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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.
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.
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.
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.
Tom, I have to admit I'm not familiar with the two approaches myself, so I too would be interested in hearing Smokin's thoughts as well.

On my side, I come from a Hispanic upbringing but one that is rooted in San Antonio, TX. which means that traditional south of the border cooking slightly differs from the Tex-Mex I grew up on. My wife who is also Hispanic, is from Colorado with her family roots and traditions all coming from New Mexico going back well into the 1700's. So I think between the two of us we have a good part of the southwest covered!

To both of our family's, sometimes I think traditional Mexican means whatever fits on a tortilla, beans and green or red chile on the side. This summer while we were in New Mexico I said I wanted to go out for some traditional New Mexican food. Both my wife and in-laws looked at me in shock and said "what do you think we've been cooking and eating for the last two weeks?!" LOL

Anyway, it's all fun for us, we love the foods, traditions and creative twists that the spices can give our cuisine.
Gotcha! Now I know who and what your both talking about!

Yeah Rick (Skip? wow you fellas must be close!) Bayless runs the Fonterra Grill here in Chicago. And although I've never been to his establishment, I would love to go to see what's on the menu, but it seems like every time I get into the city I end up at one of my other neighborhood places.

Yes I've seen him interviewed on quite a few cooking shows and I agree he is quite the authority on that which he speaks. It is kind of funny though, as regional as Mexican food really is, how some people have deemed Tex-Mex to be to Americanized and not authentic Mexican, but I also understand Bayless' thoughts when he travels deep into Mexico it's sure not Taco Bell or the Taco Caba�a either!.

Hey Okie since you seem know him, maybe you could suggest to Rick that he's just the guy to do some kind of food research on what I call "the forgotten Spanish US". Since most of the region was originally under Spanish rule for well over 200 years (1500's to 1821), very shortly a part of Mexico until around 1850, and then in the last 150 years has been part of the US. I for one would be fascinated because it's really more of an identity issue, but I'm sure Rick could make an interesting story about how all the cultural changes and influences that have transpired and what foods have resulted. We know that Chili and BBQ would fit in there quite nicely!

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