Bruce's Chile and Spice Rub

Last summer when grilling season was in full swing I pulled out my Bobbie Flay cookbooks and used them as inspiration for quite a few meals. I was impressed by the bold flavors and spice combinations. We used his recipes as a starting point for our own creations.
Yes, I said, OUR. As always when grilling is involved, the man of the house becomes quickly interested in dinner preparation, as he is the expret on the proper execution of a barbecued meal.
When the holidays rolled around I was looking for a simple but fabulous food gift for friends and family. A spice rub came to mind and I began my research to create something tasty and inspired. I pulled out an article from 1995 that I had clipped from Bon Appetit. It had a few different spice mixtures I thought were interesting 13 years ago. But now they seemed tired and had no WOW factor.
So Bobby Flay's books came out again and we revisited his Ancho chile and coffee rubbed steaks recipe. I went to Penzey's spice store and bought a whole bunch of corriander seed, cumin seeds, ancho chile powder, chipotle chile powder and a few other interesting bits.
I came home with my treasures and Bruce and I went to work mixing up a huge batch of spice mix. We toasted all the spices that were whole seeds, which quickly filled the house with a
pungent, acrid spice smell and put us in the mood to create. We ground them finely using my old coffee grinder that had been sacrificed to the exotic aromas of spices years ago.
I found some whole cane sugar which had a wonderful earthiness to it. We pulled out my Illy ground espresso beans. Now we were ready to mix.
The ingredients are listed below from most to least used, but the amounts should be adjusted according to your own taste.
Like it spicy? Add more ancho chile powder.
Love garlic? Pour the garlic powder freely!
Need some smokiness? Use a little more ground chipotle chile.
If sweet is your thing, be heavy handed with the sugar.

The intensity of the flavors as well as the smoky / coffee flavor lend themselves to beef, but pork could handle it too! Just be sure to rub a crushed clove of garlic all over your meat before liberally coating it with the rub.

Enjoy!

Bruce's Chile and Spice Rub

Ingredients:
Coriander Seed
Cumin Seed
Whole Cane Sugar
Espresso Beans
Ground Chipotle Chile
Ancho Chile Powder
Sea Salt
Granulated Garlic
Ground Black Pepper