Salt & Pepper. Has it became cliche?

pgprescott

Darby_Crenshaw said:

Nope. 
No other seasoning does what salt does. It's the only chemical reaction among seasonings. All others are added flavors. But salt is actually doing work

pepper?  It may not be salt, but it is chief among the others

This is spot on. S&P are the kings. Cannot do without them. Nothing wrong with the other flavorings though. IMO. 

SGH

FarmerTom said:

I think it's a matter of personal preference.  

When it comes to rubs, marinades, injections, wood, lump, smoke profile, doneness, slathers, condiments, etc etc, the above quoted is número uno and all that matters in the end when cooking for ones self. However when cooking for others, it's a whole new ballgame.  

Fred19Flintstone

The classics never go out of style.  S&P on beef is more than good enough.  It's great!    Pork, chicken ... I use other things.

gdenby

Came across a useful clarification the other day. "Seasoning" is just salt and pepper. "Flavoring" is everything else.

So, if you have something that already is quite flavorful, such as a well smoked piece of fat beef, S&P may even be going overboard, tho' a pepper crust adds an essential bit of crunch.

YukonRon

I have made my own general purpose rub and use it almost on everything. Due to the preparation involving marinade or brining certain proteins, I use that process for the addition of salt.
The rub I use is heavy on the garlic, onion powder, coarse ground black pepper, brown sugar, smoked paprika, and a touch of cayenne. If I do not brine or marinate, I will add coarse ground sea salt, in very small quantities. 
Usually turns out ok.
I have used other rubs, and they are very good, but for the cost, and consistency I like mine. Did I mention I am cheap? In the style of Dixie, of course!

Robo2015

Man, I think I received every DP rub ever created for Christmas last year...I'm trying to come up with excuses to use fancy rubs on ANYTHING!  But, to answer your question- im a rub guy.  I love the various flavors...but really it is mostly because trying out different rubs is part of the fun for me.

jabam

I never use just S&P.  I have too many rubs from the sauce and rub exchange to use up. Lol!

Thatgrimguy

I think, on a quality brisket, the rub makes very little difference. The S/P gives great bark, and provides all the meat needs.  But after 6-12 hours in smoke, some time wrapped in butcher paper. I don't find the rub has near the effect on the flavor of a brisket that it does on pulled pork (Mostly because I add more after pulling) chicken, or ribs.  

That said, I've only ever done one S/P brisket just to see the hype. I'll stick with my SPOG (made with 5pepper blend)  Or oakridge black ops

Brisket_Fanatic

Salt is a must and I love pepper so they are in a lot of my homemade rubs. However I normally have 6-12 other herbs and spices to go with it. May not be for others but we like it. 

SGH

Fred19Flintstone said:

The classics never go out of style.  

I agree. S&P is the base for just about everything. And no doubt if you combine just salt, pepper, meat and heat, you get good results. But I'm curious, everyone's go to answer is now salt and pepper, I just wonder how many are actually following their on advice. To me salt and pepper is a must on just about everything. However I'm a cayenne freak and can't imagine not using it. Sure you can argue that cayenne is a pepper, however the rumor is salt and black pepper only. By far and large I'm just curious if salt and pepper is really most folks go to rub for all things now. The only thing that I can think of that I use just S&P on is grits and French fries. Heck I even hit them with cayenne at times.  

Mattman3969

On good cuts of beef its salt only,everything else gets either commercial rubs or a mix out of my spice cabinet 

SGH

Mattman3969 said:

On good cuts of beef its salt only,

On certain cuts of quality beef that I'm going to eat almost raw I will do the salt only trick as well. However this is for basically raw beef.  

SciAggie

@SGH I answered earlier, but I want to frame my answer in context. When we spoke on the phone a while back I told you how I cooked brisket hot and fast 20 years ago when I didn't know any different - and now people talk about it like it's a new thing. That's how I feel about S&P. For beef, regardless if it's brisket or steak I like a little salt and lots of coarse ground black pepper. I've been doing that since before it was in vogue too. That's honestly all I use. I have tried rubs since I bought my egg, but I've gone back to just good 'ol S&P.

Chicken and pork are a different story. I like to play with different flavor a on them. 

gdenby

For me, just now, just S&P is not a big deal. Part of this is because there are several markets in town, one that started Vietnamese, but has branched out to offer things from around the Orient, and even the Caribbean, and another, Indian, that has just tripled in size. I'm seeing more different spices than I've ever seen, often at ridiculously low prices.

Every butcher shop in town is making their own rubs.

After being a dry rib fan for the last 25 years, I'm finally beginning to see the point in sauces. It appears there are some flavors that cook away, notably black pepper and paprika. Building a sauce that brings those flavors back seems like a good idea.

Ragtop99

I use very little salt now.  Plenty of things I make w/o salt.  I use pepper a fair amount, but rarely just black pepper.  It might be a lemon pepper or ancho or chipolte.  But there are things I make w/o S&P.  Hamburgers are one.  A little bit of garlic, onion, and oregano gets added, but that's it.  

Legume

Cliche is a mighty big word, but it's ok, I looked it up.

