Rubs are a great way to add flavor to meat. Brines are also a great way to add flavor as well as moisture. Rubs often contain a lot of salt (click here to read about The Zen of Salt). You can use both a rub and a brine, but beware of double salt jeopardy. If you use a brine and then a rub, you should make your own rub mix and leave the salt out of the blend. A salty rub on top of brined meat can make the meat unbearably salty. Never brine meat that is labeled "enhanced" or "flavor enhanced" or "self-basting" or "basted" because they have been injected with a salt solution. Remember, you can always add salt, but there's no taking it away.
Ras el Hanout, which is Arabic for "head of the shop", is a spice mix often used as a rub for meats, especially lamb and goat in North Africa and the Middle East. Every spice shop, every restaurant, every home has its own recipe, and it can contain dozens of ingredients. This version contains all the usual suspects. Some recipes use saffron and rose petals, but I think they will just get lost, and saffron is the most expensive food in the world.
It is also used as an ingredient in sauces and marinades, and to flavor rice or cous cous. Some say it is an aphrodesiac. Let me know if it works for you.
Optional. 1 teaspoon ground cubeb berries, hard to find, but its exotic licorice flavor really amps it up.
Do this
Mix and store in an tight jar in a dark place. Before you use it, put what you need in a small frying pan over a medium heat, no oil, and toast the mix for no longer than a minute. Turn off the heat the moment it becomes highly aromatic. Most of the spices are oil soluble, so oil the meat before you sprinkle it on. Use it generously, but not thickly. It is great on grilled meat, but you can also use it on stew meat or braised meat if you brown it first.
This page was revised 3/10/2010
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