Best Meat Rub Ever

My Charming Companion was given a hand-me-down smoker sometime recently, and last weekend was its inaugural adventure. The plan was to smoke two deer necks and some pork ribs to have copious quantities of meat to eat, freeze and share. The smoker was a big success - it's like a giant slow cooker that is outside and that imparts delicious smoky flavor not in the form of liquid smoke.  We tried two different rubs, and one of them was the clear winner: lots of paprika! The other rub was a cumin, oregano, chili powder blend that was just not as delicious. The paprika one went on one of the roasts and the ribs, much to my delight because it was so tasty.

Pre-smoked venison - this rub recipe is up front

Pork or Beef Rub
4 T sea salt
4 T paprika
2 T pepper
2 T garlic
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp ground celery seed (I used celery salt and reduced the salt)
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp ground chipotle pepper

Mix spices together thoroughly. It will make almost a cup's worth of rub, which will cover a lot of meat - you can save any extra in a jar with your other spices. You want the meat to be quite dry, so either press it with a towel, or let it sit out in the fridge uncovered for several hours to dry a bit. Sprinkle/press the rub all over the meat (no need to actually rub). Beef brisket, neck, or pork roast or ribs would all be great. *Be more sparing on ribs so that they aren't over salty.

I have never made ribs before, and there was something so delectable about eating them at home, fresh out of the smoker with some sugar free bbq sauce and homemade slaw. Who needs to go out to eat? The ribs we used were ones from the half hog Pastures a Plenty purchase - these were the one set of full ribs in the whole package. But now I want to get more because they are so incredibly delicious! All we had to do was sprinkle them with the rub, stick them in the smoker for 6 hours, and than eat them. You could do the same in an oven, slow cooking the ribs at a low temp.