How to Make an All-Purpose Marinade Rub

Why buy pre-made marinade rubs when you can make your own? With a few versatile spices, you can make a dry rub that can be used for most meats, fish and vegetables, and can be mixed with oil and an acidic liquid (vinegar, fruit juice, or wine) to make a wet marinade.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• herbs
• spices
• salt
• citrus peels
• container with a tight seal
• spice grinder (optional)
• mortar and pestle (optional)

1. Salt is an important ingredient in marinades and seasonings. It can be omitted if needed for health reasons, but the resulting rub will lack the flavor enhancing power of salt. Start with a 1/4 cup to start- after all ingredients have been added, you may want to add a bit more, to balance out the flavors to your liking. This may be a good chance to experiment with a gourmet salt, but kosher salt is an excellent all-round salt to start with.

2. Sugar can form part of meat rubs, but often strikes an odd note for fish and vegetables. If you plan to use your rub for meats alone, start with a tablespoon of white or brown sugar, adding more to taste. Brown sugar would work better with red meats or game. Take your type of sugar into account when adding citrus peel, herbs and spices, and if you use a gourmet salt, take its characteristics in mind, as well.

3. Citrus peels should be ground or minced finely. Lemon peel is a good all-round citrus- a teaspoonful is enough to bring a brightness to chicken or fish. Orange peel lends a complementary sweetness to game, and the complex bitterness of grapefruit can enhance many vegetables. Onion, ginger, or garlic powder can be used to bring those flavors into the mix. These are, however, optional, but these can bring out the best flavors in the food being prepared.

4. Herbs and spices can be somewhat particular in the foods they complement best, but marjoram is quite versatile, and doesn't suffer as much from being dried as some other herbs. Tarragon is good on delicately flavored foods. Mustard seeds can be toasted, ground, or left whole. Peppercorns can also be ground or left whole, and like salt, this is a good spot to experiment with gourmet peppercorns- or stick with basic black and/or white. White pepper is milder than black, so it could be used as an all-round basic pepper, to avoid delicate flavors being overwhelmed by a stronger pepper. Use a 1/2 teaspoonful to start, and add more to taste.

Tips & Warnings

• Continually taste your rub, especially when using new ingredients.
• Smell ingredients before adding.
• Develop a good spice collection, a few spices at a time.
• Make a small test batch to start- you don't want to make a pound of something you can't stand.
• Strong flavors that mix well with only a few others- mint or lavender, for example- are great for special rubs, but don't work so well for an all-purpose rub.
• If you don't like the taste or smell of an ingredient alone, don't put it in the rub- you'll waste time and ingredients trying to cover it up.
• Many herbs lose a good deal of flavor when dried. If you love the flavor of an herb, use it fresh.

Resources

• Frontier Co-op (Organic Herbs, Spices and Flavorings)
• Cook's Thesaurus (Herb and Spice characteristics and substitutes)
• Avanti Savioa (Gourmet Herbs, Spices, and more)