Video:How to Make Spare Rib Rub

Transcript:How to Make Spare Rib Rub

Hi, my name is Kenneth Nickle, I've been cooking Barbecue in Kansas City for a little over ten years. I trained at BB's Lawnside, competed with the Nickle boys BBQ team in competitions all over Missouri, and right now I work at Fiorella's Jack Stack. Today I'm going to show you how to make a basic Pork Spare rib rub, for About.com.

Ingredients for Spare Rib Rub

For your basic rib rub, you will need: Salt sugar pepper garlic onion powder and paprika.

Tip for Mixing Ingredients in the Spare Rib Rub

As far as mixing them together I usually just throw them in a bowl and mix them up with my hands. Exact measurements are not required, but you do want to have equal part salt, sugar and pepper. And then add in your pepper to give it that orange-y color consistency that you would like to have on your ribs.

Variations to the Spare Rib Rub Recipe

There are all kinds of variations, you can add more cayenne pepper to make your ribs spicier more sugar to make them sweeter. Anything that you might like for your taste desire. Me personally, I like them a little sweeter and spicier, so I always add a little bit extra sugar and little more cayenne pepper to my rib rub.

Applying the Rib Rub

Now as far as applying the rub I personally like to use my hand and you don't want to rub it into the meat, it's more of a patting on the meat itself, when you start rubbing it around on the meat you run into inconsistency with the rub. I've also seen people use shakers, if you have an old spice container that your not using anymore you can put your rib rub on that and sprinkle it on your meat if you don't like the whole mess of everything.

After Putting the Spare Rib Rub on the Meat

When you get the rub on the meat itself, you can wrap it up to let the rub kind of soak into the meat, it's not necessary, but you will get a little more added flavor when you wrap it up and throw it in the fridge for a few hours.

I like to use mustard and throw it on the meat before I put the rub on it. This helps the rub adhere to the meat better. The rub will come off on the grill or the smoker if you are moving the meat around a lot. Try not to move the meat around too much, at least until it gets seared. once it gets seared, that rib rub is on.

Cooking the Spare Ribs

When you're cooking you ribs on a smoker, set to a temperature of about 250 degrees, you're not going to have to check them for the first couple of hours. When your cooking them in the smoker you want them to cook to about 185 degrees. Typically you are not going to be serving your rib rub on the side. If you feel like that's a good option you can, but typically you're not going to see that when you're serving your ribs.

If you have any rub left over you can put it in a sealed bag container or Tupperware, just make sure you're not getting the raw contaminates from when you put it on the meat, back in the container. You don't have to refrigerate your rub and I usually go about 2 or 3 months before I discard it. Like I said, this is how I typically like to do my rib rub, you can do your rib rub however you want. If you want to add a little italian seasoning, go for it. Just make sure you're having fun while you do it and everything tastes great.

Thanks for watching, for more information on how to make a pork spare rib rub, check us out on the web, at About.com.