By far the most popular rub used for cooking a brisket or other cuts of meat is this simple rub.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Black pepper (course ground)
1/2 cup kosher salt
That is it. It is that simple. But, there is a bit more to it than just using table salt and pepper. The salt and pepper are a big part of forming your bark on smoked meats. So you really need salt and pepper that has the right size grains.
For pepper use coarse milled pepper. Or better still, grind some whole pepper corns yourself in a mortar and pestle.
For the salt, kosher salt if the favourite amongst pitmasters. Kosher salt is ‘less salty’ than table salt. But more importantly it usually has nice sized flakes or grains.
Simply mix the 2 together and use!