Sorry for asking this question. I’ve been told 16 mesh black pepper is the choice for brisket rub.
What makes the 16 mesh the best?
I can delete the post after reading a few answers but am curious.
Coarse pepper helps with smoke adhesion and bark formation. I personally don’t think 16 mesh is critical. Just need pepper that is reasonably coarse without being more like cracked than ground.
It’s good that my question was posted. I had no idea black pepper helped with smoke adhesion. I just hope heavy black pepper doesn’t make it too spicy. I can sometimes add too much ground black pepper in my soups and I get my soup too spicy.
I didn't use it for the longest time....using my own ground pepper, instead. But then I tried it out and I use it for nearly everything now. I really like the coarseness of it and, like kosher salt over table salt, it is much easier to see how much you are applying.
The courser the grains of the rub, the less it "clogs" up the meat surface allowing better smoke penetration/adhesion. Why my brisket rub is all course. I did an experiment side by side at one of my bigger cooks and the course rub (same perforations by weight) was preferred by vastly more people.
John "JR"
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Combination of flavor and texture - helps build better bark. I have noticed this myself with brisket, the fine mesh pepper does not help build the bark the same.
Reminds me, I've been saying for a month I need to get some - and now I am cooking this weekend and don't have it. <sigh> Local WM doesn't have 16 mesh that I have been able to find.
16 mesh is about the same size as Morton koshering salt grains, so it makes a fairly even rub in the "Dalmatian" style. It's also true that things that are wet, cold, and rough textured allow smoke to adhere better. The 16 mesh pepper works very nicely to adhere the smoke.
It's kinda cute that people think the 16 mesh from the jar will produce better pepper flavor than fresh cracked pepper. Pepper flavor is in fairly volatile (as flavor chemicals go) molecules, and they tend to wane over time when cracked. Don't take my word for it. This is straight outta Aaron Franklin.
Right, that's the point. It's cute that folks think it has better flavor. It doesn't. It's for the size consistency and smoke adherence, not for it's inherent flavor. A lot of that 16 mesh from hardware stores is interchangeable with styrofoam pellets, flavorwise. ;-)
No shade. I have a jar in my cabinet, and I'm a proud Pepper Cannon owner. It's not like I can't coat a brisket with fresh if I wanted to.
Yeah I have a 2 or 3 pound bag of tellicherry pepper corns - but my battery powered pepper grinders will take an hour to grind enough to use, AND it'll be vastly different grains, some powder-fine, and some about the size of.... well, a whole peppercorn. lol
I want to speak on kosher salt. I have course kosher salt at the house and the ingredient label
shows 1/4tsp = 480mg of sodium. There is 12 1/4tsp in 1TBSP. If 2 tablespoons of kosher salt
is applied to a 14 pound brisket the sodium at that amount is over 10,000mg of sodium. That much sodium could possibly result in an Emergency Room visit.
With that known commercial rubs are not that salty then. I purchased Rudy’s beef rub and the sodium is very low at 85mg per 1/4tsp
On my next brisket am going to use 2 TBSP of the Rudy’s rub and sprinkle 16 mesh black pepper on top of that.
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