Review: Kramer’s Wing Rubs

We recently received three new products from Kramer’s Gourmet Foods and are happy to share our experience with you. The products are three different rubs – Easy Pickin’, Finger Lickin’, and What Was I Thinkin’ – ranging from mild, medium, and hot.

Kramer's Wing Rubs

According to Lance Kramer, the founder, “we designed them for grilled chicken wings, but quickly discovered its good on pretty much everything.” According to the labels ingredient listings:

Kramer’s Wing Rub – Easy Pickin’:  Salt, pepper, sugar, paprika, sugar (listed twice), granulated garlic, onion powder, oregano, other spices, silicone dioxide (less than 2% to prevent caking). Easy Pickin’ is the training wheels of Kramer’s. It gives you a little heat, but won’t send you home crying to mommy.

Kramer’s Wing Rub – Finger Lickin’: Salt, pepper, paprika, granulated garlic, onion powder, bhut jolokia (ghost chili), other spices, silicone dioxide (less than 2% to prevent caking). With Finger Lickin’, we start turning up the heat! This rub contains small amounts of Ghost Chili, the hottest chili in the world! Don’t give this to grandma!

Kramer’s Wing Rub – What Was I Thinkin’: Salt, pepper, paprika, granulated garlic, onion powder, bhut jolokia (ghost chili), other spices, silicone dioxide (less than 2% to prevent caking). What Was I Thinkin’ is not for the faint of heart! This rub packs a giant helping of Ghost Chili, the hottest chili in the world! Proceed with extreme caution and don’t touch your eyes! Great on everything.

We decided to use all three rubs in three different ways. Rather than focus on chicken wings, we sauteed vegetables with Easy Pickin’, grilled some shrimp with Finger Lickin’, and baked some basa fish fillets with What Was I Thinkin’ rub.

Sauteed Vegetables with Kramer's Wing Rub - Easy Pickin'

Grilled Shrimp with Kramer's Wing Rub - Finger Lickin'

Baked Basa Fillets with Kramer's Wing Rub - What Was I Thinkin'

Labels: The products are professionally designed and with 7.5 ounce bottles, you’ll receive a healthy portion of each rub, so they should last you a while. The labels are fun and well made, and proudly Texan.

Appearance/Smell/Taste: The first thing you’ll notice with each of the rubs is the strong smoky scent. It is quite pronounced, so if smoked peppers aren’t your thing, you might steer clear. I typically enjoy smoked peppers, though there might have been a better balance and not so tilted toward the smokiness.

Looking at the actual rub mixes, you’ll find an inviting mixture of colors and granules of varying sizes, not just a fine powder. They’re all nice and herby and easy to work with in the kitchen.

We used a generous portion of “Easy Pickin’” on a duo of brussels sprouts and chopped carrots, which we first boiled a few minutes then sauteed in a minimal amount of olive oil. We added a couple tablespoons of “Easy Pickin”, then deglazed with a bit of white wine, finally tossing the cooked vegetables with roasted pecans and some sprinklings of fresh “Easy Pickin’”. This was an excellent application for the rub as an alternative to chicken wings. The smokiness flavor certainly comes through, but so does plenty of flavor to accompany the roasted pecans. There is no heat to speak of, true to the “Easy Pickin” name, with pronounced oregano undertones and a bit of sweetness from the sugar, though not much. Very good with vegetables.

For the grilled shrimp, we tossed the shrimp in olive oil and a couple tablespoons of “Finger Lickin’”, then grilled over medium-high heat. Very simple application. Again, the smokiness here stands out, more so than with the mild version. You’ll get a small blast of heat with “Finger Lickin’”, though not too much of a kick. The flavors are balanced nicely with a slant toward the smokiness. Jalapeno Miss enjoys a medium to low level of heat, so “Finger Lickin’” was a good level for her.

For the basa fillets, we rubbed the white fish down with a bit of olive oil and rubbed them with “What Was I Thinkin’” and baked them to completion. Again, a simple recipe to highlight the rubs. Delicious. You’ll certainly note the smokiness as with the other rubs, and a good flavor balance, undertones of the oregano, and certainly a good blast of heat from the bhut jolokia peppers. There is a heavier dose of the ghost peppers with this mix, though it is not overwhelming to those who have experience with hot sauces or other spicy rubs. In fact, it could have been a bit hotter, though I’m an old chilihead and have burned off a few taste buds over the years.

Overall, we greatly enjoyed the rubs and would like to try them on wings, though as the labels say and we have to agree that these rubs go pretty good on anything. They could just use a tad less of that smokiness. Still, very good. We look forward to trying more of their products.

Chili Pepper Madness Ratings

Interested in purchasing Kramer’s Wing Rubs? http://kramersgourmet.com/