Dave Spice at the Oxford Show

What a great day for the Oxford Show. The sun was shining and all the locals seemed to have turned out. Little Miss 4 was keen to see the animals and we were keen to see Dave Spice, one of the man of the house's teaching colleagues, do his cooking demonstration. He was teamed up with the local butcher and a wine expert to present a number of dishes based on a boned chicken and a boned shoulder of pork.

The heat was on and the wine expert strangely silent given his inclination to sample a drop or two of the product. Dave cooked an ambitious number of dishes utilising nearly all the parts of the meat.

Many of the dishes used conveniently store-able spice rubs to add flavour to the raw ingredients. The demo was really good watching, and appreciated by the typically rural audience. I had to fight my way to the front to take a photo of the finished dishes, and was lucky to get a shot that wasn't full of keen tasters hands snatching at the food.

I thought I would share one of the spice rub recipes Dave used on the pork steaks. It would be suitable for any cut of meat you might be thinking of cooking on the BBQ or grill.

Texas Barbecue Rub

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup granulated garlic - a dried garlic product

1/2 cup paprika

2 tablespoons granulated dried onion

1 tablespoon dry mustard

1 tablespoon creole seasoning

1 tablespoon chilli powder

1 tablespoon ground red pepper

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon black pepper

Stir all the ingredients together in a bowl. Store in an airtight container. Makes about 3 cups.

Coat the steaks in the spice rub.

After rubbing in the spices, I would oil them by placing a generous amount of oil on a clean plate and running them through before putting on a hot BBQ or grill. That way the steaks don't stick and the grill wont smoke as much with the excess oil burning off.

Little Miss 4 has a great time at the show.

She saw all the animals, had a turn on the bouncy bungy, enjoyed the Scottish pipe band, ate candy floss and ice cream, and brought lollies to take home for Poppa.