Our Favorite Spice Mix

 
 

It all started a few years ago…..

I was looking for a nice, low salt spice blend recipe for some BBQ chicken drumsticks. I quickly found a simple blend of 6 different spices, all of which I already had in my cabinet. It tasted ok, but I knew I could do better. That original recipe has since grown over the years into a mixture of 14 different spices. Adding a little of this, and a little of that. Writing down each addition and scrapping the ingredients I did not think fit.

We grill most of our food over a high heat charcoal grill. Leaving the sugar out of this blend was essential to that style of cooking. Too many store-bought mixes had a high sugar content that always burnt and turned bitter on the grill. However, for a touch of added sweetness I like to brush honey over my meat just before it’s done cooking.

For low temperature smoking, I like to add 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar to 1/4 cup of my spice mix. Smoking meat benefits from a bit of sweetness and as long as you keep your smoker below the 325° that sugar will not burn.