Brisket question

[smokerdude65]

OK, here's my situation. I have to cook a brisket this weekend. We are eating around 4:00pm Saturday. I do not want to start cooking at 4:00am to get a 12 hour cook. If I smoke 6 hours Friday night, then wrap in foil and let the oven finish it at 200 until the 12 hours is up, should I refrigerate the whole brisket and just heat it back up on the pit for an hour or so that afternoon?? :shrug:Then take it off and slice it up? Would the reheating part dry it out too much??:shrug:
Thanks in advance!

[Bull]

It sounds to me that the eating time is a set time is this correct?

[nodnal]

Ive come across a couple of times when i had to have a brisket ready on a saturday afternoon. I always end of q'ing it up on Friday, dont like when people are rushing me to get it done. Your only other option is to just stay up all night and drink some beer while cooking it. :D But then again I dont know:shrug:

[smokerdude65]

The eating time isn't set in stone. I could make it at 5 or so. Either way, You're looking at starting the fire EARLY.....

[imfree2Q]

I have cooked a brisket 6 hrs on the pit wraped in foil put in fridge.. Pulled it out next day put in oven at 220 or so for another 5 hrs.. Turned out great.. No one knew it was finished in the oven the next day.. Sometimes we have to be creative!! :thumbs:

[UpTop]

Stay up late or get up early either way you'll be full and tired.

[Bull]

So it sounds to me that you just don't want to crawl out of bed early:shrug: season and rub the night before wake up at 5:00 and start the fire, build your wood in ur firebox the night before that way your ready, fire it up bring pit to temp and put brisket on then crawl back in to bed for a couple of hours.

[smokerdude65]

2Q......Thanks. That was another option I had in mind. I will be doing ribs, butt roast, and chicken on Saturday and could take the brisket from the fridge and put it back on the pit (wrapped), if there is room.....

[Ed Embry]

I'm with Nodnal. I'd do it a day or 2 ahead of time and warm it up. If fact, this is what I now do on most catering jobs. No Surprises this way. 8)

[bigwheel]

Dittos to whut Ed say and anybody else who agreed with him. I woulda cooked it last week...finished in foil with some juice (beef broth..black coffee..wooster etc) cook till done then cool it down and drain off the juice. Chill both and defat the juice then freeze the brisket and juice as separate entities. On D-day morn make sure everything is thawed out. Slice and defat the brisket cold and reassembe as cut in a Sams disposable pan. Mix the thawed out juice about 50/50 with water...(the juice actually be closer to gelatin than juice) up to about the bottom of the smoke ring. Put foil over the top and stick in the pit or oven till it hits 160 when you poke it through the foil. You will be the hit of the party. Thats how Big Dave taught me to do it. Works very well.

bigwheel

[Woodman]

Cook it for 6 hours Friday. Foil it and put it in the oven to finish. Once it is in foil, it gets absolutely no benefit from being in smoke. I would do it continuously though as opposed to cooling, then finishing later.

[Texas 1836]

Well, I did a test cook on Friday to try cooking the day before, chilling, then slicing and reheating on the pit. First, I think I started with a not so good piece of meat bought at the last minute at Kroger. (Excel?) Did the worchestershire and TBBQ rub. Cooked for 11 hours. Now, didnt do a great job tending the fire, but stayed between 220 - 255 the entire time. At 11 hours (did NOT use a thermometer, thought I would try being like the smart guys on here) pulled, wrapped in foil and put in the refridgerator over night.

Sliced the brisket cold which I did not like at all. To me, when the meat is warm, it can kind of guide the knife. Found way more fat inside than I thought there should be (hence, thinking not a good cut). Now, it may have been that I just sliced it wrong, but kept looking for the against the grain cut, and really had trouble finding it. Pieced it back together in a pan and put the fat cap back on top. Foiled and back on the pit at 200 for about 2 hours. Now, it wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it really seemed overcooked.

So, have one more weekend to practice on it. I WILL be using a thermometer next time, but going to shoot for about 9 hours, foil wrapping at about 5 hours in. Let it rest a couple of hours, then slice and pan up just before the party. Im thinking if I can pull it at 185 internal I ought to be there? I realize the main thing is for everyone to learn their own pit, maybe I just dont have mine down yet. Thats the story...wife had a Shoe Peg Corn recipe that completely saved the meal though! Will post that in recipes soon.

[RuiNT BBQ]

If you can let it go to at least 195 or closer to 200 internal temp before you pull it off the pit it will be much more tender than pulling it at 185. Another tip on judging tenderness is how easy the thermo. slides in when checking the temp. If there is a lot of resistance, it's not done.

One trick you can use so it's easier to find your"across the grain" cut orientation is to cut the corner off while prepping it. Gives you an indicator later where to start cutting without having to search for the grain under the bark.

The fat probebly isn't an idicator of a "bad" brisket. Excel isn't my preferred brand to buy, but they usually cook up just fine. I have had really good luck with IBP's so I try to stay with them. The ones I usually see around here are IBP, Excel, National and sometimes Miller. There is usually a large fat vein between the point and the flat on any packer brisket.

