Hunky Dory

It’s been months since Rich sent me samples of his Mad Hunky products to test. Between the weather, and Friend Wife’s surgery, I’m only now getting around to it. So, first off, let me apologize for the delay.

Rich sent four products: The General Purpose Rub, and the Hot Wang! Rub, which I had requested. He also included samples of the Pork Brine and Poultry Brine.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t subscribe to the brining mania that has swept the culinary world. Indeed, every time I break down and try it the food winds up tasting too salty. So, frankly, I haven’t been in any rush to play with those two. What I’ll likely to is pass them on to friends who do brine, and get their evaluations.

There are two ways to evaluate products like these; by direct tasting, and by using them for their intended purposes. When I direct tasted the rubs, I felt that the GP one was well balanced, but could use slightly more heat. The Hot Wang! presented a problem. While I thought it was tasty, it was far too hot for Friend Wife. Which meant I would only use the GP for actual testing. On the direct taste test I first tasted salt, then a balance of flavors, and then rather high heat following up and lingering. I suspect the major difference in the two products is merely a highly concentration of cayenne, which tends to hit you the same way.

What I did for the in-use test was use two racks of back ribs. One would follow my regular procedure, the other would have just the rub.

FWIW, here’s how I do ribs. After removing the membrane on the back of the bones, and any excess fat, I spread a thin coating of yellow mustard over the ribs. The rub I’m using then gets sprinkled heavily on the rack, and patted into place. The ribs are then left, uncovered, in the fridge overnight.

In the morning they come out at least two hours before going in the smoker, to come to room temperature. I then smoke them at 250-275F until tender. This usually takes about 2 ½ hours. I then brush them with barbecue sauce, and leave them in the smoker another half hour. They then get wrapped in foil, and rest another half hour before serving.

By cooking one rack wet and one dry I would be able to taste ribs with just the Mad Hunky rub, and taste them compared to my usual rub/sauce combo.

My conclusion: The Mad Hunky General Purpose rub is better than any other commercial rub I’ve tried. But it’s not as good as the rub I mix myself.

In both cases, the Mad Hunky added flavor notes that highlighted the pork taste without covering it up. “General Purpose” is, indeed, an apt name, as I can see myself sprinkling it on other foods, including fish and poultry---or even hamburgers. But I also felt it lacked the depth of my own rub. And the heat level could have been kicked up a hair---but not by as much as the Hot Wang!

Somewhere along the line I intend testing the Hot Wang! on something that I’ll eat but Friend Wife won’t. My feeling is, however, that it should be a good rub for strong foods like pork and beef, which can stand up to the heat. But not for more tender proteins, like poultry and fish.

All in all I’d say if you don’t mix your own rubs, for whatever reason, you’d go a long way finding better commercial products than these.