Nonnymus wrote:


I personally don't think that physically rubbing the mix into meat
does anything more than just sprinkling it on, but YMMV. Something I
have done that does add a lot of flavor is to crush the rub in my 8"
granite mortar just before sprinkling it onto the meat. Personally,
I don't like the flavor of the rub if it's just added on at the
table- it has to be cooked into the meat to be good, I feel.

You can enhance the rub with the principle behind the crushing, which is to
grind as much of your spice leaves and seeds from whole as possible. If its
possible to get it in whole leaf or seed, I buy it that way, and grind it
myself with coffee grinders. I have four.... one of them is actually used
for coffee.

A good example is cumin (comino). Like many seed spices you can draw out the
flavor by toasting them briefly in a heavy skillet. If they start to smoke
you're going too far. Just keep tossing them in a skillet till they become
fragrant. Let them cool a bit and then grind them.

Gtranulated garlic might be something you would like instead of garlic salt.
I prefer it to garlic powder since its less likely to contain ingredients
found in powders to keep them free flowing. Also try celery seed and process
as above instead of celery salt. However, only heat the celery seed very
briefly lest it turn bitter. Granulated garlic may be a bit coarse; grind it
as you would the spices.

The reason I don't use garlic salt is more control over the sodium. I find
that seasonings salts make it more difficult to control the saltiness of
the finished product.

MartyB in KC