Who is Steven Raichlen?
Steven Raichlen, also known as the "master of the grill", is someone who has traveled around the world several times. He is a journalist, a food critic, a food enthusiast, a "foodie"... He loves to make new discoveries.
For example, he will go to one of the best restaurants in Morocco, taste the meal, then chat with the chef in the kitchen. After that, he will go to dinner at his house to see how he prepares his other dishes. He will also ask him what he prepares on the weekend so he can taste his creations. What happens when the chef is in the forest? What does he cook? And when camping? Steven draws his ideas from his great curiosity.
What is wonderful is that he is able to popularize what he learns through his travels and culinary experiences when he creates his own products. The 6 dry marinades he made are like a cumulative of the best notions he learned.
Steven is a person who makes us try new blends and who takes us, in a way, on his journeys.
(I'll take this opportunity to digress and tell you that it's partly thanks to him that we have BBQ Québec products that are out of the ordinary. He inspired us to create different products that don't already exist on the market. So, hats off to Steven! 👏 OK... back to the blog. 😜)
What do I particularly like about his dry marinades?
Without hesitation, I would say that it is the quality of his products that I find phenomenal. Another thing that I find super interesting is that he manages to give a different taste to his dry marinades. They do not taste like the "usual" BBQ spices.
Normally, dry marinades for BBQ are “sweet”, “spicy”, “hot”… but he makes us discover a region at the same time.
For example, the Malabar Steak , honestly, there is something in it that I have never found in any other spice. Steven was able to put Malabar pepper in it, a very high quality pepper that tastes really good and he makes us discover it wonderfully in his dry marinade. It has a really incredible taste. It is not for nothing that people become addicted to it. 😜
By the way, their dry marinades are also gluten-free, so that's another interesting plus.
My favorite dry marinade
I just mentioned it, but seriously, it's the Malabar Steak. I especially like the Carolina Spice Powder too, but... Malabar Steak is the "best of the best". It's unlike anything else; it's truly special and perfectly balanced. In fact, just smelling it makes you want to taste it! (I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it!)
My affection for this dry marinade also comes from the fact that it is largely thanks to it, among other things, that we exist. It's true; it sold (and still sells) really well in my parents' hardware store. We were already offering it to our customers when we opened our stores and it brought a lot of people from all over Quebec to come see us. So I am very grateful for that.
The best protein/dry rub pairing
Now, you might be thinking, "That's all well and good, but what do I eat that with, Malabar Steak (or Carolina Spice Powder...)!?" I'm getting there! 😊
You know, I'm a steak guy, so on beef, the Malabar Steak works really well. Otherwise, it's also really, really solid with seafood.
The Santa Fe really does taste great on beef, but it's also surprisingly delicious on salmon. You wouldn't expect to put coffee on salmon, but it's REALLY good. Give it a try!
The "best of the best" for this one is pork. Otherwise, I love it on chicken or to top something. Cottage cheese, a dip, or yogurt mixed with sour cream, for example.
With beef, the Pepper and Fennel makes a good combination. Otherwise, I recommend using it with more "fancy" cuts of meat like filet mignon, rump or flank steak.
The classic combo with this one is Kansas City dry rub and pork or chicken. It's seriously good with fish too!
Since it has a more "herbaceous" side, this dry rub is very good on grilled cheeses, tuna, lamb... slightly less common flavors. It goes well with chicken too, but the flavor will be completely different from what you are used to. The taste of herbs really dominates.
Optimal use
There are a million different ways to season meats. You can sprinkle your dry rub on your meat either way before you cook it, a few seconds before, or after it's cooked.
Personally, on beef, I find that sprinkling the dry rub before, 45 minutes or more before cooking the piece of meat, is ideal. Why? Because by seasoning the meat while it is still cold, a chemical reaction is created. After a period of between 45 minutes to 2 hours, the salt in the dry rub will allow the meat to absorb the spices and soak up their flavor. It's a bit complex to explain, but it's a process that "seals" the meat and makes it "smooth", delicious and juicy.
Alternatively, for beef, putting the dry rub on the meat at the last minute before grilling is also a good option.
With chicken or pork, however, you usually spread the rub on the protein ahead of time because you want to "seal" the meat. For example, the best way to make chicken is to put the spices on, then let the meat sit in the refrigerator for about 1 to 4 hours. The chicken will then be similar to dry-brined, a process where the salt in the seasoning seals in the juices. So you'll get the flavor of the meat, but you'll also get the "chemical element" of the rub.
Otherwise, I don't recommend putting dry rub on meats once they're cooked/grilled, because often a dry rub is designed to be cooked. In fact, it's, in most cases, produced so that its flavor profile fully develops while cooking/grilling. So it's best to use it before heating the meat.
A champion's recipe
Have I given you a taste? If you are looking for a recipe to make with a Steven Raichlen dry rub, I highly recommend making our famous injected filet mignon. It is a classic recipe that JP makes during BBQ 102 classes and has been tested many times. It is always a success. 🔥
You will find it at the bottom of this article: 3 cuts of beef, 3 recipes . However, you can replace the dry marinade 49e parallèle BBQ Québec X La Ferme Monette with Steak de Malabar if you want to try one more! 😉
Happy BBQ!