Review: Pride of Szeged Rib Rub

I can not remember a time in my life when the word "paprika" was not virtually synonymous in my kitchen with the tall red-and-white tins, imported from Hungary, containing Pride of Szeged brand paprika. Both my mother and Maryanne's always had a tin of it in the kitchen - in the refrigerator door in case it "spoiled" before it could all be used - and when we got married, we kept up the tradition. Well, not the part about the refrigerator. There's never any question of our paprika going stale - we use it up far too quickly to worry about that.

Over the years, the Pride of Szeged brand has expanded to include other products, all of which are seemingly packaged in the same sort of traditional tall spice tin (for while other companies, including those in the US, have long since turned to cheap plastic bottles, Pride of Szeged continues to use lithographed spice tins with pretty much the same graphic design that they've always had.) There are rubs for beef, pork, chicken, and fish, as well as something they call "Pisa," which is a pretty damn delightful oregano-heavy Italian seasoning.

Yesterday, I found myself with three racks of ribs and no rub to season them with. Worse, I was short a few ingredients in the pantry, so I couldn't just make up a batch from scratch. Maryanne, Lynnafred, and I headed out to the supermarket to pick up what we needed, but those plans were immediately abandoned when we passed down the spice aisle and found a full selection of Pride of Szeged, including Rib Rub. The ingredients looked good and simple (Salt, Paprika, Garlic, Mustard, Sugar, Spices) and although I couldn't bust a tin open and give it a sniff, my lifelong reliance on Pride of Szeged as the House Paprika helped me decide to give it a try.

I rubbed each rack of ribs generously with the spice blend and let it sit for about an hour as I got the smokehouse preheated and ready. When the box had heated up to about 250 F and the smoke generator was pumping out a good stream of hickory smoke, I put the ribs in for the long, slow cooking time that would turn them into tender delicacies. It took about three hours.

I was very happy with the results. The Pride of Szeged Rib Rub is flavorful and enhances the pork without covering up the flavor - a nice mustard flavor, not too spicy despite the paprika, and not too sweet despite the sugar. At first taste, it does seem to be a bit heavy on the salt, but after an application of good barbecue sauce and some crisping time on a hot grill, the saltiness also blends into the overall flavor and comes into balance.

It's fairly economical as well. The five-ounce tin I bought was more than enough to liberally coat all three full racks of ribs with enough left over to do a couple more, for a little less than four dollars. I'm saving the rest to mix with some Bell's poultry seasoning and apply to a bone-in pork loin roast. I bet it will be awesome.

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McCormick's Recipe Inspirations

Here's an interesting item I found at one of the local supermarkets not too long ago:  McCormick Recipe Inspirations.  Aimed at novice cooks, each Recipe Inspiration blisterpack has six small portions of McCormick herbs or spices and a recipe card.  Buy the spice pack, buy the other ingredients listed on the recipe card, and you're on your way to a meal.

This seems like such a great idea, and such an obvious way to market to beginners, that I'm surprised that no one has ever thought of this before.  After all, spices and seasonings are kind of expensive, and they can be pretty daunting to someone who hasn't learned how to cook by apprenticing in the kitchen at mom's elbow.  At about $1.99 per package, Recipe Inspirations seems like it could be an ideal introduction to exciting flavors.

Yet still I wonder.  

Reviews around the web don't seem to be all that favorable - many of them note that the McCormick recipe cards call for using all the herbs and spices provided in the kit, but that the flavors are unbalanced or even too strong for the number of servings noted on the card.  There is an enormous amount of packaging involved with the seemingly-simple blisterpacks and none of it is reusable.  And then there is the seemingly paltry price of $1.99.  That two bucks only buys you 8g of spices, and they're all gone in one use - hardly as economical as it appears at first glance.  It seems to me that a beginner would be better off making a careful selection of bottled herbs and spices, spending some time smelling and tasting them, and then trying them out in a few unfamiliar recipes from a trusted favorite cookbook.  As the novice gains experience, they also gain a decent stock of herbs and spices instead of just a wastebasket full of empty plastic-and-cardboard bubbles.

