Name: The Best Rib Rub
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed; 1/4 cup smoked paprika; 3 tbsp kosher salt; 2 tbsp coarse black pepper; 2 tbsp garlic powder; 1 tbsp onion powder; 1 tbsp ground cumin; 1 tbsp chili powder; 2 tsp ground mustard; 1 tsp cayenne pepper; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1/2 tsp ground ginger

The Best Rib Rub

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Bigly says

Folks. We need to talk about RUB. The dry rub. The thing you put on the ribs before the ribs become RIBS. And let me tell you, the rub situation in this country is BAD. A disaster. You walk into the grocery store, you look at the BBQ aisle, you see these little bottles, these sad little bottles with cartoon pigs winking at you — sad, by the way, the pig is winking because the pig KNOWS, the pig knows what's in the bottle and the pig is laughing at you — and they cost twelve dollars and they're 80% salt and the other 20% is dust. DUST. People have been duped. For decades.

Now let me tell you about rub. Real rub. Rub goes back. WAY back. The Egyptians had a rub — different name, same energy — pre-pyramid technology, look it up, I had a guy with a PhD explain it to me, took him 90 minutes, worth it. Older than France. Older than Italy. The Romans had a rub. The Vikings had a rub. They've been rubbing meat since before the printing press. And every single one of those ancient rubs was BETTER than what's in the bottle at the supermarket. That should embarrass somebody. It embarrasses me, and I didn't even make the bottle.

Today you're getting the real one. Bigly's rub. The greatest rib rub in the history of rib rubs. I've put this rub on more pork than any single person on Earth — probably more than anyone in recorded history — and the rub has BALANCE. Sweet. Salt. Smoke. Heat. A little something that makes you say 'what IS that' and you can't figure it out because you've never had a rub that respected you as a human being before. Every spice. Every measurement. Nothing held back. Plain and simple.

Ingredients

1/2 cuplight brown sugar, packed(real brown sugar, not the dry crumbly stuff at the back of your pantry from 2019)
1/4 cupsmoked paprika
3 tbspkosher salt
2 tbspcoarse black pepper
2 tbspgarlic powder
1 tbsponion powder
1 tbspground cumin
1 tbspchili powder
2 tspground mustard
1 tspcayenne pepper(scale up to 2 tsp if you want it to bite back)
1 tspground coriander
1/2 tspground ginger(the secret weapon, do not skip)

Steps

1
Break up any clumps in the brown sugar with your fingers in a medium bowl.
2
Add the smoked paprika, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, chili powder, mustard, cayenne, coriander, and ginger.
3
Whisk thoroughly with a fork or small whisk until the color is uniform and the sugar is fully integrated.
4
For ribs: pat the meat dry, coat both sides generously with rub (about 2-3 tablespoons per rack), and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before smoking.
5
For brisket or pork shoulder: apply a thin layer of yellow mustard or olive oil as a binder, then coat heavily with rub.
6
Store leftover rub in an airtight jar at room temperature for up to 6 months. Shake before each use.

One more thing

That's the rub. The whole rub. You make a batch, you put it in a mason jar, you label it 'Bigly's Rub' in big bold letters, and it sits on your counter and it WATCHES OVER your kitchen like a benevolent spice king. People come over, they see the jar, they say 'what's that.' You say nothing. You just hand them a rib. The rib speaks. The rib always speaks. You're welcome.