Coffee & cocoa rub

Kaffe- och kakaorub

For brisket and chuck, and nothing pink

You need
  • 2 msk finely ground dark coffee
  • 1 msk unsweetened cocoa
  • 2 msk coarse salt
  • 2 msk coarsely ground black pepper
  • 1 msk dark brown sugar
  • 2 tsk smoked paprika

Bitter is the point. Coffee and cocoa contribute almost no flavour you could name once the cook is over; what they leave behind is a dark, slightly bitter bark that stops a long cook tasting only of sugar and smoke.

Grind the coffee finer than you would to drink it. Apply the night before and leave it uncovered in the fridge. Twelve hours is not too long on a brisket.

Keep this off anything you want to serve pink. It is built for twelve hours at 110 °C, and on a steak it simply tastes burnt.