Salmon Rub

Spice rubs and spice mixes are only limited by your imagination and sense of adventure. Both items can be pricey in the stores. Yesterday I spotted two brands that were over $20 lb. Would you buy a pound? Probably not but the individual jars for sale were $7. Why spend it when you probably already have the ingredients? Pick up a tin of one of these celebrity rubs and read the back. Every day, normal ingredients that a food enthusiast probably already has and a food newbie can easily get.

Most rubs, especially salmon rubs, include brown sugar to give it that nice carmelization taste and feel. Next, people want salt - especially on meat and fish and especially with sweet. I also vote for the heat as the third component to any rub but many people would veto that. The rest, I think is up to you.

I created this rub based on a past rub I made but didn't record. It's a little different but very tasty. Surprisingly, a very little bit of salt was sufficient and a very tiny bit of the right heat satisfied the heat tolerance of all the diners. We used it on salmon that we cooked on a cedar plank on the grill. We also dusted sweet potatoes with this mix before roasting them. Really, really tasty.

3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp + 1 tsp sambar powder
2 tbsp unsweetened, grated coconut
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ancho chili podwer
1/4 tsp salt

Mix everything in a bowl. Apply generously to the flesh side of a nice piece of salmon before you grill it.