This post is the second in a series of five about easy food gift ideas. Why did I wait until after the holidays to post them? ‘Cause I was giving them as gifts and didn’t want to ruin the surprise. Of course, they make great gifts year-round. Each post contains a downloadable pdf of the recipe card with a fictional product logo I designed along with some beautiful food photography.
When I started this blog last year, one of the things that I wanted was to gain a better understanding of how to cook meat. As in meat other than hamburgers and hotdogs. And for the most part I have failed in that quest mainly because I realize that my natural tendency is to eat steak at a restaurant and chicken at home. But on the few occasions that I have made a big ‘ole roast, one thing that I have learned is that a good spice rub is the key to a delicious roast.
Spice rubs are awesome, and they are super easy to use. If you’re doing a large piece of meat like a pork or beef roast, liberally apply the spice rub to the meat the day before you plan to cook. That way all of the seasoning works its way into the meat. For more fragile dishes like fish, you’ll want to apply the spice rub maybe a half hour before you grill or bake. In any case, this spice rub is a fantastic mixture to have on hand – you can use it for everything.
One additional note about spices and spice rubs: find yourself a good spice store. The spices that you find in your local grocery store tend to be extremely over-priced, and since they have likely been sitting on the shelves for a while, they lack the potency of fresher spices. Here in St. Louis, I hit up our local Penzey’s Spices for my spice needs (and they have locations all around the country). In my experience, the spices are fresh and considerably more affordable than your average grocery store, particularly if you need large quantities for things like a spice rub.
Download the Spice Rub Recipe Card (.pdf)
Coming up tomorrow, the third installment: Food Gift Idea: Absolutely Sterling Chocolate Chip Cookies.
4 Comments
Food Gift Idea: Caramel and Almond Popcorn « Shoot to Cook
January 6, 2012 at 8:02 am[…] Food Gift Idea: Spice Rub […]
Lynne
January 7, 2012 at 4:11 pmI agree, Penzey’s is great. I think there are lots of folks in the area who don’t realize it is even there. It is a dangerous store to walk in, at least for us, as we always seem to leave having bought more than the ingredient we went in for. Thanks for these gift ideas…I already have a notebook started for Christmas 2012, and one of my goals is to plan ahead and make food gifts NOT at the last minute.
ShootToCook
January 7, 2012 at 4:46 pmYep, planning ahead was key for me getting everything done. But well worth the effort for sure. If you end up making any of the recipes let me know what you think!
Food Gift Ideas for Self Promotion - St. Louis Photographer, Editorial & Food Photography | Jonathan Gayman
August 26, 2012 at 3:14 pm[…] Food Gift Idea: Spice Rub […]