That's a more costly approach, but herbs and spices don't need to be expensive (some will always be more pricey than others due to climatic conditions, the political situation in the countries of origin, difficulty of harvest, and so on.)  Many herbs and more common spices are available at dollar stores and job lots, and I can tellyou from personal experience that the quality is pretty good.  In addition, good-quality herbs and spices are often available inexpensively at ethnic markets.  And then, of course, there are money-saving online stores where you can order what you need if you don't mind waiting a short time for delivery.

Seasonings Part Four: Pork Salt

We all have our little kitchen "secrets" - little things we do or seasonings we use that make our dishes unique. My mom's beef stew is a great example of that. I could never get my beef stew to taste as good as my mom's, no matter what I did. So one day, I asked her how she made her stew gravy so damn delicious.

"Stir in a couple of tablespoons of ketchup after you thicken it," she told me. "Nothing improves gravy like a hint of tomato."

She's right. Tomato is indeed a key component of awesome gravy. I nearly always include a tomato or two in with the "aromatics" when I make a non-poultry broth, stew, soup, or pot roast. If I'm in a hurry, though, I'll use canned tomatoes, ketchup, or a dab of tomato paste. If you've never tried it you should.

My own little secret is for pork. I keep a shaker of what my family calls "Pork Salt" by the stove, and use it as kind of a universal pigmeat seasoning. Roast, chops, ribs, whatever - it's a "base seasoning" for me that seems to bring out the best flavors of the meat, even if I'm later going to use the pork for chili verde, in a spaghetti sauce, or with barbecue sauce. I always use some Pork Salt for at least the initial browning.

Pork Salt
Makes about 1¼ cups.

1 cup salt
2 tablespoons Bell's Seasoning*
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon powdered sage
1 tablespoon powdered thyme
1 teaspoon ground coriander

Mix all ingredients together in a jar or spice bottle with a shaker lid.

If the different spices and salt separate into layers because of non-uniform grain sizes, you can pulse them in a spice grinder or work them over with a mortar and pestle before putting them into the shaker.

Experiment with the blend to achieve your own favorite taste. Adding a bit of allspice and some powdered habanero pepper gives it a "jerk" taste. Or you could try adding cumin, chipotle powder and some powdered dried ancho peppers to give your seasoning a southwest flavor.

Link:

*Bell's Seasoning is a New England-made poultry seasoning; they've been around since 1867, and as long as I can remember my family's kitchens have had a box of Bell's in the cupboard ready for use. If you can't find it near you, there are links on Bell's website that will let you mail order it (or you can use your own favorite poultry seasoning blend. But I bet Bell's is better. LOL, alliteration.)

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There's One Born Every Minute...

Times are tough right now, and that's even being reflected in the food press with stories about 2009 being a year for comfort foods, more cooking at home, and more economizing in the pantry. And that makes me wonder how an outfit like TSP Spices can stay in business.

TSP's name pretty much says it all. They sell organic spices in single-teaspoon pouches which in turn are packaged in fancy little tins. The tins retail for $9.00 and up, and each of them contains a dozen pouches.

Yeah, you read that right. 12 teaspoons - a quarter of a cup! - of herbs or spices for nine dollars.

TSP claims that their single-teaspoon pouches keep their organic product fresher, and that having pre-measured spices are more convenient. I'm sorry, but I just can't swallow such a huge chunk of bullshit. Tightly-sealed jars in a dark cupboard will keep bulk packages of herbs and spices fresh and flavorful, and annoying little rip-open pouches will never be more convenient than a handy set of measuring spoons.

There is also a distinct odor of hypocrisy here, what with all the cozy speech about "organic" foods and "supporting local farmers." One of their pages says, "but if you trace your food back to its source, you get a sense of what it really means to be good global citizens and conscientious stewards of environmental resources" Somehow, I doubt that putting tiny dabs of spices into petrochemically-manufactured tubes and then further packaging them into tins with paper inserts, labels, boxes, and shrinkwrap is an example of good environmental stewardship. I'm sure all that industrial crank contributes to the astronomical price tag, too.

"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public."

-- H L Mencken

Link:

TSP's Website. Check them out and make up your own mind.

Sweet Life Salt - c. 1978