Best way to experiment?

About two weeks ago, I did up three racks of baby backs on my UDS. I did one rack with Gary Wiviott's BBQ rub, one with the Bronzeville rub, both from The Spicehouse here in Chicago, and the third with Memphis dust from amazingribs.com . I often like the ribs dry w/o glaze or sauce. But, my wife likes with sauce, so the Memphis Dust rack got brushed with Sweet Baby's Ray (mostly because I had a new bottle).

The meat was cooked well. But the rack with Gary's Wiviott's rub was WAY too spicy hot for the four of us sitting around the table. My brother says I used too much rub, but I used the same amount as earlier this summer with Gary's Rudimentary Rub, which we all liked - though now I recall that I cut the cayenne in half. Anyway, this rack basically didn't get eaten. I don't think I ever got a real good read on the other two racks, because my mouth was still burning and on fire. I left the table real unsatisfied.

I'm just getting started in BBQ this summer and still trying to find what styles I like. And what different rubs taste like on cooked meat. Is there a good/better way to experiment with a couple different rubs in a weekend? I cried at looking at expensive ribs that were in my mind ruined. I also find it hard to compare one rub or sauce from this week versus the one last week, since my taste bud memory isn't that good. This is also compromised by the fact that it is usually just my wife and I, so I'm usually cooking for two, maybe 4.

I'm thinking I could experiment with rubs on a bunch of smaller fatties? Any suggestions, tips would be appreciated.

bigabyte said:

I found that using Shoulder Cut Country Style Ribs (which are just a butt cut into strips) were the best way to experiment with various rubs/sauces/etc to find what you like best. They are cheap, and you can try a whole lot of different things in one session, and be able to sample them all too. Here's a session where I tried just a bunch of different ingredients to see how they fared with smoking, and I used Shoulder Cut Country Style Ribs. In fact, I even cut them down into smaller pieces because I was trying so many different things. Really, I only needed a few bites of each to be able to compare to the others and determine what worked best.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=62646

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Yeah, I read that thread this morning before I posted. I thought that was a great idea. I'll have to give it a try. Since my rib failure, I've picked up some Yardbird and Heffer Dust. I was also given some Rasta Joe's. So, I got a few things to try...

I just have to wonder how you keep track of which is which! Seems like that would be the hardest part.

Boshizzle said:

There are also some good tips in this thread -
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92527

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Excellent post! I agree with everything you say. I've been successful with basic chicken, ribs, and butts. So, now I'm trying to get fancier and learning from some failures. I think I'm going to have a try a chuckie, looks tasty and cheap.

I like bigabyte's suggestion because I think it will give me a shot of trying a lot of things quickly. I don't think I'll get tired of eating good Q, but those around me might (have). :crazy:

Going to go to Lee Ann Whippen's Chicago Q tonight to see what she's serving.

landarc said:

When running a bunch of spice mixes for meat, I like to use the technique used for making sausage. I take some ground pork, I will grind my own from pork shoulder. Then I mix up some of the suspect rub, roll the meat ball in it, flatten into a patty and throw it on the cooker. This allows me to have many small samples, with low meat costs, in rapid and easily comparable succession.

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I like it. I'll try that. Now, got to find time.