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All Things Brisket


kevwun

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1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

That looks great. I've seen a lot of trimmed flats in the case, not sure that I've ever seen a separated point. Would be very nice to churn out some burnt ends. 

they rarely have them, but they do have them at my HEB. just not all the time, have to get lucky basically.

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  • 1 month later...

Smoking briskets this weekend for Easter.  Need some insight.   My plan as of today is to start the smoke early in the morning, say 7 am and hope to be done in 12-14 hours if the brisket cooperates.  My question comes with the hold.  Now I usually paper wrap.  I'm planning to pull the brisket at say 195 degrees and then wrap in plastic wrap and a towel.  Then take an ice chest with a towel in the bottom lay my brisket package in there and cover with another towel and let that thing hold until the next morning.  

Anyone have any expertise in such?  I don't have a YETI just a Coleman 5 day cooler, etc.   

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47 minutes ago, DallasSooner said:

Smoking briskets this weekend for Easter.  Need some insight.   My plan as of today is to start the smoke early in the morning, say 7 am and hope to be done in 12-14 hours if the brisket cooperates.  My question comes with the hold.  Now I usually paper wrap.  I'm planning to pull the brisket at say 195 degrees and then wrap in plastic wrap and a towel.  Then take an ice chest with a towel in the bottom lay my brisket package in there and cover with another towel and let that thing hold until the next morning.  

Anyone have any expertise in such?  I don't have a YETI just a Coleman 5 day cooler, etc.   

how long are you talking about holding? you get diminishing returns at a certain point - like 10ish? hours

i do the long rest in the oven, turn it as low as it will go and sleep well. don't have to worry about anything that way - i do this with the foil boat method but it is absolutely fine with peach paper. just remember to pull it from oven early and let it cool to cutting/eating temp on the counter - don't pull it, it then cut it immediately.

you will never do another one without the long rest, it makes a huge difference.

 

Edited by NoName
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57 minutes ago, DallasSooner said:

Smoking briskets this weekend for Easter.  Need some insight.   My plan as of today is to start the smoke early in the morning, say 7 am and hope to be done in 12-14 hours if the brisket cooperates.  My question comes with the hold.  Now I usually paper wrap.  I'm planning to pull the brisket at say 195 degrees and then wrap in plastic wrap and a towel.  Then take an ice chest with a towel in the bottom lay my brisket package in there and cover with another towel and let that thing hold until the next morning.  

Anyone have any expertise in such?  I don't have a YETI just a Coleman 5 day cooler, etc.   

 

You’re going to fuck this up. 195? The fuck does that even mean?

Pull it when it probes right, not by temp. 

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25 minutes ago, thunderlounge said:

 

You’re going to fuck this up. 195? The fuck does that even mean?

Pull it when it probes right, not by temp. 

Thanks for the pep talk.  Probably gonna pull a little early because it's going to sit and rest for so long.  No I won't pull it if it's close.  But most briskets are ready in that 195-205 range from my experience. 

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37 minutes ago, NoName said:

how long are you talking about holding? you get diminishing returns at a certain point - like 10ish? hours

i do the long rest in the oven, turn it as low as it will go and sleep well. don't have to worry about anything that way - i do this with the foil boat method but it is absolutely fine with peach paper. just remember to pull it from oven early and let it cool to cutting/eating temp on the counter - don't pull it, it then cut it immediately.

you will never do another one without the long rest, it makes a huge difference.

 

Yeah; i would like to use the oven method but I'm gonna have multiple briskets.  I could definitely put one or two in the oven if need be.

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Multiple briskets is even better, will take up the headspace in the cooler. Fill it with warm water to get some heat in the cooler and then empty right before you put the briskets in there. Towels on bottom, briskets, than towels on top to take up any remaining headspace. 195 does feel a bit early though, but I haven't done many cooler holds. If you have a probe stick it in one of the briskets while it sits overnight. Would be interested to see how much carryover you get with this method. You can also keep an eye to make sure that you don't for some reason drop temp too much during hold. If things got down to like 150 and you were still hours away I'd think about putting in oven at lowest possible temp to avoid hitting any unsafe temps.   

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1 hour ago, DallasSooner said:

Yeah; i would like to use the oven method but I'm gonna have multiple briskets.  I could definitely put one or two in the oven if need be.

Preheat the cooler by putting a container of near boiling water in there for 10 minutes or so.  After the briskets rest, wrap them (and the paper) tightly in foil.  Don't just put a towel over them.  Put as many towels (loosely) over them to fill the airspace between the food and the cooler lid.

 

edit: Anastasis covered it.   I posted before reading his post. 

Edited by dcbc
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1 minute ago, luke duke said:

serving chopped beef sandwiches and tacos for Easter.

Tacos surely fit for our lord and saviour Jesus Christ. Just don't cheap on the tortillas and send someone down to San Antonio to bring back supplies. 

How much carryover would you expect, or is there something different going on by coollering straight off the pit

 

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13 hours ago, Anastasis said:

 If you have a probe stick it in one of the briskets while it sits overnight. Would be interested to see how much carryover you get with this method. You can also keep an eye to make sure that you don't for some reason drop temp too much during hold. If things got down to like 150 and you were still hours away I'd think about putting in oven at lowest possible temp to avoid hitting any unsafe temps.   

I think you’ll be in trouble trying to hold in a Coleman overnight. That’s been my go to for resting my briskets, but only for 2-3 hours. Any longer than that, it stays on the smoker or oven at the lowest setting.

