Rubs

[snagman]

Seeking the views of the forum members about rubs. There is in some quarters the view that a rub should not be "rubbed" onto the meat, but sprinkled. Reasoning is that rubbing ingredients into the meat, ie massaging by hand fills the pores, and most of it ends up on your hands anyway. I have always rubbed, not sprinkled. How would you do an A -B test to see if the theory has any merit anyway ?
Any views on this pards ?

Gus

[DLFL]

Cut the piece of meat in to 1/2s and try both ways at the same time.

[snagman]

That's a good idea - only question is, when grilling, say a piece of steak, the initial charring at high heat "seals" the outside, trapping the juices inside (something I question, but that's another story). If the result in rubbing is the similar, then rubs should be rubbed, not sprinkled. So, cutting them into two should give you different results, that is , one is juicier than the other - how does one measure that accurately ? Assuming you haven't overcooked the meat in the first place.

[ssorllih]

Rubbing for one person maybe simply patting by another. The idea is to get the spice mixture to cling to the meat. You could sprinkle the spice mix on a plate and lay the meat on it, roll it around, turn it over and generally bring the meat into contact with the spice.
As for sealing in the juices with an initial searing if it really worked you wouldn't end up with dry, over cooked, meat when someone wanted well done.

[DiggingDogFarm]

I totally agree that searing is a joke as far as sealing in the juices....yet searing is worthwhile because it does (IMHO) create extra flavor by caramelization and charring.

In my experience, I do think that rubbing, when it comes to anything other than salt (meaning salt will find it's way regardless), does make sense because good contact with the meat does help insure proper transfer of flavor into the meat via osmosis.


~Martin