I use only salt and pepper because I don’t want anything to interfere with the taste of meat. After looking at the steak porn thread, I see a fair number of people using one, and I was curious what others did, and if they did what they use. . Thoughts?
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For steak - only salt and pepper. I agree with your comment to not have other spices interfere with the taste of the beef.
For burgers, I will add spices to the ground beef mix - often paprika, onion powder and parsley. But then, I also eat burgers with a mix of mayo, ketchup, chopped pickles and chopped pepperoncini.
For pork - I will use a rub, particularly for tougher cuts of meat.
I use a homemade porcini powder for burgers. Pops the umami
Burgers I’ll usually do a homemade spice rub (nothing too crazy)
For steaks, it depends on the cut and quality. For instance, dry aged USDA prime only gets salt and pepper, as does a filet. For a non-dry aged USDA choice ribeye or strip or tri-tip, maybe a little something in with the S&P.
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If you like that, maybe try truffle dust sometime.
For most steaks, only garlic salt and pepper.
For tenderloins, a spice blend from my butcher shop which includes salt, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and probably a few other things.
For burgers I’m not picky - whatever salt- and pepper-based seasoning blend I want to use up. Sometimes I’ll throw in a little BBQ sauce for extra flavor.
salt and pepper for steak. same reasons as above.
Hamburgers, I’ll do herb and onion before, salt + whatever later.
One of the best (if not THE best) “meaters” here on WB frequently uses a rub on his steaks, so that should tell us all something. Yes, I made that word up.
For me, it is wholly dependent on the meat. If it’s poorer quality steaks (meaning non-aged, and lower on the marbling), I use a rub to create more flavor. Same goes for poorer quality ground beef. If it’s a dry-aged Flannery ribeye or Berserker Blend great beef, I really almost only go S&P. Those burgers also get minimal toppings.
NY strip and sometimes ribeye I really like Montreal steak rub and usually use it. Nothing on filet/tenderloin because I usually match that with my most favorite and interesting wines and want little competition from the food. I never use any type of rub on meat for burgers.
For me it depends on my mood, the cut and what wine we’re having. More expensive cuts it’s just salt and pepper, but I often like bavette and hangar steaks with some extra spice.
If we’re having an Italian red I often use pepper and a little of this: Vignalta Herbed Salt | Corti Brothers. It’s available locally in Portland, but not sure about other areas.
And for a younger red, or one that can work with a variety of spices, we love this one: Shop Oh Canada Montreal Steak Seasoning | Glass Jar | Spiceology. It’s a bit more earthy and junipery than other spice rubs.
I had the non dry aged hangar from Flannery last night. Really incredible, with a strong beef flavor; I can’t think of a reason to dilute the flavor with a rub.
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I use my creole meat seasonings on steaks and hamburgers if it’s just a “normal” kind of day.
If the steak is something special then salt and pepper.
Tri-tip, garlic powder salt and pepper.
For the “Milton cut” porterhouse, Salt pepper, then I coat in herbs de provence as I like the flavor the herbs infuse to the meat while on the grill. It is around 2.5 to 3 inches thick so the herbs stay in the zone for a while while the steak roasts bone end down and lid closed.
While you didn’t aske about fish…
Fish is kind of dependent, I like my regular BBQ rub on grilled Mahi. For Salmon it is usually just salt pepper. Catfish gets creole seasoning.
Bearded butchers black for all beefy things.
LOVE to see this thread. Am going to nerd out, so won’t be offended by TL DR responses. My thoughts below.
I’ve spent a ton of time reading and experimenting with this, so YMMV. With Flannery, and other distinctively dry-aged meat, I usually use salt and light pepper. Flannery, in particular, has a nutty-flavored quality that you’re paying a premium for and I don’t like distorting that with a rub. Bryan’s flavor profile is so distinctive that he packed up a van with meat racks and drove it to LA to seed his new warehouse (at the time, 2020ish iirc) with the bacteria/mold, because it was so unique.
With wagyu (American Wagyu - Morgan Ranch) and filet mingon, I use a heavy rub based on a recipe Tex Landreth posted that’s a heavy SW style rub: SPG, with chili powder and Mex oregano thrown in. I’ll dial down the Mex oregano (totally different than regular oregano) if Ism using direct heat, as the dried herbs burn and tasted terrible if burnt. I look at both of those cuts as solving for texture (Morgan. Ranch for the glorious fatty unctuousness and filet for melt-in-your-mouth goodness, rather than flavor).
Ribeyes (for me) depend on the thickness of the cut. The try to cut my own steaks to 2” to 2.5” and serve family style. To that end, I’ll season heavily, largely because I like the flavor profile from a strong rub, but I’m slicing family style, which means I still get that awesome beefy goodness, but carry over the crust and flavor from surface cooking.
Other cuts, including thinner rib-eyes, I’ll use a rub, but cut back dramatically on how much I apply, as the surface area to the total bite is much greater. Cuts that fall into this category include flank steak, hanger, skirt and thin rib-eyes.
These are the same cuts I’ll use a teriyaki marinade with to make the kids happy.
The above is rally geared towards grilling; if smoking meat, you don’t have to worry about burning things because the heat is indirect.
If you want to complicate things, read Adam Perry Lang’s “Charred and Scruffed.” He goes deep on all of this (much better than I can) and then introduces the concept of basting meats with a butter/acid/sugar base, applied with an herb “brush.” It’s a recipe for a flavor bomb (I’ve tried several times), but it’s less “meat” focused and more finding the right balance between meat, fat, acid and sugar. And it’s f’ing ridonculous.
TL DR - do what you think tastes best 
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I make my own spice rub, a base recipe which I sometimes mix in large batches and give as gifts at the end of the year. When grilling, I will augment/adjust at cooking time based on the meat. I default to some version of it on most beef, pork, and chicken, but for higher quality beef and/or thinner cuts, I will use less. I do put it on burgers as well.
I should probably note that I’m talking about Costco quality beef here, or occasionally store-bought grass-fed - I very very rarely have anything of a Flannery/Morgan/etc. level of quality.