Using BBQ Rubs For Everyday Cooking

One of my culinary discoveries has been the positive effect BBQ rubs can have on enhancing flavour. A real-deal meal time game changer. I’ve blogged about cooking with rubs in our Big Green Egg, simply because it’s what I normally use.

Recently rain stopped play on a planned al fresco roast chicken. A lot of rain, and high winds. So I used the oven indoors. Turns out that BBQ rubs work with everyday kitchen cooking.

There’s a world of flavour waiting for you to discover. Let’s go explore it …

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Why Use A BBQ Rub?

A BBQ rub is a flavour enhancer, designed to augment taste sensations and compliment the main ingredients of a meal. Nothing more complicated than that.

I use Dizzy Pig BBQ rubs (no commercial connection) and mention their products in this post. There are others, e.g. Southern Links, Meat Church, Bad Byron.

Even the cat was interested in the BBQ rubs

Enhancing The Humble Roast Chicken

A roast chicken is one of my go-to meals during the week. Simple, cost-effective and nutritious. And it can get same-y, as can pork chops. So I tried some rubs.

Spatchcock chicken with a Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin crust roasted in an oven

Brush the skin with a little olive oil, sprinkle over Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin or Happy Nancy rub and roast as normal in an oven. The same can be done with roast duck using the Dizzy Pig Game On rub.

For a pork chop, lightly coat with some Raging River and pan fry or cook in an oven.

Spatchcock chicken with Happy Nancy roasting in an oven

Chilli Con Carne and Spaghetti Bolognese

Take a standard chilli con carne recipe and add in 1-2tbsp of Dizzy Pig Jamaican Firewalk. This will give it a kick of heat and spice.

Same goes for spaghetti bolognese. Add 1 tbsp of Coarse Dizzy Dust per onion when frying the aromatics, and another 1 tbsp per 500g of mince when simmering, adjusting to personal taste. It gives an underlying heat and spice flavour, along with a hint of sweetness. It paired really well with a lovely bottle of Le Soula from Domaine Gauby.

Spaghetti bolognese enhanced with a Dizzy Pig Dizzy Dust rub

Scotch Eggs on Steroids

Not everyday cooking, but I adore scotch eggs, and blogged about how to make them. I tried adding some rubs to the meat (picture below). This made scotch eggs on flavour steroids.

Adding Dizzy Pig Red Eye Express to a scotch egg

I tried a few combinations of Dizzy Pig rubs:

Standard pork sausage meat:
- Pineapple Head – great match, sweetness and subtle heat worked well.
- Shakin’ the Tree – more subtle than the Pineapple Head, still a good match.
Cumberland sausage meat:
- Red Eye Express – perfect match, the coffee flavours worked wonderfully.
- Swamp Venom – if you’re looking for heat and spice, this is it!

I’m Interested … Where Can I Get Them From?

For the Dizzy Pig rubs, their range is available from BBQ Gourmet in the UK, the people who run it know their stuff. The rubs are also available from Amazon.co.uk (affiliate link).

The rubs are made with natural products and free of MSG, soy, wheat gluten, peanuts and tree nuts. They have salt in small amounts, there are no salt versions of some rubs.

Most supermarkets and farm shops sell marinades (Nandos make a wide range), a few sell rubs. It depends on what you’re looking for, and finding something that matches what you’re cooking. Check out the rub packaging to see what it goes with.

Lastly, BBQ enthusiasts and specialist shops sell rubs, mainly because they know their hobby and passion really well. One of the best rubs we have had is Cascade Chicken rub from Idaho Gourmet Grills, outstanding flavours.

It’s a fun world waiting to be explored … so go get a BBQ rub, read the packet to see what it works with, and give it a shot! And turn your everyday roast chicken into something special.