I love spring cooking, mostly because it allows me to get back outside and crank up the fire in the wood pit. I use an Oklahoma Joe's Chuckwagon vertical and horizontal stick burner. I can grill steaks right over the firebox or use the horizontal pit for smoking meats. The vertical pit is strictly for fish as it runs 100-150 degrees cooler. I have access to several types of wood here in NW Michigan: cherry, maple, and apple for the most part. This is different from the oak, pecan, and mesquite I use at our winter haven in Texas.
For different cuts of meat, I use different dry rubs. Only in brisket, pork butt or turkey do I inject. For brisket I use Kosmos Reserve with beef broth. For turkey I use Kosmos turkey brine and for pork butt I use simply butter and apple juice. I use Kosmos and Meat Church dry rubs for the majority but also use Coopers Dry Rub for brisket as well. The brisket injection is Kosmos.
Kosmos Dry Rubs originate in Oklahoma City and offer a wide variety of flavors for any application. I use a lot of SPG, which is simply salt, pepper, and garlic, but a very unique and proprietary blend we enjoy, even in the kitchen. Anytime a recipe calls for salt, pepper, and garlic it's SPG for us! www.kosmosq.com
I use the SPG along with Coopers on brisket, Thor's Hammer, and picanha. I love the Honey Killer Bee on chicken or pork and the Dirty Bird especially on chicken or ribs.
The other major rub I use is Meat Church out of Waxahachie, TX. I like the Holy Voodoo rub on anything with a Cajun flair. We swear by the Honey Bacon rub for chicken and the Deez Nuts on salmon. www.meatchurch.com My last 'go to' is Coopers Seasoning. This BBQ restaurant is located in many places throughout Texas with the BEST BRISKET I have ever eaten. Plenty of black pepper bark and a juicy, tender inside. I combine this with Kosmos SPG for my brisket.
cooperbbq.com
Of course, there are dozens of other commercial BBQ rubs and seasonings available these days as well as your own homemade variety. For years I cruised along with the Kansas City Sweet n Smokey rub. It was very good, but wasn't the 'end all cure' with any and all meats. It is still a good basic rub.
⅓ cup light brown sugar packed
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup smoked paprika
2 tablespoons seasoned salt
2 tablespoons smoked salt
2 tablespoons onion salt
2 tablespoons celery salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
These products are our personal choices, representing the best of BBQ throughout the south, the HOME OF BBQ, especially Texas. I have been cooking the 'Q' for 30 years, but only in the last 13 years through our retirement travels have I perfected it.
"Good barbecue comes from experience, and experience, well, that comes from poor barbecue." Aaron Franklin
