Try this, I use it on any pork I smoke. The bark on a pork butt with this rub is incredible.
Do a light coating of mustard or honey to get ingredients to stick better. Either one cooks off and doesn’t affect flavor.
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp sea salt
2 tsp cracked black pepper
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Refrigerate for 2-3 hours after rub applied
Other stuff I’ve added trying different flavors:
Ghost pepper flakes
Turmeric
Cumin
Yeah, my process for this brisket was...
Brined for 24 hours using a basic brine (Salt, sugar, small bit of granulated garlic, small bit of onion powder)
Take out, pat dry, give a light coat of yellow mustard, then use my "basic rub", which is 2 parts salt, 2 parts black pepper, 1 part granulated garlic. (I'm close to "Franklin Orthodoxy", but like a little garlic...)
Was on a tight schedule this time (my fault). So I didn't let it rest rubbed overnight, which I usually do.
Cooking was around 4.5 hours on lower head (225), then wrap it, and around 3.5 hours on high heat (275) to finish (Cooked to target internal temp of 205). Again a sacrifice for time. My usual is 8 hours at 200 (pellet smoker, so I can go sleep and come back), then around 3 hours wrapped on high heat to a 205 internal target to finish.
Turned out a good texture, not tough, but not at that "it's basically fall apart shredded beef" level. Great flavor. Bark turned out better than my last brisket, main differences were the mustard binder, and I put on more rub. But still not the bark I want.
Target for next brisket will be to take my basic rub and add brown sugar, as that seems to be everybody's first tip.
But with that said, this was a large enough cut that even eating half as part of thanksgiving, I'll be vac-pack and freezing enough to cover our the Brisket needs of Chez Haus for probably a month. So it will be the Xmas brisket I test this on.
Slicing the cold remainder right now... For vac pack, freeze, and sous vide later
