Rubbed my brisket with just salt and pepper for the first time Saturday

Skipped the 15-spice rub I always use and that plain beef flavor came through so clean I almost cried, has anyone else had a simpler approach wreck their old go-to recipe?

3 comments

3 Comments

sagen3621d ago

Man that first time you strip it all back is something else, isn't it? I did the same thing last summer with a pork butt, always loaded it up with brown sugar and paprika and all that jazz, then tried just salt and pepper and a tiny bit of garlic powder and I'm telling you the pork flavor was so good I didn't even bother with sauce. You want to make sure you're using a good coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper though, that makes a huge difference. I had to up my temps a bit too because without all that sugar the bark didn't set as fast, so I ran it at 275 instead of 225 and got a nice crust anyway.

rowan_hayes21d ago

Yeah that bit about upping the temp to get the bark right really hit home. It's kind of like how in life when you simplify things you realize all the extra stuff was just hiding what really mattered, but you still gotta adapt your method to make the simple stuff work. Makes you wonder what else we're overcomplicating just because we're used to doing it the old way, right?

rowan84921d ago

Oh man that first bite of just salt and pepper brisket is like a religious experience. I did the same with ribs last fall after years of piling on rubs and it totally changed how I look at barbecue now. That clean beefy taste just hits different when there's nothing getting in the way of it.