Use a Spice Rub for Flavorful Roast

The latest innovation in cooking is the spice rub, and frankly, I’m sold on it. Spice rubs add flavor and color to roast or grilled meats without adding fat, help maintain moisture in the meat and create an exterior that is browned, crisp and delicious. Spice rubs avoid the charring or greasy texture that sauces often leave, especially when applied to poultry, and impart flavor throughout the meat instead of keeping it on the surface.

The secret to the spice rub is salt. This can be a downside for those individuals who need to watch their sodium intake, but the salt in the rub performs a unique trick that flavors the food and keeps it moist. During cooking, the salt draws the meat juices from the interior of the cut toward the surface. However, as the meat cooks, the salt browns the surface area, creating a barrier that prevents those juices from evaporating. As the meat juice goes back in toward the center of the cut, it takes some of the salt and the spice flavorings with it. The end result – the meat is moist, tender and lightly flavored from top through to the center of the cut.

Spice rubs are especially nice on chicken, turkey or duck. The fat in the bird, combined with the rub, makes the skin a crispy, brown delight. Roast the bird on a rack and the fat drains away for a fat-free, skin-on feast.

Another beauty of the spice rub is its simplicity. Spice rubs consist of salt, usually a tablespoonful, combined with whatever other dried herbs or spices you crave. These can come from the kitchen garden or the grocery store. The holiday turkey, for example, would do well with sage, thyme and rosemary. Dried mustard, turmeric, curry powder and paprika meld well with a leg of lamb or mutton. Beef or pork can go from simple – black pepper only, to a complex concoction of brown sugar, paprika, red and black pepper and garlic powder, a blend that makes a nice substitute for barbeque sauce. For the truly lazy, mix the contents of a package of dry salad dressing mix with the salt, and let Good Seasons or Knorr do the blending and measuring for you.

Apply the rub as though you were powdering a baby’s bottom. Using your hands, sprinkle the mixture generously on the meat, then massage it into the surface, covering all the surface area you can. If your meat has a fat layer, score it before adding the spice rub. Add a little flour to the mixture to help it adhere to slick or rounded cuts, such as a pot roast.

Meat can be roasted, broiled or grilled, but avoid placing the meat too close to the heating elements during the latter two processes. Otherwise, the rub will form a nearly solid crust that defies the intrusion of a fork and looks unappealing. Slow heat and a spice rub form a winning combination that magically makes red meat and poultry mouth-wateringly moist and temptingly tender.

Here are three excellent rubs to use the next time you roast or grill meat. The first is a great substitute for barbecue sauce, the second makes a wonderful rub for poultry or lamb, and the final rub lends an exotic Indian flair to your meal.

Rub-On Barbecue

• 1 tbsp. coarse salt (sea salt, kosher salt or pickling salt are fine)
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• ½ tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. paprika
• ¼ tsp. black pepper
• dash dried hot pepper (optional)

• Provençal Poultry Rub

• 1 tbsp. coarse salt
• 2 tbsp. Herbes de Provençe

Hot Curry Rub

• 1 tbsp coarse salt
• 1 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. curry powder
• ½ tsp ground dried mustard
• ½ tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp turmeric
• dash black pepper