Blend a variety of spices to create meat rubs that fit your personal taste.
Pork rub spices are combinations of dry ingredients rubbed into raw meat prior to cooking. The spices flavor the pork as it cooks. Pork rub spices can range from mild to spicy, depending on your tastes. Commercial pork rubs can be purchased at your local meat market or grocery store, or you can create your own using the spices of your choice. Add this to my Recipe Box.
Chili Powder
A favorite spice of Mexico and South America, chili powder is a blend of dried and ground green, red and/or cayenne chili peppers. Many blends of chili powder also include a touch of paprika, garlic, oregano and cumin. Chili powder is used as a base for many pork rubs, and offers a kick of hot spice. Chili powder can be used alone to create a spicy Tex-Mex carnita flavor, or combined with sweet spices or citrus for a milder flavor.
Paprika
While paprika is often used in conjunction with other pork rub spices, it has an interesting and distinct flavor on its own. Paprika is made primarily from dried ground pods of a mild pepper known as capsicum, with other varieties made from dried ground sweet bell pepper and mild chili peppers. There are a variety of classes of paprika that range from mild to hot, which allows chefs leeway in incorporating this ingredient into tasty pork rubs. Mild paprika is a good choice for a pork rub if you like a bit of tangy spiciness, without the heat that chili powder packs.
Cumin
Cumin is a dried, ground seed from the parsley family. Also known as comino, cumin has a rich smell and a lightly bitter, warm taste. Cumin is a common ingredient in many Southwestern-style barbecue recipes and adds a complementary flavor to pork rubs, particularly when combined with chili powders. The slight bitter taste balances the spiciness of other traditional pork rub ingredients, such as chili powder.
Thyme
An aromatic spice from the mint family, thyme has a slightly woody flavor that complements and cuts the spiciness of chili powders when used in a pork rub. A variation of thyme that carries a citrus flavor is lemon thyme. Thyme is most often used in conjunction with other chili pepper-based spices, and enhances the flavor of wood-smoked pork with its woody undertones.
Garlic powder
Garlic powder is created by crushing dried garlic bulbs. This versatile spice adds a little extra kick to pork rubs with its strong onion-like flavor. Garlic enhances the flavor of pork by seeping into the pork juices as it cooks. Keep in mind that garlic tends to mellow in flavor the longer it is cooked.
Onion Salt
Onion salt is essentially table salt enhanced with onion flavoring, which adds a tangy flavor to pork rubs. Onion salt also brings out the natural flavor of pork. If you use onion salt in your pork rub, remember to decrease the amount of other salts added during the cooking process.
Brown Sugar
Though not technically a spice, brown sugar adds a touch of sweetness to pork rubs when combined with other garlic and chili-based spices. The sugar itself caramelizes during the cooking process, enhancing the flavor and creating a brown sugar crust on the meat.
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