Monk: After interviewing pitmasters Matthew Berry and Michael Wagner from Midwood Smokehouse, I took home a bottle of the (at the time) recently-released Matt’s Rub. Nearly two years later and I have certainly put it through its paces on a variety of meats.

Most recently I used the rub for pork belly burnt ends I smoked for this year’s Super Bowl following this recipe from Hardcore Carnivore. After cubing the 9 lb. pork belly, I tossed them in the rub to evenly coat before placing on a cooking rack and placing in the smoker for two hours.

After two hours (rotating the racks in the smoker after an hour), I tossed them in a sauce mixture of Sweet Baby Ray’s, local honey, and chicken broth before putting back onto the smoker in an aluminum pan for another 2 hours total.

In total, after 4 hours I had pork pillows perfect for Super Bowl snacking. I have extolled the virtues of pork belly burnt ends before and I wasn’t let down by smoking them for the big game, both in terms of results as well as time spent. Each bite was well-balanced between spice, smoke, and sweetness.

And what about Matt’s Rub? The rub itself has a slight kick but I have found it to be a great all purpose rub. From this pork belly to pork butts, pork tenderloins, chuck roasts, chicken, and burgers, each time I was quite pleased with the results.From that conversation almost 2 years ago, here’s what Mathew and Mike each used it on, at least back then:

Is it an all-purpose rub? It can go on anything? What do you use it most on at home?
MB: At home? I use it on burgers the most. I cook a lot of burgers at home.
MW: I would use it on beef and pork. I would use it on chicken with maybe a little more black pepper, just cause that’s the way I like it. I mean anybody that knows anything about dry rubs, if they make one its going to have all of this in it.

Midwood Smokehouse has also since introduced a line of sauces, which we briefly discussed in that same conversation. Maybe next time maybe I’ll use their Matt’s Original Sauce instead of the mass-produced Sweet Baby Ray’s.

You can purchase Matt’s Rub online and at all Midwood Smokehouse locations.