Homemade Dry Rub for Chicken

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Have you ever dry rubbed your meat before cooking? I never understood the dry rub thing for meats, because I always marinated my meats wet. Dry seemed well… dry, it implied that my meat would be the same way.. dry. This could be entirely true if you over cook your meat or if the meat doesn’t have enough fat. But I have found dry rubbing the skin of chicken or turkey with spices gets flavor into the meat while it cooks as the skins fat breaks down during the cooking it gets juicy and tender.  There are all kinds of dry rubs out there in the grocery store or specialty stores and looking at the ingredients list you probably have most of those spices in your pantry, so why buy it when you can make it.  Give this rub a try, then venture into making your own versions.

I smoked a whole chicken because we really like the flavor of smoke meats. Smoking meat cooks slow and low, for a long time. I put this chicken in the morning at 7 am and took it out in the afternoon at 3 pm. It could have been taken it out earlier but I was gone from home so it cooked longer. We smoke our turkey each year at Thanksgiving and it’s really moist, tender and juicy. Smoking meat also gets flavor from the type of wood chips used. Many people like to use hickory wood, but this is actually my least favorite type of wood for smoking poultry. Hickory wood gives the meat a strong sharp flavor that I think competes with the mild flavor of poultry. I like to use fruit wood like peach, apple or cherry which gives the meat a more mild smoked flavor. I am no expert on smoking meat but we have enjoyed our smoker as another way to cook meat and add a depth of flavor.

Baking chicken is probably the most common way to cook it, with this rub your are sure to have some fantastic and flavorful meat, just make sure your chicken has the skin. If your interested in the recipe for biscuits check out The Brown Eyed Baker, her recipe has been my favorite since I discovered it this year.  As for the beans they are Bush’s Baked Beans with no doctoring. The grits are cheesy with bacon and green onions, pretty simple to make; just use quick cooking grits and use half water and half milk for creamier grits.  When the consistency of the grits is where you like them add some cheese and taste, then salt and pepper until you feel it’s enough. Sprinkle with crispy bacon and green onions and you have yourself some good southern grits.

Tagged as: chicken, dry-rub