This brisket is well flavored,  has a good smoke ring,  and is fork tender.

My favorite method,  rubbed brisket has both advantages and disadvantages.    Adding a rub will insure that your meat is full flavored,  well salted,  and the spices,  smoke,  and salt will penetrate to their fullest extent during the smoking process.    Rubs also help produce a deep smoke ring if appearance is important,  and help insure that the meat will be firm and hold together well when slicing even though it is fall-apart tender.     It's not one of the easier methods.

The disadvantage to rubs are that the sugar and salt tend to draw out the moisture in the meat   (its in the smoker almost long enough to "cure")  so it will be less juicy unless you

invest the labor to keep it basted with the drippings.

Many masters do not trim or only lightly trim their briskets because they feel the fat keeps

the meat moist while cooking.

Keen tending while smoking will produce an extremely tasty brisket when using this method.    You must be careful,  however,  that you don't add so much flavoring that it overbalances the more desirable natural smoke flavoring from the wood or that it covers up the flavor of the meat!

My homemade rub, sprinkled generously over a trimmed brisket.

and whatever spices you think will push your brisket over the top.    In Texas,  custom chili powders of one sort or another are prime ingredients for the extra spices.    Some of the more common Texas flavorings are cumin,  cayenne,  hot chili powder,  celery seed,  coriander,   onion powder,  garlic powder,  and/or black pepper.   

I like a rub where

compose the bulk so the rub can be caked on generously,  coloring and sweetening but not overspicing or oversalting the Q.

Always taste your mix before rubbing it on,  and taste the drippings regularly while smoking.     No,  it won't ruin your tongue.    If you don't like what you're tasting at any point in the process, you can add more of any component to the rub or add some to the drippings.    You want a salt-sweet-hot-spice balance you can live with.     You'll be basting the brisket with the drippings and possibly some more rub.     I will ocassinally cook up some rub with a little water and cooking oil if the brisket came without much fat

and there aren't enough drippings showing up in the pan to use for baste.

Too much chili or any other spice will make the brisket bitter.    I've added just about every spice you can think of at one time or another,   but found that simpler is better in most cases.    I have my favorite blend based on the formula above,  including a few secret spices,  that I fall back on when catering,   but will try anything that sounds good when I'm cooking in the back yard for the guiny pi... - er - my friends.     Think about it,  and add whatever you imagine will result in Your Extraordinary BBQ.

I won't presume to tell you how to mix the perfect rub here.    Everyone has their own special mix that they swear by.    I have,  however,  put my favorite rub mix formula in the recipe section of this book along with some good spice suggestions,  some rub proportion theory,  and all of my own secret ingredients.     The rub is only one small component in the flavor,  by the way.    The other important factors to keep in mind are the quality and type of the wood,  the smoking temperature and time,  the type of smoker you are using,  the sauce you are serving,  and the pleasantness of the surroundings.    The smoke itself should provide 90% of the flavor.    Choosing your smokewood,  pit,  and cooking time and temperature should be more important to you than selecting your rub spices.

Rub both sides.

Coat both sides of the brisket after trimming,  rubbing or patting the mix into all of the crevices.    If your favorite rub or rub mix is particularly salty or spicy   (again,  taste everything before putting it on the meat,  even if it is a commercially prepared mix),  don't put on so much.     You can let the brisket sit for a while to start absorbing the spices before it hits the heat,   preferably in the refrigerator.

Some masters advocate letting the meat return to room temperature,  but I don't like to put practices with minor benefits before food safety.    This technique is really appropriate only for grilling, where you are cooking quickly and need to have the center cook at a faster rate to keep up with the outside.     Cold meat will have plenty of safe time in the slow smoker to reach room temperature and beyond.    I let my brisket sit out a few times to return to room temperature and noticed no improvement in flavor or texture.     However,  in favor of this idea,  I have to say that the spice flavors will theoretically be more active and will be absorbed faster at higher temperatures.    That just means to me that to get the same effect,  you have to marinate it in the cooler a little longer.    I will let a brisket sit out for an hour with the rub sometimes while getting the fire just right,  but longer than that just isn't safe.   I think that after soaking in the spices for 12 - 18 hours in the smoker,  it would take a rare taster to tell that the meat had been left out to return to room temperature with the rub beforehand.    There are far more important factors that affect the quality of the Q.

The coals are on one side of the pit and the brisket is on the other.

I generally shoot for an average of 220 degrees while smoking,  just above the boiling point of water,  but maintaining a constant temperature is impossible with a wood fire.    Just try to keep it within the range.     I like to let the meat smoke close to 300 degrees for 30 minutes or so at first to make sure any surface bacteria is history.

Continued on next page...

This has been just a sample of the first of 4 sections of only one chapter in the book on a rubbed brisket that was smoked on a small 55 gal backyard pit.    This particular chapter covers my own expertise in slow smoking.    There are 5 more full chapters on various styles of brisket alone,  plus chapters on chicken,  pork shoulder,  turkey,  whole pig,  and sausage,  using both large and small pits,  each of which offer many heretofore unpublished secrets.

There are also chapters on food safety,  fire building and tending,  successful contesters,  restaurant owners,  rub and sauce recipes,  and much, much more.     I'm sorry I had to blank out so much,  but I've actually revealed quite a bit information here that you won't find anywhere else.    There's a lot more waiting for you to learn.    Please get the CD and you will be amazed at the amount of info included.

Here's a few more pictures taken from some of the other chapters:

Chapters on brined brisket and wrapped brisket.

Whole hog and chicken techniques.    Yes,  that's me!

Chapters on carving a brisket and using a coal starter.

How to build any size fire from scratch quickly with only paper,  wood,  and matches.

Using big and small pits.

Big and small restaurants.

Big and small award winning contesters.

And much,  much more...

Click on any picture for a full size view!