Ive got my hands on a few of Barts new Smokehouse Barbecue meat rubs to review over the next few weeks. Now, Im quite a fan of Bart- my spice rack is rammed with their single spices but Im not usually a fan of blends because they often contain some kind of preservative or citric acid, which taints the flavour. Besides, I prefer to make my own.
But looking at the ingredients lists on the new rubs, everything looks top-notch. This first rub, for example Smokey Chipotle Rub (I always though Smoky was the way to spell it, but hey-ho) contains brown sugar, onion, paprika, smoked chipotle chilli, smoked paprika, sea salt, roasted garlic, black pepper and rapeseed oil. Sounds pretty good to me.
Each pack contains a little plastic bag in which you can marinate your meat. The Smokey Chipotle Rub suggests using it to marinate pork ribs, but Ive decided to try it with lamb cutlets. I dont have a barbecue, unfortunately, so my oven grill had to suffice.
So here’s the recipe
Serves 2-4
- 2 racks lamb cutlets, trimmed of all fat and cut into individual chops
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- Glug of olive oil
- Packet of Bart Smokey Chipotle Rub
1. Put all the ingredients into the Bart marinating bag (its a plastic bag, basically). Massage the marinade into the meat and put in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight.
2. When youre ready to cook, heat a grill to very high. Shake any excess marinade off the cutlets and put on a grill rack. Cook for 4-5 mins on each side.
3. I served them with red and yellow pepper fried rice.
The verdict: Very pleasant smoky flavour, with a gentle heat and a tartness from the lemon. Very nice indeed and incredibly quick and simple.
Other rubs in the Bart Smokehouse Barbecue range include New York Steak, Mediterranean, Lemon and Sweet Pepper, and Tandoori. They cost 1.49 each. I’ll be trying them all over the coming weeks.
