Hey Andy or Todd Tells us about rubs and the evolution of them

Big Poppa

Administrator
I am hoping that I can get Todd Johns (plowboy) or Andy or better yet both to answer...Txpga will have some insight here also

It is my understanding that originally pretty much all of the competing teams in the old days used salt and pepper. Along came Garlic Powder...then Cayenne...and paprika

ANdy you have been cooking starting with your Dad...help me out here....
 

Plowboy

New member
I'm no BBQ anthropologist, but when it comes to American BBQ cuisine, you have to look in two places: slaves in the SouthEast and cattle drives in the West and Midwest. As most of us know, the cuts we use for BBQ were the much lesser cuts that were given to the slaves and not used by the masters. So, we can imagine that their African heritage influenced a lot of the techniques and flavors we cling to today.

The chuckwagon cook on Western cattle drives used a lot of what they found along the way. Even today, there are some remnants of using what you have local to you, most obvious is wood. Chuckwagon cooks used wood along the trail to build their fires. In Texas, they had mesquite. Here in the central part of the Missouri/Kansas region, we have a lot of hickory trees. As you move further South, pecans become more popular. Americans living 100 or more years ago were living off of the land and very aware of what natural herbs, bulbs, and berries they had available to them for cooking. There was probably nothing more regional in the day than the traveling chuckwagon. I'm sure the culinary wizardry of the day was a lot more simple than the mostly French, Food Network, Cupcake Wars inspired dishes of today.

For rubs specifically, my guess is that although there were many seasoning combinations used in 20th century BBQ joints, the "BBQ Rub" is, like most modern concepts, a post WWII institution. Lawry's, probably America's most famous "rub", launched in 1938. As soldiers returned home from WWII, America changed. We were out of the Great Depression era and the largest economic expansion in American history. Families and neighborhoods were forming. Weber Kettle grills were showing up in backyards everywhere. Demand was growing for something more than salt and pepper.

In the last decade or so, we've seen everyone with a culinary green thumb put out a seasoning product with their name on it... including yours truly.

So, I think you are correct that seasonings were generally more simple back in the day compared to what we have today. Ingredient sourcing and distribution in this modern age has changed the landscape of everything in the last 100 years.
 
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DolphinLvr

New member
Great Info Todd! We often do not think about the origin of things that we commonly use. It's a bit refreshing to really be able to learn how things came to be.
 

Plowboy

New member
One of the great aspects of BBQ is its connection to history and tradition. That is something special in today's xBox, 1200 cable channels world. Maybe this is just me, but you can trace so much of our world today to post WWII. Politics, religion, cooking (think Julia Child and the Joy of Cooking), recreation, suburban life, etc., etc., etc... all of it was shaped by the post war, post Great Depression generation. You could even say that the Internet is a decendant. Cold war leads to defense which leads to the birth of the Internet in the early 80's and on to what we know it to be today. That generation included my grandparents. The generations after mine don't and won't understand where we've been and come from in the last 100 years.

Off topic, but interesting... to me.
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
There you have a very interesting take from the creator of one of my favorite rubs Plowboys....Thanks Todd!
 

TentHunter

Moderator
Very insightful Todd, thanks! I can't wait to get my grill so I get my copy of the Big Bob Gibson book and read some of the history behind this whole thing we call "Q".
 

HoDeDo

New member
That is pretty cool to think about Todd! I'm taking a slightly more "micro" approach... But it follows those lines. When you think about what folks had for knowledge available to them back when KCBS was an idea, not an organization.

When Tom, Bobby, and Dad and the rest of the HoDeDo's started cooking contests I was in grade school... The only "BBQ Rub" I remember them having was from Planters Spice Co. down in the old City Market corridor of KCMO. They produced a bulk rub 2 or 3, and they were simply BBQ rub #1 #2 #3... Other than that, you had things like Cavenders, Old Bay, Lowrey's Seasoned Salt, Tender Quik, Lemon Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Kosher Salt (not "sea salt")

Bobby owned a restaurant, and had a few seasonings he had concocted... "gator dust" etc. but largely there were not "rubs" like we see today. I remember loving the smell as they prepped ribs... Ribs started with a light layer of salt, then onion powder, garlic powder, celery salt, hungarian paprika, and pepper. The table would be covered with case of ribs, and it was a production, layering on all the spices, then wrapping them all together in a large bag - big thick drum liner... once the spices were all liquified and the ribs were dark red, they got put in the cooker. Brisket was a similar mix with more pepper, and celery...

There was not alot of info being shared in the 80's there were 4-5 events in our area (and lots of other local areas around the country I would guess), and KCBS didnt really become a factor until the late 80's to early 90's... But as teams started to have a local nucleus, and BBQ started to really draw favor, new ideas around "rubs" started to emerge.

I remember in 1994, Smoke and Spice came out.... That was the "BBQ Bible" that really kicked off the experimentation for our team. That book opened up all kinds of ideas... From there, John Willingham put out a great cookbook... BBQ books started popping up... and by the mid 2000's books like Peace, Love, and BBQ were out. We had all kinds of new things to try!

Willingham's was selling rub in 1lb white coffee bags, in bulk, via mailorder. We used to get it and mix it into several of our concoctions. I still enjoy the heck out of that rub.

IT was really in the early 2000's when rubs really started to explode. People had access to ideas and people from outside thier own region... and KCBS growth, had folks from all over mixing it up and becoming friends... It wasn't long until people started to realize that there was a market for thier own small batch products, and today you can choose from 100's of rubs.

Bob bought bulk spices for his diner from Planters.... so we were able to get fairly fresh spices for our experiments... the stuff you get at the grocery store.. is simply not as fresh. That is what is awesome about the rubs you can buy today... depending on your co-packer, the spices going into those rubs are super fresh.... the color, and flavors pop, so many times the rubs you are getting commercially, are produced in small batches, with fresh ingredients, so they are way better than what you could make at home if you had the exact same recipe. Plowboys, Dizzy Pig, Slabs, you name it... the freshness is amazing. I quit making my own rubs, when the commercial products became so strong. I like to play still, but I try to find a commercial product that is as close as possible to what I am trying to get to, then tweak it. Chances are it is fresher, and better than I could make it. The key to me is small batch.... for example chile powder. I would rather play and make my own, than buy a jar of williams off the shelf. BUT, a small batch chile powder that is made from Penzey's... I'm all over that!

So Todd's macro view really applies here, and magnifies the growth... internet, and availability of other regional info, really drove the proliferation that we have... so make your own, buy what you like... but either way long live the rub, in all its thousands of iterations........ sauce anyone?
 

Rip

New member
Amen! This forum is awesome. BP, thanks for starting this thread and thanks to the contributors. Great stuff.
 
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