How long should the meat sit before cutting and serving?

[bluejaybbq]

Do you guys recommend letting meat sit for prolonged periods before slicing and serving? How long for spare ribs, baby backs, chicken, brisket? At the risk of sounding stupid, I've read where some recommend letting a chicken or ribs sit for 30 minutes before serving. Won't the food get cold in 30 minutes?? Thanks.

By the way last weekend, I tried Bill's easy chicken recipe beer butt style, and it was awesome. Now my kids want every Sunday night to be Dad's BBQ night--a new tradition. I hope I'm up to the challenge. Thanks Bill for making me a hero in my house!

[WBC]

Yeah, if we're not in a big hurry and we need to make real nice comp slices, we let the meat sit so it can firm up a bit. I wanna say 30 minutes for brisket sounds about right, but it doesn't take that long for ribs. Maybe 10 at the most. Chicken is usually cut in half, then you just use your fingers and pull it all apart.

[bigwheel]

Best flavor and moisture content on brisket ..not to mention ease of cutting comes at slightly above room temp (now actually brisket is best sliced cold but that is another show). I like to let it set in the hot box for at least two hours..then just barely crack the lid..and give it another hour or two..then sit it out on the pit for an hour..then bring it inside for an hour...then crack the foil for an hour. Should be just about fittin in half a day or so. Now I dont go to this much trouble on chicken and ribs. They need a swelter in the hot box too and a gradual cool down is wonderful but it need to be an abbreviated version of only about 1/4 day. Hope this helps.

bigwheel

[gsmith]

:roll: Hey BW that don't seem like enough time. Are you sure you don't let it sit longer? :D

[SCOTT]

:roll: Hey BW that don't seem like enough time. Are you sure you don't let it sit longer? :D

I think he needs a job or a hobby...He has way too much time on his hands
:D

[Thom Emery]

Last Brisket we did was 4 hours in the hot box It was my best ever

[Steve-O]

There was another post about brisket. It got me thinking. Some of my best briskets were when I smoke them to about 180, foiled, vacuum sealed, then warmed up in an oven somewhere.

I may just plan on several hours of hotbox time for the next cookout. I'll post a report....

[serialgriller]

ok, here goes a dumb question......by hot box do you guys mean wrapping in foil, then towels and/or newspaper and putting in an ice chest (igloo) for awhile or are you talking about a totally different contraption :?:

[Steve-O]

You got it.

[david brace]

Right, it's just an insulated chest...cold stays cold OR hot stays hot...

DB

[TexLaw]

Thirty minutes is good for brisket. A couple hours or so in a cooler is better. Like Serialgriller mentioned, you can add some towels to the cooler for extra insulation, but you don't need that if it's just a couple hours. If you aren't putting it in a cooler, then cover with foil. If you are talking about a thirty minute rest, you'll still have a plenty warm brisket after just a thirty minute rest.

If my pit isn't full, I usually keep a couple large bricks in it to add mass. If I'm holding meat in my cooler for a while, I sometimes put those bricks on the bottom, as well.

The idea is that meat needs to rest after you take it off the fire. Resting allows energy and juices to distribute evenly throughout the product. The larger the piece of meat, the long it needs to rest. The greater the difference between the cooking temperature and the internal temperature of the meat, the longer it needs to rest. While a brisket usually comes out pretty close to its cooking temperature, its sheer size begs for a long resting time. Thirty minutes sounds like a minimum to me. Butts go about the same.

Like Blake said, ribs don't take nearly as long to rest. Ten minutes probably does just fine, but I like to give them at least twenty. If I can, I give them an hour in the cooler.


TL

[david brace]

The theory behind letting the meat rest, also called reposing, is simple. As heat is applied to the meat, it forces the juices towards the center. Once the proper cooking time is applied, those juices have been forced in to the cener of the meat and now have no place to go. This is where reposing comes in. Assuming that you pulled the meat at the proper time, reposing allows those juices to go somewhere, which is back out to the semi-dried outer part of the meat that lost the juices in the first place. The advancing heat will cook the center a bit more, while the juices will be absorbed back into the outer areas of the meat. This is especially true in oven cooking and flash cooking, where the outside of the meat is seared to lock in all the juices.

