Recipe ideas and guide

Great uses as a seasoning: 

Add a pinch of your favourite flavour to pasta, pizzas, stews soups, sauces, Jacket spuds, vegetables, egg or salads to bring out the flavour, even sandwiches! The list is endless, we love Tex-mex seasoning mixed in with our baked beans on toast! 

Smoky barrel burgers 

Mixing the desired quantity in directly with your beef, pork, or lamb mince will give you the ultimate burger, we recommend our peppered seasoning. With strange things appearing in our food these days, making it yourself ensures quality, and because our spices have no additives, there is nothing to taint your meat in any way. 

Ingredients 

225g–250g/8–9oz beef mince, 15% fat, 1 level tsp salt, ground black pepper, brioche burger buns (cut side toasted)  

For the burger sauce 

1 tbsp tomato ketchup, 2 tbsp mayonnaise, 1 gherkin, finely chopped , ½ small red onion, finely chopped, 2 tbsp freshly chopped dill  

To serve (optional toppings) 

2 slices smoked streaky bacon, cooked, 1 slice mature cheddar, Lettuce, 1 slice beef tomato 

 Method 

Tip the mince into a large bowl and break up with a fork. Add the seasoning to taste and massage with your hands until the mixture is soft, and it is well incorporated. Cover and leave to stand at room temperature for 25 minutes.   

For the sauce, mix all the ingredients together. Set aside.  

Divide the mince mixture into two equal portions and pat into two thin burgers approximately 12cm/4½in diameter. Use a small bowl or saucer as a guide if you want them to be really neat.  

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a high heat. Add the burgers and cook for a minute on each side or until browned and cooked through.  

Serve the burgers and sauce in the toasted bun with the toppings of your choice 

 

   Steaks  

We recommend our peppered rub for steaks. Once you’ve chosen your spices and seasonings, apply the dry rub with a little bit of oil to help spread to your beef and leave it for twelve hours in the fridge in a non-metallic container.

Don’t be tempted to add the rub right before cooking – it will either have no effect or, even worse, leave pools of moisture on the surface of the meat which will prevent it from cooking properly. After twelve hours, wash any remaining rub off, dry the meat thoroughly and cook. The flavour of the spices won’t be overbearing but will help enhance the beef itself. 

 

Pork chops with mash potatoes and green beans 

Pat down chops with kitchen towel, apply a little bit of oil and spread over the chops, (this stops the rub burning and applies an even coat) then pour the rub over and work into the oil by hand so it is covered or to taste, fry or grill as a normal chop and taste the difference! 

  

Smoky barrel ribs 

      Tex-Mex rub on and ready for the oven or smoker!

We love this method of preparing our ribs, they take a long time to prepare and cook and are gone in a flash! Pork belly ribs are best, look big, juicy and impressive. You can always use baby back ribs if you prefer. For a big event, cook the day before and reheat on the BBQ or in the oven. 1 bag of 200g rub will be plenty for up to 5Kg of ribs including the bone. This process can take a while but is worth the wait. 

Method 

1. Skin and trim; remove the rubbery/chewy membrane from back of the ribs. Using a butter knife, start at the bottom of the first bone (pointing away from you of course!) Push the knife tip between the bone and membrane, slowly work it loose, repeat this until you have enough to grip with a tea towel/kitchen towel and pull it off. Don’t be tempted to trim the meat or bone to make the rack look pretty, keep it rustic. 

1. Cut; at this point it depends on your personal preferences and size of oven/BBQ. If you have the space, you can keep a full rack, half it or even cut down into handy single ribs for people to just grab and eat. Check the weight of the ribs and as a guide portion out kosher salt (if available) at a ratio of ½ teaspoon per 500g of meat only. 

Ribs are around half bone so if you have a rack weighing 4Kg you would on average get 2Kg of meat so 2 whole level teaspoons. Without using oil put the ribs in a non-metallic container and make sure the salt covers as much of the meat as possible.  

