BBQ Dry Rub

One of our favorite "cooked by dad" treats is smoked pork loin.  My husband can cook rather well (even though I do most of the cooking at our house).  The one thing he is most known for at our house is his ability to make delicious smoked meats!  He has a "real" smoker and uses only wood, typically hickory since we have lots of that available to us.

Years ago I found a recipe for homemade dry rub in a Southern Living magazine, back before the Food Network and Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives LOL.  Last night as I was digging through every unorganized piece of paper containing a recipe in my kitchen searching for that recipe, it occurred to me that if I had that recipe on this blog, I wouldn't have to search to the ends of the earth to find it!  So, here it is!

We use this dry rub for pork (loins, butts, or chops), and even chicken/turkey.  We love it!  We have shared this recipe with a few select friends and one of our friends commented the other day that he would never smoke meat without this rub!  He makes it exactly like the recipe and never deviates.  He has one on me because I have been known to cheat and just dump various amounts of the ingredients into a bowl and give it a stir.  I have been making this recipe for many, many years though so I don't think I do so bad LOL!

I didn't manage to get a finished picture of the meat my husband smoked last night for a carry-in dinner at his office today (lucky dogs).  He took the meat off the smoker at about midnight last night and I was way past dreamland at that point.  But, trust me, this meat is delicious and looks incredible!  Your neighbors will be beating down your door wanting a taste!

Here's how we make the BBQ Dry Rub AT HOME MY WAY:

BBQ Dry Rub

• 1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon table salt
• 1/4 cup garlic powder
• 1/4 cup paprika
• 1 Tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 Tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 Tablespoon lemon pepper
• 1 Tablespoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoons dry mustard (the spice)
• 2 teaspoons ground black pepper

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients.  Stir well with a whisk.  Store in an airtight container.

Rub liberally on uncooked pork, chicken, leaving the meat refrigerated overnight (covered for overnight) , or at least about 30 minutes (uncovered if you don't have that much time) before placing the meat on the grill.

Instructions for smoking the meat:

Start the smoker, building a good fire in the fire box - getting the temperature up to at least 250.  Place the rubbed meat, unwrapped, directly on the hot grill.  Close the smoker lid.  Let the meat smoke for about an hour.  Then, wrap the meat tightly in heavy duty aluminum foil.  Place the meat back on the hot smoker, continuing to smoke, making SURE to keep your smoker temperature consistently on at least 250 degrees.  You have to keep adding wood pieces to your fire in order to do this.  Cook/smoke several hours (this depends on the size/cut of the meat you are using) until .. for pork the internal temperature is 160 degrees (for our pork loin, this took about 5-6 hours); for poultry the internal temperature should be 165 degrees before it is considered done.  You should use an internal/meat thermometer for this purpose and place the probe into the thickest part of the meat for an accurate reading.  (Don't be alarmed if your meat looks dark brown or black.  This happens when smoking meat.  The inside won't look like that.)  (When cooking turkeys on the smoker, my husband DOES NOT wrap the turkey, but smokes the meat unwrapped.  It does look very black when it is all done.)

Remove the meat from the grill, still wrapped in foil, and let rest on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes or so.  Then, unwrap, slice.  (Meat needs a rest period to cool down, relax and reabsorb the juices before slicing).

I have a favorite Honey-Mustard BBQ sauce recipe that I will post soon!

Also, we freeze smoked meats for later so its great to load up the grill and cook a bunch at once.  These meats are terrific for leftovers!  Sometimes I warm and slice the leftover smoked pork, cook some brown gravy and mashed potatoes, dressing, and have a feast!

The link for Food Safety.org (for proper cooking temperatures) is  here:  http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html

Enjoy!

 

Gina