I love different rubs.  I always like trying something new.  However, I have noticed for a while that on anything cooked low and slow, I cannot taste much difference between the rubs unless there is a really strong presence of salt, black pepper, cayenne/heat, or maybe sugar.  I say maybe on the sugar because it really fades more than the others.  Everything else disappears to me.  On chicken and fish or anything that's a relatively quick cook, I can taste it more.  For this reason, I've stopped using expensive rubs on anything that's going to cook for a while - including ribs.  I'll put something on to help with a bark, but more and more it's whatever rub is in the cabinet that I don't really love and want to get rid of or it's some simple combo of s&p, onion, garlic, smoked paprika depending on what I'm cooking.  The longer it's going to cook, the fewer ingredients.  The exception to this is I will use a few shakes of a flavorful rub at the end as a final seasoning.

FATC1TY

I think S&P is the "thing" because of the rise of simplicity. We as cooks, and lovers of food have been moved to simple, local, fresh, clean, etc.

Eat local, drink local. Know your food. Less is best, let the ingredients and proteins shine, so I think salt and pepper being simple, cheap, and the basis for most if not all rubs and seasonings, king.

FWIW, we do the Hello Fresh meals from time to time. Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper is all they require one to have to cook a pretty great meal, simple too.

But as a whole, I think for things like Brisket, it's just a "proud" factor or minimal seasoning complexity and letting the fire, the wood, the time and the beef be great.

I like Salt and Pepper only, growing up in CenTex myself, but I'll be honest, I mix it up, and I enjoy some of the wild flavors and spices of many rubs available, and for various meats too I think it changes.

Living in Georgia, we love our pork. Pork is king around here. I love a sweet and hot rub on pork, just as much as a simple salt and papper with some garlic and onion in it.

Eat what you like, the critics aren't.

Dredger

For beef, salt, pepper, and garlic rules. On pork, a big fan of Dizzy Pig rubs. For poultry, salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, thyme, lemon, and anything else that suits our fancy. I agree with @Dyal_SC, it depends on the cut of meat. Fantastic looking brisket BTW.

blasting

For me, brisket is 4 parts pepper, 2 parts salt, 1 part garlic, 3 parts Montreal steak.

For pork butts - I brine and make my own rub without salt, as @YukonRon said above.

For chicken and everything else I still use prepared rubs, but as I use them up I'll be experimenting with my own replacements.  

SGH

blasting said:

3 parts Montreal steak.

I'm glad that you mentioned the Montreal. It's one of my very favorites. It has several different kinds of pepper in it and it's of a very course grind. I buy it by the quart for about 12 bucks. Money well spent in my book. I love it on all beef. 

lwrehm

Salt and Pepper, its all I really like on beef and pork I'm done with all other rubs on my meat.

Fred19Flintstone

SGH said:

I agree. S&P is the base for just about everything. And no doubt if you combine just salt, pepper, meat and heat, you get good results. But I'm curious, everyone's go to answer is now salt and pepper, I just wonder how many are actually following their on advice. 

I can't say I use S&P exclusively for beef, but it's in the rotation.  We also like Montreal Steak seasoning.

2beast

Salt and pepper are a starting point but rarely the final answer here.
I usually make my own including onion and garlic among other things with a little more garlic thrown in for good measure,

I have been on a Dizzy Pig run here as of late as well.

HeavyG

I'm an old school conservative and most grilled/smoked/bbq'd meat I prepare only gets S&P or Montreal Seasoning (which I also use on chicken). I never inject. I never glaze with but one occasional exception - chicken wings.

I'm more into a selection of sauces/condiments at the table to let people find their own bliss. 

I do go thru a lot of chimichurri but again mostly on the table side tho I will occasionally marinade a chicken breast in that while it is in the hot tub or put under the skin of a whole chicken which will be roasted/spun.

When making Kahlua pork I will stab the butt a dozen times and insert whole garlic cloves but the only rub is Alaea salt and just a bit of pepper.

I have tried a variety of rubs on ribs over the years but still just prefer S&P and then sauce on the table.

I think it is more a case of all these fancy rubs being a cliche, a fad, hipster fashion, liberal weakness, urban trendiness, and that the pendulum is finally swinging back to good old simple seasoning.

Or it could just as easily be that using just S&P is the hipster trend and that it will soon pass and folks can get back to all their fancy shmancy rubs.

SGH

Fred19Flintstone said:

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SGH said:

We also like Montreal Steak seasoning.

Glad to hear this^^^^^^^^^^^. It's cheap and it's honestly really good stuff. Due to the various peppers, it really shines on beef. 

Biggreenpharmacist

I'm a big proponent of a simple rub of MSG. 

Sardonicus

HeavyG said:

I'm an old school conservative . . .

Me too.

SGH

Sardonicus said:

show previous quotes

HeavyG said:

I'm an old school conservative . . .

Me too.

What's ironic about that is I'm actually a real old school democrat commonly referred to as a Dixiecrat. However as the 2 sides flip flopped on issues, I switched parties as well. 

SGH

Dredger said:

Fantastic looking brisket BTW.

Thanks sister. I appreciate it.  

HeavyG

Biggreenpharmacist said:

I'm a big proponent of a simple rub of MSG. 

I always like to mix some gluten with my MSG when making a rub.