I watched a lot of videos about smoking meat. I Google around for recipes and techniques, and on my journey, I come across a lot of ads for Texas brisket rub. You can buy them, but I don’t recommend it. You can make a huge supply of it in less than five minutes and know exactly what’s in your run. Plus, you get to experiment and learn what you like.
Here’s the trick to a Texas-style brisket rub:. An authentic Texas brisket rub is equal parts (by volume) salt and pepper. What do I mean by volume? In some recipes, you weigh the ingredients. In others, you fill a measuring cup with ingredients. For a great brisket rub, you measure by volume in a measuring cup, NOT BY WEIGHT. If you make a rub by weight, you are going to get a very peppery rub, and folks are not going to like it. Salt weighs a lot compared with ingredients like pepper. Use volume. So, I like to say that you use the same volume of your “salts” as your dried spices.
Texas Brisket Rub
Cuisine: BarbecueDifficulty: Easy5
minutesEasy one-to-one by volume BBQ rub for Texas-style brisket.
Ingredients
1/2 cup of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt
1/2 cup of kosher salt
1 cup of tellicherry black pepper (coarse ground)
Directions
- Combine ingredients in a container
- Shake container until fully combined
- Store in a container for up to three months
Recipe Video
Notes
- Two cups of the brisket rub will cover a 15-pound brisket. You will have a little left over. You can use the extra rub to season brisket when you serve it, season a Bloody Mary cocktail, or flavor a homemade barbecue sauce.
Remix, Be Creative
Now that you know the template for a brisket rub, have fun and play some jazz. The volume of salts can be any combination of salts that you want. I typically use kosher salt and seasoned salt, but I also try hickory salt, citrus sult, and butter salt to mix it up. On the dried spice side of the rub ratio, you can try anything that you got tucked away in the spice drawer. I love black pepper to be the predominant flavor in my rubs, but I mix it with dried rosemary, thyme, and white pepper.
I usually get some sort of spice set for Christmas. These little vials add up and take up space in my spice cabinet, so I am always looking for a way to use them.
Play the Rub Game
Get a twenty-sided die (or use an online random number generator) and get a number from 1 to 20. Do this twice. Look up each number in the columns and invent a new rub. If you don’t like what you see, try again. Experiment. Have fun. Make happy accidents.
| Number | Salts | Dried Spices |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Seasoned Salt | White Pepper |
| 2 | Hickory Salt | Pink Pepper |
| 3 | Citrus Salt | Dried Rosemary |
| 4 | Garlic Salt | Thyme |
| 5 | Celery Salt | Oregano |
| 6 | Smoked Salt | Basil |
| 7 | Rosemary Salt | Cumin |
| 8 | Chili Salt | Paprika |
| 9 | Vanilla Salt | Turmeric |
| 10 | Saffron Salt | Sage |
| 11 | Lavender Salt | Cinnamon |
| 12 | Truffle Salt | Nutmeg |
| 13 | Cinnamon Salt | Cardamom |
| 14 | Lemon Pepper Salt | Cloves |
| 15 | Ginger Salt | Star Anise |
| 16 | Mint Salt | Bay Leaves |
| 17 | Espresso Salt | Coriander |
| 18 | Basil Salt | Fennel Seeds |
| 19 | Curry Salt | Mustard Seeds |
| 20 | Cardamom Salt | Dill |
Example Rub
I asked Alexa for a random number from 1 to 20. She replied back with 4 and 16. 4 is garlic salt and 16 is bay leaves.
Here’s how I would make a recipe using these random ingredients.
The Garlic Bay Bliss Rub with Garlic Salt and Bay Leaves
- 3/4 cup of kosher salt
- 1/4 cup garlic salt
- 1 cup of black pepper
- 1 tablespoon of ground bay leaves
This was quite fun. I would have never thought of trying bay leaves in my rub. I Googled around and found that others have tried it and produced great results.I am not sure if I will ever try mint salt, though. Let me know what you try out.