QUESTION: My wife and I are planning to have friends over for a backyard barbecue. I plan on barbecuing some steaks, chicken pieces, and shrimp. I'd like to know more about dry rubs for barbecue. How do you use them correctly, and are they better than using a marinade? Also, should I use different dry rubs for each item? And last, can you make sure it doesn't rain? A longtime follower and fellow cookANSWER: First things first. I don't want to get stuck on semantics, but you will be grilling some steaks, chicken pieces, and shrimp, not barbecuing them. I'm sure you already knew this, but for those who don't: grilling is done over high heat with smaller cuts of meat, i.e. steaks, chicken pieces, etc. Barbecuing is done over very low heat (approximately 190 degrees) with larger pieces of meat, like whole briskets, for a longer period of time.Second, I'm wishing for a beautiful weekend myself, however, I just used my "Get Out of a Rainy Day Free" card last weekend. For my daughter's college graduation, the forecast was for two days of heavy thunderstorms. So after it only sprinkled a little late Saturday night and not again until late Sunday night, I figure my granted wishes were used up. It's up to you to pull off the perfect weather.Now to your fabulous cooking questions. It is my opinion that it is better to use a dry rub instead of a marinade for grilled food. Let's break down the real purpose of each. A marinade basically has two functions. One is to tenderize a tough piece of meat, which takes place via a crucial element in any marinade — some sort of acidic liquid, like vinegar, fruit juice, wine, or even dill pickle juice. I'm going out on a hickory or mesquite limb here, but I'm guessing that you are planning to serve halfway decent cut of meat for your party, and if I'm right, then there is no need for tenderizing your food. Another function of a marinade is to change the basic strong flavor of certain foods like game or oily fish — these weren't on your menu.Rubs have other unique grilling benefits. We all know they are crucial for preparing slow, true barbecue (which I will cover in another column), but this weekend, the reason that everyone is going to want to kiss "The Grill King" is because your rubs are going to give your steaks, chicken, and shrimp a perfect, caramelized, slightly sweet and spicy, beautifully colored crust. At the same time, a rub is going to produce a great, rich flavor contrast to the interior of your meats that will explode in your guests' mouths. Need I say more? And yes, you should use different rubs for different items — each rub can be tailored to complement the food you are cooking. I am going to share some basic steak, chicken and shrimp rubs, but feel free to add your own twist to them, because that's when you start having fun ... and at the end of the grilling day, that's what it's all about.