At Angus & Oink they have been involved with BBQ as a business for the last 2-3 years and make some wicked BBQ rubs, but they have been avid BBQ’ers for over 20 years. They lived and worked in South America from cattle crazed Argentina to the spicy life of Mexico and most placed in between including a lot of time in Texas and Louisiana in the oil patch. From these roots in these Southern American lands they came back to roost in Scotland and started Angus & Oink via an excursion to Saudi Arbia.
They started producing hot sauce that they had encountered around Latin America and the US but quickly realized that authentic seasonings and barbecue rubs were hard to come by in the UK. El Paso, Encona and the likes simply were not authentic or robust in their depth of flavours.
So it’s easy to make a bbq rub! Salt, sugar, aromatics are the basis of BBQ rubs. But use table salt, white sugar and stale herbs & spices, well you would be as well pour washing powder on your meat.
The balance of flavour in important whether you are cooking at home for friends and family or competing with expensive cuts of meat to win a competition. Selecting the right ingredients is key. At Angus & Oink, they stock 8 different kinds of sugars and 6 different salts where they consider the burning point, the dissolution rate, the particle size and the chain reaction of the rub as it is applied to the meat and during the cook. Consider the balance of the rub with the meat flavour through the cooking process and how it might taste and look on the end product.
A tasty meal or turn in box is the goal and understanding what you want to achieve is important whether it be deep umami flavour and savoury notes, good bark, colour, residual sweetness, saltiness.
