Our first review! 2 Gringos Chupacabra – Ribnoxious Seasoning

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I first used this seasoning for pork spare ribs. It has become one of my go-to seasonings for pork, not just ribs.

I did not use a binder the first, second, or even third time using this seasoning. I pre-seasoned my ribs, coating them pretty liberally. I generally will let my pork sit with seasoning for an hour or two. I try to let them get down closer to room temperature before they go on the smoker. I’m currently using a Weber 22″ Kettle grill, I use the snake setup for this, which is where you layer your briquettes, so that each briquette is touching the one in front and behind it, a layer of 2 rows on the bottom and the one or 2 rows on top. I prefer a 2×1 but that really depends on the outside ambient temperature. For my winter smokes, I’ll kick it up to a 2×2 and monitor temperatures throughout. I’ll then place some wood chunks at the beginning of the snake, where I’ll dump my hot coals I’ve started in a chimney. I shoot for 225-240 Fahrenheit throughout the smoke, and want an internal temperature of 190 degrees before I pull the ribs. Now, a lot of people will hem and haw about the proper way to smoke you ribs. While there are other techniques that make things easier, I find that if you smoke some meat, and enjoy what you’ve done, and can’t tell much of a difference, then you need to go with what you like. Taste is mostly opinion anyway, and where some folks might like a light smoke flavor, others might want that to be the keynote flavor. The methods I use are tried and true for me. I don’t flip my ribs, I don’t baste them, and I don’t cut the rack any, although I used to. I just didn’t notice a great difference between a cut rack and whole rack when smoking them.

Now that we’ve covered my methods, lets get to the taste profile on this seasoning. This is a sweet and savory blend, with the right amount of kick to it. Now I enjoy spicy food, but my wife and children aren’t quite as fond of the heat levels I like. This is perfect for them, so I would assume it’s pretty accessible to most palates. I add a little brown sugar near the end of my smoke so that I get some extra sweet, but for the longest time, I was just using this and only this seasoning. I will smoke about 1 rack every week to two weeks, that’s how much we like this rub.