Spice rub

The spices are usually coarsely ground. In addition to spices, salt and sugar may be added to the rub, the salt for flavor and the sugar for caramelization. Different salts are sometimes used for their unique qualities, such as Himalayan pink salt. The simplest rub is just coarsely ground black pepper as in steak au poivre.

Spice rubs can also have ingredients such as herbs, crushed garlic or oil added to make a paste.

Less common ingredients can include coffee beans.[1]

Spice rubs are mainly used for preparing meats and fish. There are many different recipes for rubs and most of them are targeted towards a specific kind of food. The exact combination of spices that makes a good rub for a particular kind of food varies from region to region and culture to culture.

Cooking with rubs is almost always done using the dry heat method of cooking where almost no water based liquid is used in cooking. The most popular cooking method for food prepared using a spice rub is grilling. Baking and pan roasting are other dry-heat methods. Sautéing is another method, especially if the spice rub includes flour or bread crumbs.

When water is used for cooking, it is usually after the food has already been partially cooked with the dry heat method.

• Regional variations of barbecue

• Spice rub video from PBS site
• Steven Raichlein Article About Dry Rub New York Times