A pitmaster in Kansas City told me my rub was too fine, that changed everything

I was at a competition last summer in KC and one of the old timers tried my ribs. He said my rub had a flour-like consistency and it was clumping up on the meat, creating a bitter crust. He suggested I run my spices through a coarse sieve instead of grinding them fine. I tried it on my next cook and the bark came out way better, more texture and less harsh flavor. Has anyone else adjusted their rub grind based on feedback?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_anderson16d ago

Man, did I learn that lesson the hard way too? I figured the finer the grind, the more surface area for flavor, right? Wrong... I made a rub that was basically dust and it turned my pork shoulder into this weird, bitter, almost burnt tasting mess. Took me a while to realize I was basically making a spice paste that just scorched on the smoker instead of building a good bark. Now I keep my black pepper and cumin pretty coarse, and it's night and day... I still overthink it sometimes and mess it up, though.

mitchell.mark16d ago

Yeah I did almost the same thing with a brisket last summer, ground the coriander too fine and it turned into this weird paste that just sat on top of the meat. @olivia_anderson your point about scorching is dead on, once I switched to a coarse grind on my pepper the bark actually started forming right. I still catch myself reaching for the fine setting on the grinder sometimes, but I stop and remember that dust is for baking not smoking.