Good luck with it and let us know how it turns out.

[sly2kusa]

Well, I did a test cook on Friday to try cooking the day before, chilling, then slicing and reheating on the pit. First, I think I started with a not so good piece of meat bought at the last minute at Kroger. (Excel?) Did the worchestershire and TBBQ rub. Cooked for 11 hours. Now, didnt do a great job tending the fire, but stayed between 220 - 255 the entire time. At 11 hours (did NOT use a thermometer, thought I would try being like the smart guys on here) pulled, wrapped in foil and put in the refridgerator over night.

Sliced the brisket cold which I did not like at all. To me, when the meat is warm, it can kind of guide the knife. Found way more fat inside than I thought there should be (hence, thinking not a good cut). Now, it may have been that I just sliced it wrong, but kept looking for the against the grain cut, and really had trouble finding it. Pieced it back together in a pan and put the fat cap back on top. Foiled and back on the pit at 200 for about 2 hours. Now, it wasnt as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it really seemed overcooked.

So, have one more weekend to practice on it. I WILL be using a thermometer next time, but going to shoot for about 9 hours, foil wrapping at about 5 hours in. Let it rest a couple of hours, then slice and pan up just before the party. Im thinking if I can pull it at 185 internal I ought to be there? I realize the main thing is for everyone to learn their own pit, maybe I just dont have mine down yet. Thats the story...wife had a Shoe Peg Corn recipe that completely saved the meal though! Will post that in recipes soon.

Sounds like you are getting it down there Texas! Take some pics next time too my Q-Bro!

:thumbs:

[Texas 1836]

Good info RuINT. Will try that. Sly, still have a ways to go, but will get there eventually! Thaniks for the info and well wishes!

[Texas 1836]

Did another brisket yesterday, was a lot more pleased with the way the cook went. Cooked at 220 until IT of 160, then wrapped. That was about 6 hours in. Then kept it on until hit IT of 200. Pulled and let it cool down and rest about an hour, then put it in the fridge for the night. Now sitting here trying to decide on slicing cold and panning up to rewarm or just rewarming the whole wrapped brisket. It seems the general advice here is to slice cold, pan and rewarm. Does anyone warm the whole cooked brisket then slice it out? Appreciate all of the advice and input.

[grillmaster]

well i would think reheating it after it's sliced so slicing when it's cold or you could slice after it come's of the pit. I think it would be less time consuming to reheat sliced with all the juices as Woody stated. Just my .02 cents. I have cooked briskets for others and i let them rest then sliced vaccum sealed em then put in the fridge the reheating was up to them. oh and i poured the juices in the bag too and they were a hit.

[txsmkmstr]

My vote also goes to slice before re-heating.

I had some brisket left over (frozen) that I thawed out to make sandwiches with... sliced it while chilled and got nice even slices that warmed up beautifully. Later I decided to have another sandwich from the remaining hunk and warmed it first - big mistake. It didn't warm up very evenly (microwaved), it was too hot to handle and didn't slice very evenly because it was so tender (pats self on back :lol:)

Lesson learned.... slice it first.

[Texas 1836]

Well, I have to say, I am now a TOTAL believer in cooking, cooling, slicing and re-heating. Not only did it come out as tender as I could have hoped for, but also gave me time to FINALLY finish my outdoor kitchen. So, I am pretty hyped. Now ready to cook for our event next weekend for 35 people. Will do 3 briskets on Firday, chill, re-heat on Saturday 2 hours before serving time. Thanks for all of the input and advice. A few pics of the cook and the finished kitchen attached.

[Texas 1836]

More pics of the cook and kitchen

[Texas 1836]

Last of the pics

[joe arras]

Nice looking brisket:thumbs: Ditto for the kitchen

I noticed that you dont have an outdoor cover over the outlet:idea:

Good luck next week.

[Texas 1836]

Thanks Joe. And you are correct on the outlet. Hard to tell, but it the bar top overhangs it about 6 inches, and I have a GF! on the other end.

[Mic]

:thumbs: Nice job on the kitchen and the brisket, Texas! :drool:

Mic

[sgarza]

thats an awsome setup.brisket looks great to.

[High Cotton Tom]

thats an awsome setup.brisket looks great to.

Agreed! :thumbs:

[imfree2Q]

Very good lookin Brisket.. :drool:

[jptexas]

question when you rest briskets can i stack them in the cooler or should i lay them flat in the cooler and use more coolers when there is many briskets:shrug:

[totally smoked]

jp i'd stack em..not too deep..maybe 3 high..just keep track of first in so's ya can get first one in out when ready. It would save on room and towels..long as you keep which one's which :)
ts

[RuiNT BBQ]

I will usually let them sit out wrapped and cool to about 175-180 before putting them in the cooler. My thought on that is that way they don't keep cooking themselves when I put them in the cooler. I will usually leave a thermo probe in one or 2 to keep an eye on them. We have a small cooler that fits the briskets perfectly without much room around them and I can get 3 in it at a time. Works fine that way. When having to hold more than that, I just use a bigger cooler. Have a 104 qt. unit that can hold a few......