To Rub or Marinate. Firstly, we should declare an interest in what follows: Spice Road Spices provide an excellent range of pure and natural meat, poultry and vegetable Rubs that happily flavour and enhance your recipes.

And anyway, it's about time we gave poor old Worcestershire Sauce a break from having to appear in endless marinades.

Marinades are fine in theory but one thing should be clear. The flavour does not penetrate the meat. The ingredients sound good and the aroma even better. The trouble is, once in contact with your meat, the marinade will essentially stay on the surface and being wet, you run the very real risk of making your prized dinner mushy.

And worse, a marinade, given the excess of liquid may make the meat steam rather than sear when it hits the pan, bbq or hot oven. So we have the possibility of mushy, stewed meat.

Moreover, and If all that is not enough, a marinade with an excess of Salt and Acid will start cooking your meat - a sort of screwed up Ceviche !

Now to the Rubs. Compared to making up a Marinade or buying an artificial, flavour enhanced Marinade, Rubs are time saving. Wonderful at the end of a busy day. You simply add a little Olive Oil and your choice of a dry Rub just before cooking. Flavour done !

Or better still, allow your Rub 1/2 hour on your meat or poultry, placed in the fridge before cooking. Best to then give a few moments to come back to room temperature before cooking and more great flavour.

All this extends to the prime purpose of a Rub; providing a crust on the meat or poultry and giving a lovely burst of flavour while sealing in the natural juices.

For all Foodies, the range of Spice Rub flavours and degrees of heat or zippyness is almost endless. Many make up their own Spice Rubs and as in ancient times, jealously guard the secret.

And if at some point you would like a change from your Rubs, try using the Spice Blend Rub to make your own sauce. You have the scope to bring in any flavour or degree of zippyness you wish without harming the meat.

So there you have it. Marinades are out and Rubs take the high ground. Just make sure your chosen Rub is not some tricked up supermarket job. Always use a Rub made up from pure and natural Spices.

Obviously there are many Asian dishes that do need marinating but for your steaks, chicken and pork dishes Spice Rubs should be your choice.

For the full selection of Spice Roads Rubs go to www.spiceroadspices.com.au You will find the Rubs on the Home page.