Station Grill Rubs - Smokey Honey Chipotle product reviews

I was lucky enough to be given some of this Station Grill rub to review. As soon as I got it, I opened the container to sniff and have a small taste test of the contents. It smelled delicious, but I wasn't too sure on the taste test, however I was keen to get cooking with it.

There were no instructions on the container at all except that it can be grilled, baked or smoked. I had no idea what meat to use it with and figured looking up the Station Grill website would be the best place to start. However before I had a chance to do this, I threw some of the mixture into a stir fry rice that I was throwing together. My husband and I both really enjoyed the resulting flavour - in fact I'm thinking it's one of the best fried rices that I have ever made - I'll be definitely doing that again!

From there I checked the website and found a recipe for rubbing it on chicken. By this stage I had some steaks defrosting already though, so I followed the same instructions but using my beef instead of chicken. It pretty much just involved rubbing oil and the mixture into the beef and leaving it to sit for a bit before cooking. It didn't say how to cook it, but I fried it. I wasn't sure if this would work as it wasn't one of the cooking methods mentioned on the container, however the resulting meal was absolutely delicious with a real kick - in fact it was a bit too spicy for my husband, but he still ate everything. Luckily my 5 year old wasn't home as I don't think she would have liked it. I imagine you could tone it down just by rubbing less on though. I haven't had a chance to try it on chicken yet, but I can imagine it would be just as delicious.

I next plan to use a bit on a home made pizza (in the sauce on the base) - just enough to give some flavour, but without giving too much of a kick. In fact the possibilities seem endless, and with the generous amount in the container, I should be able to try all my ideas over and over again - I imagine this stuff will last a long long time which is great and would make it well worth the price.

I would like to see at least a bit of a clue on the label as to which meats they recommend using it with, and perhaps some more recipe ideas on their website, but apart from this I can't fault the product - especially if you don't mind a bit of a kick to your food. I'll be using this again for sure.

Seeing paprika was an ingredient worth mentioning in the product description, it told me to expect a bit of a kick from this rub. I used this particular rub on chicken drumsticks, but I did have trouble, as any moisture in the meat would cause the rub to collect on my hands as opposed to on the meat itself. To combat this, I scoured the chicken with moderate force using a fork, to break up the skin. I then applied a generous helping of the rub, patting it in place, and leaving to rest.

I am always cautious when cooking chicken, so instead of grilling or frying, I oven baked the drumsticks on a high heat for over an hour. As mentioned in the directions, the rub formed a nice crust that crackled when bitten into.

The flavour was very strong, as was expected with the amount of rub that I applied, but while there was an initial kick, the heat did not linger for too long on the tongue, which was preferable. The honey flavour was not overly noticeable in comparison to the smokey chipotle, although a tinge of sweetness was noted. I would have preferred for the honey to have been more prominent, as it forms the base of most of my marinades.

While the container is small, you will get many servings out of the one pack, so the price is very reasonable.

I am not sure quite what I expected with this, I'm not a huge fam but hubby and the boys LOVED it and have already requested their next meals using the Smokey Honey Chipotle rub!

The smell as soon as I opened the container was very strong, I wasn't eager to taste it before cooking although hubby did and was looking forward to trying tea! I made meat skewers with Schnitzel that was coated in the Smokey Honey Chipotle Rub with cherry tomatoes, Camembert, pineapple pieces and honey glazed carrots, I loved that the pineapple eased the burn of the meat rub, hubby and son were rather chuffed at how hot this was.

I served the kebabs with garlic bread, Potato Salad and a garden salad. I think next time I will coat the boys meat but not my own. I can't handle the heat.

The size of the containers is very generous. I think it would last a fair few meals so it is a great price. I would love to try a rub that isn't quite as HOT as this one! Although the pineapple and the cheese both helped ease the hotness of the rub it was still a bit too hot and I was glad I didn't use it for Mr 2's meal.

Would be great if you are a spice lover like my men!

I enjoy anything that has a smokey flavour and I was excited to be chosen to review this Station Grill product.

We thought that steak was a good way to try this to start with. My husband rubbed some on and left it for a couple of hours for the flavours to come out. He cooked it on the pan in a little oil. When we tried it, we were quite disappointed at the lack of flavour. The container of product smelled so good (and even tasted good with a little on my finger to test!). The ingredients looked great too. With all these positives, we were a little confused as to why the taste wasn't up to our expectations. We even added a bit more onto the steak at the table and still no great flavour. I sprinkled some over the mashed potato and that was a bit better.

At this stage, I decided to try the other version of the rub that I had to review (Aztec) We experienced the same issues there. I got the feeling that we needed to mix it with some oil or something to make it into a paste. There were not any instructions on the containers to assist me with ideas. I popped onto the website and found a recipe that said to use oil and a LIBERAL amount of rub. Right - now to try again.

I chopped up some pork and put it into a bowl. I added a liberal amount of the rub to the bowl and then added some more again! I was not going to let this beat me. I added a little oil to mix it all together. I then left it for a few hours on the bench with glad wrap over the top. When it came time to cook it up, it looked really promising. Even the way that it cooked, seemed different to the way the previous meat had cooked. We dished it up and tasted it. My tastebuds came alive - this is what I had been waiting for, an extremely flavoursome experience. It actually ended up a bit hotter than I had expected but I still really enjoyed it. I am so glad that I persevered with this product as I was sure that it had to be good...just needed some guidance in the right direction. Perhaps it would be a good idea to put that simple instruction on the pack .

The first try of this Smokey Honey Chipotle meat rub was on chicken drumsticks. We had tried the Raspberry Chipotle the night before so I was thinking that the flavour on these drumsticks would be sweet like a smokey honey taste. I was wrong, and thankfully I didn't coat the children's chicken with the rub.

The flavour of this meat rub is a little harder for my tastebuds to detect, apart from some smokey flavours from the Chipotle and then a lot of hot firey burning. I guess that will be the paprika coming into play. While I could feel my mouth and lips in particular on fire from the chicken drumsticks, my husband was happily munching away. He would occasionally turn to me and say "oh, oh, that's hot isn't it!" But he was much impressed and very happy with the flavour and the burn.

I would say that is because he is just getting into chilis and hot sauces in general, so anything with a decisive kick, is going to raise his interest levels. The next time we had this rub was on some lamb steaks. I rubbed these much less liberally as I previously tried just to see if I could minimise the burning sensation.

While they were not as hot as the chicken, they still did have that lip tingling burn to them. Again though, they were a huge hit with hubby. He was well pleased and only commented that I should have gotten real beef steaks to try. No doubt we will do that next time, as there is plenty in the container still. The portions are very generous in their container and I suspect that we could easily use it for 8 - 10 more meals before we hit the bottom. While this was not my personal choice of the two we tried, I know he loved it. So thanks to KIWIreviews and Station Grill for opening our palates to new experiences.