. The flavor is magnificent and the aroma is to die for! I am just curious as to why the rub flavors are absent right out of the smoker. Thanks for your input.
Spices – Why is Dry Rub Almost Tasteless When Meat Comes Off the Smoker?
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It is basically the anethole (a phenol) of the star anise that react with the sulfur in the onion to create sulfur-phenolic aromatics. In Chinese cuisine the same family of reactions is used with duck and pork.
The sulfur-phenols are also produced during the Maillard reaction, the reaction that gives grilled meat its characteristic flavor, so adding star anise to the onions will give your dishes more of that grilled, browned flavor. The reactions of the compounds in the star anise with those in the meat are not the relevant reactions for flavor or texture.
From averaging a few recipes, I would say 1 star anise for every 250g of chopped onion. Too much star anise will highlight the other aromas in star anise, so one has to use it in moderation and allow enough time for the reactions to take place.
Garam masala, a common Indian spice combination that is used in meat dishes, may have star anise. Star anise is sometimes used in French onion soup — it intensifies the caramel flavor of the onions — and in Vietnamese cuisine, which today incorporates French elements.
You can save yourself the waste of making double, while preventing cross-contamination, by using one hand (clean) to scoop and sprinkle, and one hand (dirty) to direct the spice falling, pat/tamp, and rub the spices.
- Typically I begin by applying a "glue" (previously I have used honey and mustard, once I was vegan I went with just mustard; both worked well on smoker) to the cut of meat or vegetable before smoking or bbq.
- I follow applying the glue by washing my hands, then proceed with whatever rub I am using after the glue has had a chance to adhere (typically thirty minutes medium, but I have followed instructions to let set and congeal for up to eight hours).
- Then, you can apply the rub following the method above: keep one hand clean to pick up handfuls of rub and sprinkle the rub down, use the other hand to press that rub you are sprinkling down against the cut.
This sequence minimizes the number of steps, the times where you need to wash your hands, and makes for great bark. Hopefully you can rotate the cut with one hand, if not it adds one hand-wash. I started doing it this way because I hated having the spice turn into clumps from the moisture. Now I not only have no clumps in the spice after, and sanitary spices for further usage, but also a clean left hand for turning on the sink to wash my right hand.
Best Answer
Do you just sprinkle the dry rub over the meat and just throw it in the oven straight away? or let it marinate for few minutes?
I let the meat sweat a little and let it take in the spices into it. and surely I make cuts and incisions for the spices to get in the meat.
and there is old saying by my grans you heat the spices too much you lose aroma. so use the rub sparingly few times during cooking.