DB

[Thom Emery]

ok, here goes a dumb question......by hot box do you guys mean wrapping in foil, then towels and/or newspaper and putting in an ice chest (igloo) for awhile or are you talking about a totally different contraption :?:
You cant call it an ice chest when ya doin hot storage lol

[serialgriller]

yeah i've been doin' the foil wrap, towel wrap, igloo thing for a while now, but when you fellers started talkin' about a hotbox i figured it was some new fangled contraption i was gonna have to convince sgw we just had to have :wink:

[stan]

I agree with a couple hours wrapped in foil thrown in a cooler. That is the best that I have done. About 4 hours in the cooler and it was still about 130-140 when it was sliced.

[vinman]

So it turns out that I have been doing all the right things with my brisket...just needed the right teminology is all.
Every time I just take brisket right off the pit and slice it, it just didn't taste as good as others that I had foiled and "hotboxed" to bring to an event. Here I was just thinking that all of the anticipation as well as smelling the cooked product made it that much better. Turns out that them juices just needed to repose (thanks DB). I'm doing one up for the football games this weekend and I'm going to hotbox the hell outta this one. :wink:

[jshively]

Best flavor and moisture content on brisket ..not to mention ease of cutting comes at slightly above room temp (now actually brisket is best sliced cold but that is another show). I like to let it set in the hot box for at least two hours..then just barely crack the lid..and give it another hour or two..then sit it out on the pit for an hour..then bring it inside for an hour...then crack the foil for an hour. Should be just about fittin in half a day or so. Now I dont go to this much trouble on chicken and ribs. They need a swelter in the hot box too and a gradual cool down is wonderful but it need to be an abbreviated version of only about 1/4 day. Hope this helps.

bigwheel

I thought I had time on my hand. Dang problem is after 30 minutes of meat getting off the pit I can't even see straight.

[txpgapro]

Don't leave that brisket in the box more than a day or two or it will fall to pieces. :wink:

[Michiana Mark]

bigwheel,,you and I do the same thing, it's not bbq it's an event! :D :D :D [/quote]

[infamousterry2]

This is a beginner's question, on a boston butt, I understand that the 8lb butt that i have will take about 12 to 16 hours to smoke now here's the question, do you put the foil on after your done cooking and then put it in the hotbox. How long would you suggest to leave in hot box, I want to add BBQ sauce to pulled pork for sandwhich's.

[bigwheel]

Well no a righteous butt dont take that long iffin it be cooking itself right. Only yankees cook em measured in multiples of weeks. Butts do great at anywhere twixt 250 to 300 and if you cooking longer than roughly an hour per lb..thats too slow. My suggestion is this. Buy a slightly mo bigga butt if you can find one..but if not the 8 pounder will work just fine. Split the butt half in two. That give you one half with a bone and one half without (assuming you doing bone in butt of course). Rub both halves and put em in the heat. When they get to about 160-170 internal pick out one half and wrap it in the New England crutch..aka Reynolds wrap along with a slight bit o juice..apple cider..beer..hooch etc. I like to do this with the boneless half personally..and contiueth to cook till the one in the foil get to about 195 or so..then chunk it in the hot box. Keep cooking the nekked half (which should be laggin behind a bit if your calculations is correct and the cook is sober etc). When the nekked chunk hits the same temp wrap it up too and toss it in the box with his twin. Let em rest at least a couple of hours without peeking or lifting the lid. When it comes time to get ready to rumble and start pushing...push both both together at the rate of 50/50 and sauce em up a bit to keep em moist..little mo rub dont hurt at this point neither. If your contest cooking use mainly the outside meat. Sauce should be a vinegar infused and diluted version of whut ever tomater based sauce you like..little spike of sour mash whiskey dont hurt in none either. Should be edible enough for guv'ment work.

bigwheel

ps..Now a yankee tole me how to do it like this..so all yankees apparently aint created equal:)


This is a beginner's question, on a boston butt, I understand that the 8lb butt that i have will take about 12 to 16 hours to smoke now here's the question, do you put the foil on after your done cooking and then put it in the hotbox. How long would you suggest to leave in hot box, I want to add BBQ sauce to pulled pork for sandwhich's.

[infamousterry2]

Thanks Bigwheel
When the two halves ( it is bone in) set in the hot box for two hours and you take them out and add a little sauce, you said a little more rub could be added, how do you add it , just sprinkel some in the sauce.

[david brace]

ps..Now a yankee tole me how to do it like this..so all yankees apparently aint created equal:)Thank you, I think... :? 8) :lol:

DB

[droller]

Sounds like you are only doing a couple of butts and if so you probably got a pretty good hotbox sitting right there in the kitchen--your microwave. Wrap the butts in foil and then as much newspaper as you can and shove them in. Works great, and the wife won't have to get the Coleman out for you.

