This article appeared November 2020 in O.Henry Magazine.

Pincha DryRub

Because it’s good on everything 

By Ashley Wahl

Perhaps this isn’t the first origin story to have started inside of a Virginia Tech frat house in the 1970s, but for Kernersville resident Mark Stoehr, it’s certainly the most memorable. 

Stoehr, whose name is pronounced like “grocery store” (insert his slight Southern drawl), recalls sharing a house with his fraternity brothers, cooking supper and cleaning the dishes once a week.

“I kept pulling down all the spices I used for making hamburgers or whatever I was cooking, and one of my brothers finally said, ‘Why don’t you save yourself some trouble and mix them all together?’”

Thus, Pincha DryRub was born.

Of course the recipe has evolved since Stoehr’s college days, fine-tuned years later when he started cooking whole hogs. Now he’s got his dry rub down to a science: Herbs (sage, sweet basil, rosemary, cilantro, dill weed, marjoram and thyme), spices (paprika, cayenne, chili powder and black pepper) and vegetables (ground celery, granulated onion and green bell pepper), plus ginger, turmeric, garlic powder, mustard seed, sunflower oil, sugar and salt.

The label suggests using Pincha for meat, stew and sauces, but Stoehr says you can rub it on anything and everything you cook, which he does.

It’s not too hot, but heat isn’t the point. A good dry rub should enhance the natural flavor of the meat, not distract from it.

Throughout his 33-year career as a product engineer for Analog Devices Inc., Stoehr designed computer chips and their test systems. Pincha DryRub was a side hustle, more a labor of love than necessity. But the demand was there. Mostly he sold it to his colleagues.

Three years ago, following his retirement from Analog Devices, Stoehr turned all of his attention toward Pincha. He wanted his rub in stores, and so he first pitched it to the owner of Musten & Crutchfield Food Market in Kernersville, where he frequently shops.

“He didn’t have anything like it,” says Stoehr, “and so he bought a case of it. Now he usually buys a couple cases a month.”

Pincha DryRub is currently available at over 20 locations in North Carolina and Virginia, including shops in Kernersville, Colfax, Browns Summit, High Point, Winston-Salem and Greensboro. He sells the largest volume to The Extra Ingredient at Friendly Shopping Center and Gourmet Pantry in Blacksburg, Va., not far from the old frat house where it all started.

He convinces stores to carry his rub by doing what he’s done since college: He cooks for people. Usually chicken or hamburger. Because when you experience Pincha the way it’s meant to be experienced, says Stoehr, it sells itself.

And for the vegetarian?

“It’s great on vegetables,” he says.

Take an onion, he suggests. Scoop out the middle. Add a bouillon cube (obviously vegetable broth, although that’s not what Stoehr would use), butter and a pinch of Pincha.

“Wrap it up in foil and cook it for an hour,” says Stoehr.

In other words, let the dry rub speak for itself.

Pincha DryRub is available at The Extra Ingredient in Friendly Shopping Center, Gate City Butcher Shop, Town & Country Meat and Produce, and Al Aqsa Meat Market in Greensboro. For a complete list of locations and more information, visit pinchadryrub.com.