wilburpan Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 We had some friends over this weekend for dinner, and they are real foodies. So we decided to do a side-by-side comparison of different types of rubs on some baby back ribs. The first rub was a Lexington, NC-style rub from a recipe I found online. It’s primarily paprika, brown sugar, salt, with some added pepper, cayenne, dry mustard, and granulated garlic. The second was a Texas-style rub that I got from Aaron Franklin’s video on making rubs. It’s two parts ground black pepper, 1 part salt, and a little granulated garlic, granulated onion, ancho chile, dry mustard, and paprika. (If you’re tired of me linking to that video, it’s only because the video is really really really good. ) I sprinkled a good amount of rub on the ribs, and set them up in Smaug. I cooked them at 225ºF for about 5 hours. I decided they were done when they passed the bend test. No wrapping, no spritzing. Why? Because we’re using kamados! No need for all that extra work! This is what they looked like at the end. And plated, with some corn and cornbread pudding. The Texas-style rub is in the middle, and the NC-style rub is on the right. The other chunk on the left is the piece from the end of the Texas-style rack of ribs. They were moist and juicy. The only thing I didn’t do which I wish I had was to let the racks rest for a little before serving them. But we were all hungry, and they smelled SO GOOD. Overall, I thought the Texas-style rub was the better of the two, although if you put some sauce on the NC-style ribs (which is what the recipe calls for), that made the comparison much more close in terms of which one was better. I also think that the next time I do this, I’m going to cut back on the pepper a bit, at the request of my 8-year old son. I think I’m partial to Texas-style barbecue because I lived in Dallas for three years, and loved going out for BBQ. On the other hand, my favorite type of BBQ is pulled pork and pork ribs, which is definitely not a Texas thing. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckreef Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Very nice comparison. Which version did your guests like best? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bryan Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Outstanding Cook Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted July 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Very nice comparison. Which version did your guests like best? Overall, they liked the Texas style better. The kids liked the NC ribs better, mainly because I think there was too much black pepper in the rub for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacKenzie Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Wilbur, certainly a very tasty rib dinner, everything looks wonderful. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinyfish Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Cant wait to do some ribs after seeing those. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Wilbur - your cooks amaze me. Always great pics to show me what I'm missing down here in OK. Beautiful color on those ribs. Texas or NC style, I'd be chewing on those bones! That is one droolicious bunch of ribs. Major kudos and congrats? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5698k Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 I've said it before, Wilbur's cooks make you wonder how restaurants stay in business. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted July 21, 2015 Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 Nice job, Wilbur! Question - noticed that you reverse stacked them. Did you get any "contamination" of one rub dripping onto the other rub underneath? Or was your sample and comparison based upon only the racks on the top grate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilburpan Posted July 21, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2015 I staggered the arrangement just to make sure there wasn’t going to be any differences in how the ribs turned out because of where they sat in the grill. If there was any transfer of flavor from one rack to the other, we couldn’t taste it. On top of that, on the right side of the grill the Texas rub ribs were above the NC ribs, and if much of the rub had come off the Texas rack onto the NC rack, we should have been able to see it because of the lighter color of the NC ribs. We didn’t notice any color change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poochie Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 And while we really get "into" the science of rubs and the balance of flavors in them, the people eating at the table usually tell me "yeah, whatever, just pass another rib this way." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony b Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 And while we really get "into" the science of rubs and the balance of flavors in them, the people eating at the table usually tell me "yeah, whatever, just pass another rib this way." Next time, those folks get the ribs slathered in ketchup, seeing as they aren't particular about how they are seasoned! See if they change their tune then! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CeramicChef Posted July 22, 2015 Report Share Posted July 22, 2015 I always serve my ribs dry and ask my guests to try a rib sans sauce before dumping sauce on 'em. Seldom do they go on to ask for sauce. But when they do ask for sauce, I give them some homemade sauce of my own making and a few recipes from cook books, a la Franklin's Manifesto and his videos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
