While I enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, there are time when I want to grab a ready made seasoning that will make fixing a great tasting dinner a snap.
Char Crust Seasonings fits that bill to a tee!
We were sent 4 of their wonderful varieties to test in our house. And, our family has enjoyed trying three of them out over the past weeks. (I’m the only one that truly likes teriyaki, so I haven’t cooked with the Ginger Teriyaki yet.)
A Bit About Char Crust Seasonings:
Char Crust® dry rub seasonings create a sizzling seared crust, bursting with juicy flavor. In fact, our registered trademark is "Seals in the Juices!"
You can use Char Crust® dry rub on any meat or fish, even vegetables.
Created in 1957 at our family’s legendary Chicago steakhouse. We’ve added new flavors over the years, but we still make our dry rubs ourselves, in small batches with only the best herbs and spices.
Char Crust® dry rub is one of very few certified kosher rubs on the market.
Most of our dry rubs have moderate amounts of sodium, and one is actually low sodium.
I didn’t go for anything complex. Rather, I followed the suggested meat options on the back for picking how to pair the seasoning to a particular meat source.
Amazin’ Cajun
Amazin’ Cajun is a spicy-sweet blend of piquant cayenne pepper, onion, garlic, oregano and a mélange of other Mardi Gras flavors. It brings the sublime heat of New Orleans to catfish, chicken, shrimp, and even “dirty” rice. This was great on both shrimp and chicken. I suspect it would be great on other meats as well. I even kept side dishes simple as seen below when I used this particular one to stir fry some shrimp with steamed broccoli and garlic-butter pasta for sides.
Here’s a suggested recipe that Char Crust sent me for this particular seasoning. It sounds heavenly!
Pan-Seared Tilapia
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: about 20 minutesIngredients:
Tilapia fillets — about 6 oz per person
Char Crust® Amazin’ Cajun — about 1/2 Tbsp per fillet
A little oil, canola is good
A little butter (optional), at room temperatureHeat a cast iron pan on the stove until very hot. Season one side of the fish with Char Crust® Amazin’ Cajun Dry Rub Seasoning, generously covering the surface. Drizzle a little oil all over the seasonings, using your fingers to rub in and distribute evenly. Seasonings will look moist and darken a bit. Place the fish, seasoned side down, into the pan. It should sizzle immediately, and you may get some smoke. Cook a few minutes until just cooked through. Transfer to plate with seasoned side up and place pat of butter on top.
Option: We actually prefer this recipe with catfish, but tilapia seems to have more fans.
Roasted Garlic Peppercorn
Roasted Garlic Peppercorn features the robust flavor of roasted garlic and onions with the zing of peppercorns and a hint of Worcestershire and lavender. Its versatility has made it a best seller. It complements steaks, lamb, seafood, pork, poultry, and potatoes. Oh, this was glorious a one to top some steak we picked up at the store. Baked potatoes and steamed asparagus filled out the menu that night. I’d have considered frying up some mushrooms with the seasoning for a steak topper, but wanted to focus on how it made the meat taste.
All American Barbeque
All American Barbecue takes the best flavors of American barbecue and blends them into a tangy-sweet, slightly spicy rub. It has rich molasses from Memphis, tangy tomato from Kansas City, mustard, pepper and vinegar from the Carolinas, plus a wisp of smoke from Texas. We decided to try this on chicken first, but have since sprinkled a little on hamburgers while they are cooking. Both were fantastic. Below you can see my plate of the seasoned chicken sliced for eating alongside brown rice and peas.
Each 4 ounce box of Char Crust seasoning retails for $5.49. Unless you are heavy handed on your seasoning application, you will get several prepared dishes from one box. On their website, you’ll find other seasoning options beyond the ones we reviewed as well as recipe ideas. Be prepared to get hungry looking at the photos!
You can also find Char Crust Seasonings on Facebook.
Disclaimer ~ Our family was sent the four pack of Char Crust seasoning as pictured above to facilitate a review. No monetary compensation occurred and all opinions are my own.
