Bulldozer BBQ

Bulldozer BBQ is the work of Cliff — a small-town Missouri boy from between St Louis and Kansas City who learned barbecue at his dad's knee, cooked it (and Mexican) professionally through Houston and a decade in Memphis, then brought the whole lot to Melbourne and became an Aussie. Every batch is now hand-made in Victoria's Yarra Valley, built on 50-odd years of pit know-how.

It's a proper range: a dozen-plus hand-crafted rubs, plus BBQ sauces, hot sauces, a glaze, a spritz and a pair of chilli con carne seasonings — made to rub straight on or ride a long cook across beef, pork, chook, lamb, game, seafood and veg.

Reach for SPOG first: a four-ingredient all-rounder named Best All-Purpose BBQ Rub by the Australasian Barbecue Alliance. Midnight is the jet-black, charcoal-dark "World's Best Steak Rub"; Better Off Red was the world's first beetroot rub; and Game Face was the first lamb-and-game rub ever made.

Here's what sets them apart: everything is built on Victorian Pink Lake salt, with no MSG, no artificial smoke, vinegar or maple powders, low sugar, and gluten free unless a beer sneaks in. Plenty of the rubs even come with a free Chilli Sidekick packet so you dial your own heat. Serious American pit pedigree, hand-made in the Yarra Valley — smash your BBQ.