 

I’m planning to smoke a couple for Easter myself and bit the bullet and bought  a Cambro last week. 
planning to put on Saturday evening, targeting finishing up around 7am and head to church 

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I'm still not sure I would worry about a smoked brisket being in danger overnight in a cooler.  We are talking about a piece of smoked meat.  I mean yes I can see being an issue with something left out on the counter all day and not at 140 degrees.  But isn't this one of the reason our ancestors started smoking meats in the first place was because it preserved it??

 

Acids: smoke emits a number of acids which cling to the meat and form an outside layer or skin. The acids help the coagulation of the surface meat, and also help preserve the meat by preventing the growth of surface mold and bacteria.

That's from the Culinary Institute of America

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23 hours ago, DallasSooner said:

Yeah; i would like to use the oven method but I'm gonna have multiple briskets.  I could definitely put one or two in the oven if need be.

you should put what you can in the oven then the rest in the cooler. it will make a huge difference, seriously.

i think i could fit 2-3 easily in my regular sized oven after shrinkage but i typically do a more aggressive trim than most.

22 hours ago, dcbc said:

Preheat the cooler by putting a container of near boiling water in there for 10 minutes or so.  After the briskets rest, wrap them (and the paper) tightly in foil.  Don't just put a towel over them.  Put as many towels (loosely) over them to fill the airspace between the food and the cooler lid.

this is the way.

preheat the cooler - i would go longer than 10 min but that's me

fill the empty space.

the temp is going to drop a good bit, but if you do what you can in the oven and the rest in the cooler you should be fine.

i would absolutely not pull at 195 though. cook them to done then rest. you will wish you had done this if you don't.

how many are total you talking about here? if you are using a cooler maybe see if you can borrow a large(er) rotomolded cooler from a friend and do it that way?

Edited by NoName
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This thread has me looking at these $300 electric food warmers on Amazon.  I'm thinking that a pan of water on the bottom rack would keep things pretty even on the other three racks.  The price is really tempting.  The warm setting on my oven is great.  Rock solid at 145.  But the shutting off after 3 hours is not ideal.

 

It'd be great for the holidays too.

 

Link

Edited by dcbc
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1 minute ago, DallasSooner said:

Why not an electric roaster?    They go down to 150 degrees from what I can see. 

 

https://www.walmart.com/ip/AROMA-22Qt-Roaster-Oven-with-High-Dome-Lid-ART-732SBH/1178538713?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0

 

 

 

I've considered it.  But I don't love the idea of heaving the heating element right under the brisket.  The BBQ forum guys like them though.  So there's that.

 

But the idea of something a little bigger for holidays and large gatherings seems like it would be great.

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This thread has me looking at these $300 electric food warmers on Amazon.  I'm thinking that a pan of water on the bottom rack would keep things pretty even on the other three racks.  The price is really tempting.  The warm setting on my oven is great.  Rock solid at 145.  But the shutting off after 3 hours is not ideal.
 
It'd be great for the holidays too.
 
Link

You can also get a cheap electric smoker and use it as a warmer.
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2 minutes ago, luke duke said:


You can also get a cheap electric smoker and use it as a warmer.

I thought about that too.  These aren't much more than a cheapo Masterbuilt though and I might be allowed to bring it inside at Thanksgiving. Plus, the warmer maxes out at 150 (on the dial).  I'm sure the sweet spot is somewhere lower than that, but how low will a cheap electric smoker go?

Edited by dcbc
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11 minutes ago, luke duke said:

Whatever temp you want

https://a.co/d/fMszHsE

Okay.  I've got one of those (Ranco) on my chest freezer from when I used to homebrew.  I've been thinking about rigging it up to a reptile heater pad and tossing that in the cooler to keep the brisket warm.  Perhaps cheaper, but I still like the look of the $300 warmer from some of Amazon's Asian importers.

Edited by dcbc
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Smoked four briskets; pulled at 200-205 area; I only temped one.  The other three I just felt around on (insert joke).  They were wrapped in paper. I then took them off and wrapped them in plastic wrap.  Put a towel in the bottom of the my cooler and up the walls; laid the four briskets in kind stair stepping them (trying to not smash the bottom one) ended up with three bath towels on top and shut the cooler at 10:30 at night; opened cooler the next morning at 8:30 and top brisket temped at 148.  

Results were good. I will do it that way moving forward.  I'll post pics in a bit. 

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, DallasSooner said:

Man that brisket fried rice looks fantastic.  When you get used to it having some veggies in it and you go to some place and it's just the rice you are so disappointed. Looks like enough to feed an army too. 

Thanks!  Cooked for the family visiting on Easter.  Agreed gotta have the veggies and they give the color. I did forget green onions though. 

Edited by utxmike05
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Anyone know or follow Sam Ferrugia? He is @sam_ferrugia on IG. I'm sure the algorithm led me to his content. This guy makes the best looking briskets I have ever seen. He trims the shit out of them until they're a perfect oval shaped mound with just a tiny bit of fat cap. I am not sure if this guy runs his own shop or what, Google doesn't turn up much. I'd buy his master class though, damn. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4oqd_8OrpI/?igsh=ZmZlNHVxeWppZzYx

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  • 2 weeks later...
7 hours ago, T-shirt Sip said:

Going to Snow's for the first time on Saturday. How early should I get there? Its supposed to storm in the morning. Will that affect the line? 

You should get there by 6am. Line could be 100 deep. Still worth it. Better go this weekend, they will not be open April 27th

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2 hours ago, T-shirt Sip said:

Thank you for the heads up. I’ll get there a little bit before 6 and see how it goes. 

I was last there in July 2022.  Got there before 5:00 and was about 65th in line.  They started serving at 7:35 and I was eating by 9:00.

BTW, here is the thread with all of the info on Texas BBQ Joints.

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