I am planning on a mexican dinner party. I was wanting to smoke a brisket. Does anyone have a good SW rub they would share? Please, keep it simple. I dont have access to a lot of unique spices.
Thank you
Smoke N Italy

Someone will jump in with a solution. But I didn't see any answers and didn't know when you were doing this.

The easiest way is to add Chipotle powder or any of the mexican spices to your base rub. If you don't have access to them, it's kinda hard to make Mexican food -- you really need spices from that region. Order some from Penzey's for the "next" time. When I lived in Australia, there wasn't any mexican food, so I had it shipped in once a Quarter and we had a party (details of which are still classified)

Besides, the typical mexican brisket isn't done how we do it, then it's shredded and put inside other stuff.

You might just do that. Smoke the brisket up to shredding temp (200+) then make burritos or soft tacos and just add salsa.

Thanks smokin, I do have some ancho chile pepper. McCormiks has a SW rub, its not bad, but I have found making your own rub is much better. Thanks for the help. I have some time.
Smoke N Italy

david,
to smokinokie's chipolte you could add ground cumin which should be ez to find since it is used in morracan cooking. also you could add some ground oregano and thyme. to get an idea of how much to use you could look at the ingredient list on the mccormicks and use that as your basic guideline.
but smokin's burrito idea sure sounds good
jack

David - If you have access to the same or similar ingredients, here's a rub that's one of my favorites....

Ingredients:
1. 8-10 ancho chiles
2. 5-7 chiptole chiles
3. 4 whole cloves - ground
4. � cup Mexican oregano
5. 2 tbs cumin seed
6. � cup vegetable oil
7. 25 cloves garlic � peeled and roughly chopped
8. 1 cup kosher salt

Method:
1. Stem, seed and de-vein chiles.
2. Toast oregano in a medium skillet over medium heat until it gives a toasty smell. Be careful not to burn the oregano. When cool, grind to a powder in a spice grinder.
3. Repeat step 2 with the cumin seed.
4. In the same skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking, and fry the chiles, a few at a time, until puffy and brown, about 10-15 seconds each. Be careful not to burn the chiles. Thoroughly drain the chiles on a paper towel.
5. When cool, grind the chiles in a food processor until they are a powder.
6. Add all the other ingredients and process until you have a slightly coarse rub. Pulsing and scraping may be necessary here.
7. Transfer rub to containers and store in the refrigerator.

Notes:
1. If the rub seems a bit moist when finished, spread it in a thin layer on a sheet pan and put in a 200F oven for a few minutes until dry.
2. If the rub has been stored for awhile before using, it may form in clumps. Run through a food processor again.

BTW - In addition to the chipotle powder that Smokin mentioned, Penzeys also sells the whole peppers - anchos, chips, and others. I consider myself pretty lucky in that they have a retail store about a block from one of my offices.

Goin with the burrito thing. Some chicanitas took some of my bbq and showed me this one. Smear some refried beans on a flour tortilla. Add the bbq, (chicken, pork, beef) to the tortilla, Add Mexican rice to the tortilla, top with pico de gallo and roll up the tortilla. Sometimes, it can make you forget all about white bread and bbq sauce.

Smoke N Italy: try this place to fix your access to unique spices/ingredients problem: http://www.chipotletx.com/index.html

Here is a basic rub I use for all my Southwest(my speciality)grilling and yes its also good on Brisket as well.

1 cup Chile powder
� cup Chile Ancho powder
� cup Red Chile Cayenne powder
� cup Cumin powder
� cup Brown Sugar
� cup Garlic powder
⅛ cup Spanish Paprika
⅛ cup ground Black Pepper
⅛ cup Salt

Mix ingredients together and store in a spice container with tight seal.

That seems like alot of pepper (altogether). My rubs usually start out with 1 cup salt and 1 cup brown sugar, then half as much peppers and then half again as much assorted spices. I ain't doubting it is good and hot though. Some don't like so hot. (children and most ladies)

Thanks everyone. I can do this now. I will let you know how it turns out.
Smoke N Italy

See, that's why this forum is great. Lots of help.

Gurnee, yours sounds good, I'll have to do that for the Pepper Heads in my group.

Smokin'

Yeah Hippie I know it sounds like it would be a real scorcher which all those varieties of chiles and yes it is spicy, but it�s not HOT since the Ancho & Paprika are very mild with only a 1 or 2 out of a possible 10 on most chile heat scales, and chile powder maybe rates about a 3, so the only real heat comes from the red chile Cayenne which can about a 6 (this is the spice to throttle up or down depending on your heat tolerance).

Overall the goal of this mixture is to produce a more authentic SW New Mexico flavor, but not to be quite as hot as say the "Cookshack Spicy Chicken rub", just to give a point of reference; which when abused properly can have quite a kick!

When it comes to Southwest rubs, I think that unlike a typical BBQ/smoking rubs which I agree are typically salt & brown sugar based, its the cumin, garlic & paprika that are really the base ingredients here along with the milder chiles mixed in for the real flavor (such as roasted chiplotle or ancho, pasailla peppers), and then one or two chile powders are selected for heat, with the sugar and salt being blended in smaller amounts for contrast and well� you just need salt!

Although I know this is primarily smoking forum, and I've used this rub on all my smoked meats, I especially like it on chicken & pork to give it that Hispanic flavor. But I think this blend just seems to shine more when used on grilled foods. Maybe it�s because the higher temps glaze it, maybe it the grilled char crust vs the smokers softer bark, I don�t know.

But either way, I recommend trying it on either chicken (legs or breasts) or on pork chops; with a little extra virgin olive oil drizzled on, then modestly sprinkling the rub on the meat and letting the meat marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes but no more than 2 hrs. then grill the meat to its proper temperature doneness, and squeeze a lime over the meat right before pulling it off the grill. Serve it up with grilled bell pepper halves (which I also like to lightly coat with a bit of olive oil & SW rub too!) tortillas and beans and you�ll have something like what fajitas could only aspire to be.

SmokinOkie: Yes, please share with those Pepperheads!! I�d love to see some of their ideas.

Thanks for the explanation BBQdude. I might have to use it on some wings after the EVOO. I wasn't knocking it, and I got what I was looking for with the post above.

No prob, I didnt think you were knocking it, I know it sounds crazy hot.

But I have to ask, whats "the EVOO"?

EVOO - extra virgin olive oil

When you get done,I'd like to know if you were shooting for a traditional bbq brisket,or a deconstructed piece of beef ,to use as a carrier for the sauce flavors,as in traditional Mex/NM cooking.

As Smokin' suggested,these are two radically different concepts.

He can speak to this, as probably America's foremost traditional Mexican cooking family, are friends of his family.

Inquiring minds want to know.