[bigwheel]

Well sorta. Dont add the sauce till after the pulling. While you is pulling and afterwards go through the meat carefully and remove any largish conspicuous blobs of unrendered fat. Which you will have and should have on an expeditiously cooked butt. Then it sort of a touchy feely thing. Dribble a little "warm" thin sauce and work it in..sprinkle a little rub and work it in..take a taste. Also keeps the salt and peppa shaker handy. Repeat as needed till all seems well and it gets good balance of the moisture content..salt and heat. Just pretend like you was seasoning it up to suit yourself. Object be to sauce it just enough to kick it up a notch and moisten it up..but not enough to where the eaters/judges can tell it been sauced. In other words it do not need to be swimming in sauce. Little light sprinkle of MSG aint gonna hurt it neither. Joe Ames has some stuff called POW which is sorta like MSG on steroids. That works very good. Folks tastes something that tastes good but they cant figger out whut it is..thats whut it is.

bigwheel




Thanks Bigwheel
When the two halves ( it is bone in) set in the hot box for two hours and you take them out and add a little sauce, you said a little more rub could be added, how do you add it , just sprinkel some in the sauce.

[david brace]

Well sorta. Dont add the sauce till after the pulling. While you is pulling and afterwards go through the meat carefully and remove any largish conspicuous blobs of unrendered fat. Which you will have and should have on an expeditiously cooked butt. Then it sort of a touchy feely thing. Dribble a little "warm" thin sauce and work it in..sprinkle a little rub and work it in..take a taste. Also keeps the salt and peppa shaker handy. Repeat as needed till all seems well and it gets good balance of the moisture content..salt and heat. Just pretend like you was seasoning it up to suit yourself. Object be to sauce it just enough to kick it up a notch and moisten it up..but not enough to where the eaters/judges can tell it been sauced. In other words it do not need to be swimming in sauce. Little light sprinkle of MSG aint gonna hurt it neither. Joe Ames has some stuff called POW which is sorta like MSG on steroids. That works very good. Folks tastes something that tastes good but they cant figger out whut it is..thats whut it is.Well put, Mr. Wheel...that is a decent description of the pulling process to make it 'just right'. You earned one New Yawk 'attaboy'... 8) 8) 8)

DB

[rstcso]

Well put, Mr. Wheel...that is a decent description of the pulling process to make it 'just right'. You earned one New Yawk 'attaboy'... 8) 8) 8)

Dang Mr bigwheel. You're rack'n em up tonight. Don't go spending it all in one place. :lol:

[infamousterry2]

Thanks guy's, a great bunch of information, all will come in handy, one thinng I am noticing, there is alot of ways to smoke butts, or other kinds of meat, all close to the same way, but not exactly the same, I guess thats where I really do some learning........Thanks for the help!!!!!!!

[david brace]

Hey IT2...gotta ask these things sometimes...just WHY are you infamous???

DB

[infamousterry2]

why infamousterry2 ......WELL, I wish I could tell you some really cooked up story, that was interesting, but truth is, I started an art done on the pc site years ago, and used several variations of Terry, in fact many, when I would change service providers , I had to sign up again, and they wouldn't let me use the same name, (said it was taken) so they offer you several options for names, and infamousterry2 :roll: was not as bad as the other's they offered so I took it to get signed up and it stuck, I have since started a truck camping site, and belong to several other forums, so you see, it sounds like the name could be interesting but it's not really, and I just use it where ever I'm at, if some of the people that travel in my circles happen to log on here , they will know who I am.
Bottom line tho , I really would like to learn about cooking BBQ, ribs, butts etc. just for my own use, and leave the comp. and big stuff to you big boys.

[Thom Emery]

Bills gloves make this process easy If ya dont foil the bark or brownie crust is great and my favorite part of the cook

[rstcso]

one thinng I am noticing, there is alot of ways to smoke butts, or other kinds of meat, all close to the same way, but not exactly the same

Every pit cooks differently. Even if they are the same model, there will be small variations. That is part of why everyone has their own way to cook each specific meat on their own pit. Learn how yours cooks. Your friends and neighbors will love you for it :lol: .

When cooking butts, you'll know immediately if it's done to the "pulled pork" stage. It will fall apart with minimal effort. If you really have to pull to get it to come apart, it probably needed to be cooked a little longer. It will still be very good to eat, just not as easy to pull.