Seeking dry rubs for those of us on restricted(Low) salt diets

[CHeatermk3]

After my trip to the ER early April I found out that I have CHF (congestive heart failure) and now am on a low-sodium diet. This means that most all my rubs and marinades recipes will need to be adjusted to reduce or better, yet eliminate salt altogether. Since I'm retired and love to cook and especially to BBQ/Grill I have found that the only way to eat well and lose the salt is to avoid restaurant food altogether and eat 100% home cooked and canned food.

We can our own garden produce esp. Tomato products but I could use some help in the rubs and marinades department.

Any help, recipes and suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

TIA
Mike Maffucci

[nicholst55]

Tagged for future reference.

[MaryB]

Lemon, celery seed, and garlic are all great salt substitutes. Friend of mine is salt free due to heart issues so I use ground celery seed and powdered garlic in larger amounts in her rub.

1/2 cup onion powder
3/4 to 1 cup garlic powder
black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon ground celery seed
1 teaspoon half sharp paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground bay leaf

Those would be close to the amounts I use(I never measure so...). Start with the onion and garlic powder base add the rest to taste. She is a garlic lover so I use twice as much garlic powder compared to the onion powder.

Makes a great beef rub, okay on ribs if I add some lemon powder and sugar. Just add brown sugar for use on chicken(unless you like lemon chicken... hey go for it).

Basic marinade is oil/vinegar in equal amounts. Season with spices you like along with the ground celery seed. It doesn't make it taste like celery as much as it adds a salty taste background. Lemon juice can be subbed for vinegar in recipes it fits in.

[Wayne Smith]

A basic rub has a sugar (being diabetic I have to limit that) for glazing and flavor components. Salt is not necessary - it is a flavor enhancer in this use. Try your favorite rub as you have it without the salt and then try adding one or more of the salt substitutes Mary posted. Increasing the peppers, increasing the herbs, and changing one thing at a time is one way to go.

[CHeatermk3]

Thanks Mary and Wayne for the info esp on salt substitutes. I have a number of Pork rubs I use I'll try my favorite without any salt and upping the Garlic and adding some celery seed.

We use Bay leaf in most stews and such like Spaghetti sauces but I've never even heard of ground Bay leaf--do you buy it that way or just put some of the dried leafs in a mortar/pestile and grind your own?

Anyway keep the ideas coming please!

EDIT: I just typed "No-salt spice rubs" in my google bar and got a bunch of hits but most seem to be for made-ahead pre-packaged type concoctions--I'll check them out for ideas but most of that type of stuff may tell you what's in them OR may just say "proprietary blend..yada yada..."

[trails4u]

lemon pepper, garlic, thyme and rosemary. we use this on chicken, beef, pork, etc.... Easy and good! you can add basil and oregano if you're looking for an 'italian' twist.

[Geezer in NH]

I can't have salt. Just do not use it in any cooking. Salt at the table for taste is way less usage of salt than using it to cook with.

Some baking needs salt for the yeast to work properly but those amounts are tiny.

Rubs the salt overpowers the other spices to me anyway and they are better off without it in the first place. Again on the plate the amount of salt need is very small compared to most using it to cook with.

[CHeatermk3]

I wonder if it would be safe to make any of my sausage recipes without salt? I know that the salt helps to retard the growth of bacteria in the ground meat, or maybe it's something I "know that just isn't so"? I freeze my homemade sausage immediately after I make it anyway but the fellow who got me started advised that I should use salt to be safe. I also put a tiny amount of Morton's Tender quick (like 1tsp per 5 pound batch)...I don't use any prepared spice mixes just add my own spices and other ingtedients from recipes my friend passed on to me. I do not put my sausage into casings just use as bulk/patties.

[DougGuy]

I greatly dislike commercial rubs b/c they are all too salty. My rib rub is simple as it can get, equal parts cinnamon, curry powder, and cayenne pepper!

We grow African Blue Basil and we dry the leaves and crush/crumble them onto ribs or chicken first, then cover liberally with the rub and put on the grill, finishing when the meat is done with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

This gives a sweet, sticky, spicy BBQ that wins over everybody I serve it to!

[jonp]

I had thought that earlier this year the CDC along with a couple of other Universities released a study that showed no link between salt (sodium) and high blood pressure.

[CHeatermk3]

For me it's not about high or low blood pressure it's about the fact that for folks with CHF sodium salt makes the body retain water which can and does, in my case, collect in the pericardium which is the sack-like structure around the heart. This makes it harder for the heart to pump blood and will if left untreated cause all sorts of heart problems including enlarged heart and eventual weakening of the heart muscle. By the time you're symptomatic it's already far down the road and not much can be done about it except to severly limit dietary sodium intake and daily liquid intake too. When the heart gets enlarged, it becomes smaller on the inside so less able to pump the volume of blood a normal heart can pump. Believe me, this is very bad news. Water in the pericardium can make the heart pretty much stall because it cannot expand to pump blood against the resistance of the water surrounding it. It's a kind of cascading negative feedback loop. The harder the heart tries to work the bigger it gets which decreases the volume which makes it try to work harder,,you get the idea by now I guess...

Anyway, no salt for me if I can possibly avoid it.

[MaryB]

I use my electric coffee(spice) grinder to pulverize bay leaves then pick out stems and big chunks. But it is available pre ground... https://www.thespicehouse.com/turkish-bay-leaves-powdered

[nicholst55]

I wonder if it would be safe to make any of my sausage recipes without salt? I know that the salt helps to retard the growth of bacteria in the ground meat, or maybe it's something I "know that just isn't so"? I freeze my homemade sausage immediately after I make it anyway but the fellow who got me started advised that I should use salt to be safe. I also put a tiny amount of Morton's Tender quick (like 1tsp per 5 pound batch)...I don't use any prepared spice mixes just add my own spices and other ingtedients from recipes my friend passed on to me. I do not put my sausage into casings just use as bulk/patties.

