Dry-over-Paste Rub for Brisket

I made these rubs for a brisket cook shown here.



The Paste Rub



1 small onion, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 heaping T pickled jalapenos from a jar
1 T liquid from the jalapeno jar
1 T Dijon
several turns of the green peppermill
pinch salt

2 T evoo

Using a blender, puree all the ingredients except the oil till very smooth. With the machine running, add the oil in a slow stream.



The Dry Rub


1 T coffee beans (I used dark-roasted Ethiopian but any work)
1 T dried chopped garlic (granulated or powder is fine)
6 whole cloves (or a scant 1/2 t ground)
1/2 t whole fennel seeds (or ~1/2 t ground)
1 t whole coriander seeds (or ~1 t ground)
seeds from 4 green cardamom pods (or ~1/3 t ground)
1 T marjoram
1 T thyme
1 1-inch piece dried ginger (or 2 t ground)
1 T granulated onion
1.5 T Aleppo pepper
1 t whole white peppercorns
1/2 t whole black peppercorns
1/2 t salt

(If using some or any of these spices in whole form--cloves, fennel, coriander, cardamom seeds, white peppercorns, blackpeppercorns--toast them, if desired, in a dry pan heated over high heat stirring constantly, till very fragrant and lightly 'toast-y', about 1 min.)

Using your spice grinder of choice, combine all ingredients and grind together.



The paste recipe is enough to cover a whole 12-14-pound packer with the exception of the fatcap side. The dry recipe will make more than you need. Apply the dry to the fatcap side (or whichever side will be on the grate) then flip the brisket. Apply the paste with the back of a soup spoon to the brisket and spread it fairly evenly. Sprinkle the rub over the paste lightly, wait a few minutes, then sprinkle on more rub, as desired.

K.K. Going to give the paste a try on a really nice Choice flat I picked up on sale the other day at a local grocery store here. It comes in at 8.45 lbs and is nice and thick, still pricey at $2.99 a lb but since I don't do the point it's all good. Not sure what dry I'll use yet but really want to try the paste over dry thing. Was torn between doing a Pastrami or just smoking it up. Been a real long time since doing a brisket on the WSM so it's going into the smoke to be sliced and eaten right up. In the "High Heat Brisket Thread" you mentioned that you put the paste on the night before. Is that still the method or do you just put the paste on the brisket then the dry right before it goes on the WSM? Thanks again Bud.

Mostly I put the paste on then the dry while the coals are getting going. Most times I zip to the butcher to grab a brisket within an hour of starting the cook.

Kevin, What about using the paste for a butt, Thoughts?

It works very well. I've done onion-garlic-fresh herb-based pastes, shallot-garlic-ginger-based, pastes based on reconstituted and fresh chilies, et al. For butt, make sure the paste is quite paste-y so that it clings well to vertical surfaces. Also, know your butt placement ahead of time. Flipping a butt this way and that on the grate can mess up any rub--but especially a paste.

I made up the paste rub Sunday night. I used 1/2 a red onion, and 4 on the small side cloves of garlic. Added 1 TBS of wosty, and about 1.5TBS of Morea. I put an eye o round in a vac bag and dumped the paste in the bag. Vac sealed it up then spread the paste all over the eye after it was sealed. Worked great and no mess. It was in the paste for about 18 hrs before I just put salt & pepper on it and grilled it on the lower grate of the WSM no water pan in place. I flipped it at the 1/2 hr mark and took the eye to an internal temp of 135º, cook time was 1 hr. The eye was fantastic, and I loved the taste from the paste rub. The onion and garlic came through very nice. Will def be doing this again, next time will be on a brisket. Thanks for sharing Bud.

Wonderful. Looks great!