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also were the basis of many traditional medicines and were often used in dental products. (Remember the little bottle of clove oil Dustin Hoffman kept in his pocket after being “worked on” by Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man?)

Essential plant oils, whether from orange zest or coriander seeds, are highly volatile, that is they evaporate very quickly when exposed to the air. The problem is, you have to grind them to get their full flavor and aroma—and that’s about as exposed to air as you can get. What can you do? (See Spice Rules.)

There’s a reason why they call it a rub. Many recipes call for seasonings to be sprinkled onto the target food. But it’s not enough. Once you’ve liberally sowed the surface, massage that rub into the meat—work it into those nooks and crannies. Most of this “first strike” will seem to magically disappear. Let it rest for a few minutes and the salt that first went onto the meat will pull moisture to the surface, providing fertile ground for another strafing of goodness. Depending on the concentration of flavor desired, this process can be repeated up to five times.

The choice of rub depends not only on the target food but on the cooking method as well. For instance, I wouldn’t use the same rub on ribs that I intended to braise as a piece of tuna I intended to sear. For one thing, they have different flavor and texture profiles. The rub that is used on the Blackened Tuna Steak doesn’t need the assistance of fat to release its flavor, so it’s perfect for the relatively lean fish. The pepper and chile flavors in the rub for No-Backyard Baby Back Ribs not only foil the fattiness of the meat, but some of the ingredients (such as capsaicin, the hot stuff in chiles) are fat-soluble as well, so their flavor is actually activated by the fat as it cooks out of the meat.

If you intend to dry sear your target meat, you might want to avoid spices that turn bitter in the face of high heat, specifically black pepper and anything containing chiles, including bell pepper. Of course the blackening craze of the 1980s gave some folks a taste for burned, so if you like carbon…well, it’s your food.

These rubs are easy to make, but you don’t just get to throw all the spices together and be the hero. Most of the spices need to be toasted separately, then cooled thoroughly prior to being ground and mixed. This is a bit more work, but the result will be more pronounced flavors. Note that once toasted, spices will only keep for three months—and only if tightly sealed.

SPICE RULES

DON’T:

• buy spice sets just because you like the packaging.

• name music groups or any members thereof after spices.

• buy spices in bulk unless you’ve got a darned good reason…like you own a restaurant, barbecue competitively, or are working on a remake of Dune.

• store spices where you can see them.

• store spices near heat sources.

DO:

• buy whole (rather than ground) spices.

• keep an extra pepper grinder around for grinding small amounts of spice.

• keep an inexpensive electric coffee grinder around for grinding larger amounts of spice.

• make your own spice mixes.

• Mount the center grind shaft of a pepper grinder to a battery-powered drill or screwdriver. It’s a very effective way to grind spices.

Chicken Rub

Rubs really need high heat to “activate” their flavors, so this is best used with recipes for seared, grilled, or roasted chicken. Here’s one: rub a chicken breast with this spice mixture, then pan sear it, and slice the finished chicken into strips to serve over pasta.

Application: Rub

Toast the spices separately as described in Spice Rubs, using a small nonstick sauté pan, then grind in a spice or coffee grinder.

Combine all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, then transfer to an airtight storage container for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to use the rub, add salt as necessary.

Notes: The measurements in all of the rub recipes are provided as ratios: just make sure you stick to one measuring device (thimble, ladle, dump truck) and the result