This stage really helps draw water out and is really advisable. Leave in the fridge for 2 hours, remove and rinse under the tap. Pat dry and brush/rub enough vegetable oil in to cover the whole of the rib (try and just get it on the meat) 

1. Shake/pour an even layer of the dry rub on each side of the ribs. Use your nondominant hand to scoop the dry rub out from its container and put it directly onto the ribs. Make sure it is all covered, leave overnight in the fridge 

Cooking 

Make sure the ribs have been taken out of the fridge at least half an hour before cooking. To grill/BBQ/smoke: 

Set up the smoker for 2 zone indirect heat cooking, all charcoal banked up to one side. Place water bowl underneath the rack with the ribs on (Place side with most meat up) Cook at around 110C add 1 scoop of wet wood dust/chunks to the charcoals every half hour, keeping the lid closed when possible.  

If you are feeling fancy, using a clean spray bottle make a mix of a shot of Whisky, 250 Ml apple juice/Cider and 4 tbsp of apple cider vinegar and spray the ribs every half hour when adding the wood chunks 

Once cooking at this temperature should take 3-4 hours, keeping an eye on them every half hour. Ribs are done when you can bend the rack and it starts breaking, juices should be flowing. 

To oven cook 

Preheat the oven to around 130C. Place a rack with legs in the bottom of a large roasting tin, fill the tin up to the top of the rack with either water or the mixture used above for smoking. Place the ribs with most of the meat facing up and cook for around 2-3 hours until tender and juices are flowing. You can always check and spray the ribs with the above mixture every hour 

The choice now is, are you a dry rib or sauce on top person? Either way these are some tasty, tasty ribs! 

 

Whole roast chicken/chicken drumsticks 

Want to use a dry rub on your Sunday roast chicken or drumsticks? You can easily apply it right before you cook or far in advance. When you’re ready to put the rub on your chicken, work the spices into the meat by hand so you’re able to infuse the flavours.

1.   Pat your chicken dry with paper towels. Make sure the chicken you’re using is completely defrosted before you put your dry rub on it. Take the chicken you plan on seasoning with the dry rub and set it inside a baking pan, so you don’t spread any bacteria. Blot paper towels on each side of the chicken to absorb some of the excess juices and contaminants on its surface. Continue patting all sides of the chicken until the paper towels look clean after you blot them. Then take a kitchen skewer and poke holes all over the chicken, this will help the rub penetrate and cook better. 

Always wash your hands after you handle raw chicken since it contains bacteria that could lead to food poisoning. Warning: Don’t rinse or wash chicken in your sink before you cook it since you could spread bacteria to other foods, utensils, or surfaces in your kitchen. 

2.   Drizzle a light layer of olive oil onto the chicken if you want the rub to stick better. Olive oil helps the dry rub adhere to the meat so it’s less likely to fall off while you’re cooking it. Put a coin-sized amount of olive oil on the chicken and spread it evenly across the sides of the chicken. Only use a small amount of olive oil, or else the dry rub will run off the meat and you’ll lose the flavour. 

3.   Pour/shake an even layer of the dry rub on each side of the chicken. Use your nondominant hand to scoop the dry rub out from its container and put it directly onto the chicken. You can use as much or as little dry rub as you want, but usually 1 tablespoon (8 g) of dry rub for every 1 pound (450 g) of meat you’re cooking. Make sure you coat all sides of the chicken, so the dry rub covers the entire piece of meat. 

Avoid touching the chicken with the spoon you use to scoop if you want to save the dry rub later. Otherwise, you’ll contaminate the dry rub, and you’ll need to throw it away. 

4.   Work the rub into the chicken with your dominant hand. Apply pressure on the chicken with your dominant hand and rub the spices into the meat with a kneading motion. Work with the grain of the meat so the dry rub sticks to all of the hard-to-reach areas on the chicken. Continue rubbing the spices onto all sides of the meat until it’s completely coated. 

Always try to keep one of your hands clean so you don’t accidentally contaminate other surfaces in your kitchen with bacteria. 

You can leave the rub in a 1⁄8 in (0.32 cm) crust on the meat, which will help lock in moisture so your chicken tastes juicier. 

Store the chicken in a container with a lid if you don’t plan on cooking it right away. If you don’t plan on cooking your chicken right away, set it in a container that has an airtight lid so bacteria can’t cross-contaminate other items. Put the seasoned chicken in your fridge and use it in about 1-2 days so the meat doesn’t spoil. 

Avoid wrapping your chicken in plastic wrap, since the wrapping could remove some of the rub from the meat. Cook for around half an hour per 500g at 180C. ensuring the juices run clear and enjoy!