Ths is the month all the food mags come out with their BBQ issue, Bon
Appetit's was pretty damn bad overall as usual. Typical was an article
titled "The Ultimate Ribs" that boasts "anything brined is better", it cooks
in 90 minutes, requires you to brine the ribs and ends with them in foil.
Mostly frou frou grilling stuff. But still, there's usually a good side dish
recipe or two to be had or an interesting grilled chicken or fish.

But, this month's Cook's Illustrated is really good, though I wish they
could tell that K'ford tastes like diesel fuel. Anyway, they did their
patented science kitchen tests to common rub ingredients for grilling to
see how heat effected them and came up with a list that I thought some of
you would be interested in:

(hoping that the formatting will keep)

Good Fair Poor
Allspice Cocoa Cardamon
Ancho Chile Coffee Celery Seed
Black Pepper Coriander Cloves
Chipotle Dill seed Garlic powder or granule
Cinnamon Star Anise Nutmeg
Cumin Fennel Oregano
Mustard seed Tarragon Paprika
'' '' '' Thyme Rosemary

Good: intense heat improves flavor
Fair:No change
Poor: High heat removes flavor or makes bitter or medicinal

Please keep in mind this list is for grilling with direct high heats.

I'll give the recipe that sounded the best:
Chile Cumin Spice Rub

3 dried chipotles stemmed,seeded, cut into pieces
2 dried ancho chiles, same as above
1T ground cumin
1T salt
2T sugar

Grind chiles in grinder, mix


--

"Duwop" wrote in message
Anyway, they did their
patented science kitchen tests to common rub ingredients for grilling to
see how heat effected them and came up with a list that I thought some of
you would be interested in:

(hoping that the formatting will keep)

Good Fair Poor
Allspice Cocoa Cardamon
Ancho Chile Coffee Celery Seed
Black Pepper Coriander Cloves
Chipotle Dill seed Garlic powder or granule
Cinnamon Star Anise Nutmeg
Cumin Fennel Oregano
Mustard seed Tarragon Paprika
'' '' '' Thyme Rosemary

Good: intense heat improves flavor
Fair:No change
Poor: High heat removes flavor or makes bitter or medicinal

Interesting. Tonight we has some of the best grilled chicken parts I've
ever made. Two of the ingredients in the rub came from the "poor" column,
only pepper from the "good" column.
Had I read this first I may have not enjoyed it so much.

Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

Edwin Pawlowski wrote:
"Duwop" wrote in message
Interesting. Tonight we has some of the best grilled chicken parts
I've ever made. Two of the ingredients in the rub came from the
"poor" column, only pepper from the "good" column.
Had I read this first I may have not enjoyed it so much.

Could be that you didnt have the chicken directly over the flames long
enough or it wasnt hot?
Regardless, I dont think anyone, even the author would say not to use any of
those spices, simply to be aware of them and they fair poorly in high heat
in comparison with others. Obviously they arent bad as they were chosen
because they were among the most used of all rub spices. I read this as a
comparison of how popular spices fair under high heat. Use it how you will.



--