If you’re a barbecue hobbyist (a much gentler sounding term than "barbecue obsessed idiot" or "bbq head" or "charcoal junkie"), there are going to be times when you don’t have the time or want to take the time to make everything from scratch.

So what does one do?  Well, there’s nothing wrong with having a few standby commercial rubs standing by for emergencies.  I have heard Dizzy Pig rubs are really great, and I plan on trying some of them.  For sauces, bottled sauces can easily be doctored up to be unique.

Some of us are barbecue snobs, though, and prefer to use our own recipes for everything.  Is it snobbery or just enjoying the fact that the end product is a result of only our own efforts?  It’s true that using someone else’s rubs and sauces still require some expertise at the smoker, but I get more satisfaction out of knowing that I used things from base ingredients up.  I have been known to even make my own ketchup to use as a base for sauces.

So how does one make sure that rubs and sauces are ready when needed and that they are homemade?

Rubs aren’t too tough, except for one thing… a lot of brown sugar is used in making rubs, and brown sugar makes rubs clump.  There are a couple of things you can do to prevent this though.  One is to dry the brown sugar.  Pouring a bag out onto a cookie sheet and putting into a very low oven will dry out the sugar.  Then the use of it won’t cause clumping in rubs.  What I prefer, though, is to use turbinado sugar.  I like turbinado sugar because it’s very unprocessed; cane sugar is pressed, and the juice is evapaporated and spun in a turbine or centrifuge, producing crystals.  Turbinado often is in larger pieces, but putting in a coffee mill will powder it very well.  Taste is similar to brown sugar. 

So for rubs, I just substitute turbinado sugar for brown, mix it up well, and store it in larger containers or air-tight bags.  If I’m storing rubs, I put the whole rub in a blender for a bit to get the particles all roughly the same size; this helps the rub not separate for later use.

With sauces, it’s easy to have homemade sauces ready at hand.  My wife took up canning, and we finally canned a couple of sauces.  Tonight, I’m making labels for the sauces, and I’ll have homemade sauce whenever I need it!  Once I find a sauce I like, this is an easy way to ensure that I have more for later and that what I do make doesn’t spoil before it’s used.

The process of canning is cheap and easy; don’t let it seem too daunting.  Stores everywhere have canning supplies.  All you really need is a big canning pot, a jar lifter, jars, lids and bands, along with a canning funnel and a ladle. 

The sauce is cooked normally.  When the sauce is about ready, the canning pot is filled with enough water to cover the jars to be used and brought to a boil.  The jars are put into the pot for 10 minutes to sterilize them, then taken out, taking care not to touch the insides or the tops (using the jar lifter but be careful).  While the jars are boiling, the lids are also boiled.  Using the funnel, ladle in sauce to as close to the top as possble.  Remove the funnel and make sure the jar is full, and wipe off the outside of the jar lip.  Place lids on the jars and apply bands to keep the lids on.  Place the jars back in the water (should still be boiling), ensuring the water is at least 1" above the tops.  Boil for 10 minutes and remove to cool, ensuring the jars are not touching (they can shatter as they cool).  As the jars cool, you’ll hear the lids ‘pop’, creating a vacuum seal (this is good).  This works well with barbecue sauce because of the acidity from the sugars and the vinegar.

For very little effort, you can have bags of rubs and quarts of sauces to put in the pantry to pull out whenever you need!  This stuff also makes great gifts!

I have nothing against those that use prepackaged rubs or bottled sauces, but I encourage everyone to find something that is theirs alone.  Start with simple recipes and start playing.  I’ve heard that if you significantly change 3 items in a recipe, it’s no longer the same recipe.  So grab a recipe you like and start changing it around!

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