Ring of Fire Seasoning Rub

You can find many variations of this rub online. We use it on everything from pork, chicken, fish, beef and vegetables. We found it originally from Alton Brown, who happens to be one of our favorite TV personalities. He always brings a smart amount information to help you understand the food and the process. This post is really just as a reference because we use it so much in a lot of recipes that I needed a place to record our variation so we can reproduce it easily.

Here is our variation of the Ring of Fire Spice Rub:

• 1 part curry powder (see recipe below)
• 1 part chili powder
• 1 part adobo powder
• 1 part ground cumin
• 1 part smoked paprika
• 1 part cayenne powder
• 1 parts cocoa powder
• 1/2 part garlic powder
• 1/2 part onion powder
• 1/2 part ground black pepper
• 1/2 part salt

The good part about this rub is that you can adjust it to you specific taste. For example, most of them don’t call for the cayenne but we like the heat so we always include it. Also, we usually cut back a little on the cocoa, but that’s just our personal preference. The original recipe has 2 parts cocoa powder.

While making this again, we realized we didn’t have curry powder. Here is the substitute we now use:

• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground cardamom (see below)
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1/4 cup turmeric
• 1 tablespoon dry mustard
• 1 tablespoon cayenne powder

Finally, for this recipe, we realized we didn’t have cardamom. So, after looking online for a substitute, we found a recipe for 1 part cinnamon and 1 part nutmeg.