Surely there are items besides salt that can serve the same purpose, say citric acid. Just speculating here, but it is commonly used as a preservative in food.

[nicholst55]

EDIT: I just typed "No-salt spice rubs" in my google bar and got a bunch of hits but most seem to be for made-ahead pre-packaged type concoctions--I'll check them out for ideas but most of that type of stuff may tell you what's in them OR may just say "proprietary blend..yada yada..."

Type in "No-salt spice rub recipes" and see what you get back.

[CHeatermk3]

MaryB, thanks for the link I will order some looks to be a good price--I buy most of my spices from the racks of plasticine packages found here in the "Hispanic foods" section of the grocery store or even less expenxive in the Mexican markets which abound in my area--as for example a 1.5-ounce pkg of whole cloves is 69 cents there but upwards of $7 in the spice rack with the McCormic spices in the little glass jars.

Nicholst55 thanks I'll try that search!

Interesting video explaining how sodium affects water retention: Skip the funny advertisement for powdered juice product to get to the infovid...
https://youtu.be/yaMJD5KpDoo

[Wayne Smith]

I greatly dislike commercial rubs b/c they are all too salty. My rib rub is simple as it can get, equal parts cinnamon, curry powder, and cayenne pepper!

We grow African Blue Basil and we dry the leaves and crush/crumble them onto ribs or chicken first, then cover liberally with the rub and put on the grill, finishing when the meat is done with Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce.

This gives a sweet, sticky, spicy BBQ that wins over everybody I serve it to!

Doug, is that basil perennial where you are or do you grow from seed?

[CHeatermk3]

African Blue Basil; according to this you need cuttings but who knows? maybe not:

https://ncfarmsinc.com/rooted-plugs/Herb-African-Blue-Basil?_vsrefdom=adwords&gclid=CMaDm7zI3NQCFdSXfgodSPwGmw

[MaryB]

Citric acid is NOT SAFE to use as a curing agent on its own...

[Shiloh]

Potassium chloride salt could be a substitute.

SHiloh

[CHeatermk3]

Shiloh, how is it for taste?

[kfd518]

If freezing immediately you should be fine. The salt is there more for smoked sausages and dried meats that will hang for a while. Smoked sausage being cold smoked for flavor and color not to cook it. That said when thawing bring it up to temp asap if cooking on a smoker and you should be fine there

[kfd518]

Also the garlic celery and onion have been shown to reduce blood pressure as well. Do you know if you Chad is diastolic or systolic? I am guessing diastolic since you mentioned collecting in the pericardium vs in lungs and legs. Olive oil (virgin) is much better to cook with in either situation. Co enzyme CoQ10 is an amazing little thing in almost all high energy usage organs in the body elevated levels of such have shown good health benefit across the board. Many ways to elevate the intake of it take a look into them. Chad is a systemic thing not just a quick punch let's knock out the salt and limit water intake kind of thing. There are a lot of proven things just with the things you eat that will assist in keeping that nasty beast contained.

[CHeatermk3]

kfd-
Not sure what you're referring to--CHF is Congestive Heart Failure--mine is caused by several things--mainly enlarged heart muscle and several years' worth of sedentary lifestyle topped off by a winter of pneumonia leading to Atrial Fibrullation.

I've been using CoQ10 in liquid form for about a year now...Thanks for your interest and concern--so What is CHad??

PS my blood pressure is usually in the 105/70 range.

[Blanket]

I know it sucks , I use a bunch of basil, pepper and paprika and cold smoke. Life get's less fun as we get older

[Shiloh]

Shiloh, how is it for taste?

Different by itself. As the salt in a rub?? probably have the alterd taste diminished.

Shiloh

[Geezer in NH]

What freezing or whatever poster asked about dry rubs. They get put on then the meat is cooked.

Never heard of dry rubbed sausage. :hijack:

[mcdaniel.mac]

What freezing or whatever poster asked about dry rubs. They get put on then the meat is cooked.

Never heard of dry rubbed sausage. :hijack:
You should never dry rub sausage, it gets chafed.

[Geezer in NH]

You should never dry rub sausage, it gets chafed.:killingpc

[Geezer in NH]

:killingpc

[CHeatermk3]

Just looking for ways to make my favorites without salt.

As for smoking sausage I'll let that go.
I make my own Italian sausage as it is nearly impossible to find a spicy enough product in the meat counters here west of the Cascades and now that I know I must limit my sodium intake to 2000mg/day I'm gonna make some without any salt in the mix.

[MaryB]

I find it to be very bitter...


Different by itself. As the salt in a rub?? probably have the alterd taste diminished.

Shiloh

[MaryB]

Fresh sausage you can make salt free, or hot smoked and eaten right away (or frozen raw to cook later). It is when you cold smoke sausage you need the salt and cure to prevent botulism and other nasty bugs.

[CHeatermk3]

Thanks Mary

[clum553946]

Check out Penzey's spices website. They have quite a few rubs & season mixtures that are salt free. Just type salt free in search function & they all pop up. They're very reasonable too!

[CHeatermk3]

Thanks Clum but I went there and It's a bit too rich for this retired Papermaker--$66 for 2 Cups of "Mural of Flavor" is outta sight for me.
I have the time and interest to dry and grind my own peppers and such and it's more hobby than chore for me.