A Tale of Two Briskies

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troutman

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Aug 14, 2017
555
326
Houston, Texas
BRISKET #1 - TEXAS TRADITIONAL

Being a Texan, my style of brisket cooking is typical Central Texas style, smoke the heck out of it until probe tender. Given into further experimentation; however, I decided to try a comparison between the traditional Texas style brisket and one using a sous vide technique. For you SV purists out there, I tried to follow a Kenji recipe with one difference which I will explain later.

Let's begin with the traditional Texas style brisket. Had a prime full packer in the garage refrig wet curing for about 45 days (including the packing time on the shipping box to Costco) so I pulled it and decided to smoke it on the pellet smoker. First gave it a good trim, then salt brined over night. Later I injected with beef broth and phosphate.....

texas pack trimmed 11-17.jpg

texas pack trimmed 11-17 (2).jpg


....next I seasoned with a good rubbing of my big beef blend ........

texas pack seasoned 11-17.jpg


....then onto the smoker at 225* for the next 13-14 hours. It fought me at the crutch (around 168*) so I wrapped it in paper. Finally hit right at 200* IT and was toothpick tender so into the cambro it went for about 1 1/2 hours to rest. Carved up real nice, flat was a bit dry but the point was tender and juicy.

texas pack flat.jpg
texas pack flat (2).jpg

texas pack drape 11-17.jpg


BRISKET #2 - SOUS VIDE STEAK-LIKE BRISKET

Not long after I was trolling the meat section at my favorite HEB and happened upon the cut up brisket case. They normally have flats all trimmed up but this day they also put out the trimmed up points. Picked out a good one for my sous vide experiment. After having enough turkey for another year, I decided this weekend to try my SV brisket my way. Kenji's recipe calls for a flat that goes into the bath for 50 hours then gets smoked for about 2-3 hours to an IT of 135*. I took it one step further and started with a smoke in my WSM. Since I didn't want to smoke long, instead of wasting a good fire, I decided to stick a chicken on as well.....

Half Bisket-Chick 11-17.jpg


smoking sv brisket 11-17.jpg


....after about 1 hour or so and an IT of about 100* I figured it had enough smoke so I pulled it, vacuum sealed it and stuck it in a bath at 130* for the next 50 hours......

sv brisket bath 130 11-17.jpg

after smoke SV brisket 11-17.jpg


....came out looking real nice and had a distinct wabble-wabble to it like it had smoked for 12 hours !!! I ice bathed it and put it in the frig until the smoker got warmed up.....

post ice bath SV brisket 11-17.jpg


...gave it another good seasoning and put it on the pellet smoker at 300* until the IT hit 135* which took about 1 1/2 hours. Let it rest on the cutting board for about 30 minutes then carved.....

post final smoke SV brisket  11-17.jpg

final SV brisket cut 11-17.jpg


... came out super tender and juicy, really pretty amazing. It had a smokey note to it with the consistency of sirloin steak. The only thing that I didn't like was the fat layer between the muscles. It never really rendered like in a traditional brisket so we ended up just cutting it out. Made a gravy out of the bag jus to complement the meat.....

SV brisket drape.jpg


So what style is preferred? I see both as being viable alternatives. The smokey Texas traditional, with it's pull apart tenderness and unctuous collagen rich fat has always been a hit around my house. It's time consuming and sometimes difficult to hit on point. The sous vide steak like method yields a very tender and medium rare alternative that for me didn't have the proper fat rendering. Next time I believe I will separate the two muscles, remove the fatty layer and cook the meats separately.

All in all I was pleased with the SV results. Works well for me using chuck, top round, sirloin and now brisket. Cheap meats make good eats is my new motto !!!

As I continue to keep my smoke blue and my beers cold....Troutman is once again out !!!!
 
Tasty looking! Why not try the same smoke/SV/smoke on a flat next time since they don't have all the fat.
Point

Bill
 
Good job. Do you think you'd have got better fat rendering if you ran at 140?
 
Tasty looking! Why not try the same smoke/SV/smoke on a flat next time since they don't have all the fat.
Point

Bill

Thanks Bill, yea that's exactly what I concluded. If I separate the point muscle from the flat and cook that way I believe it will eliminate the un-rendered fat problem. Good observation.
 
Good job. Do you think you'd have got better fat rendering if you ran at 140?

Negative, I really wanted to achieve the 135* threshold and no more. We were shooting for rare to medium rare. 140* would have over shot. Having said that; however, I believe if I cranked it to 160* for a more traditional brisket result that may solve the rendering problem. Hmmmm, do I smell another experiment ??????
 
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VERY nice Troutman!
I love that pic of the SV point. The fat looks fine to me. You can cut it out while eating (if you want ). The 50 hrs SV gives me pause, but maybe one of these days..
Never heard of “wet curing”a brisket, but there are a lot of things I’ve never heard of...

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VERY nice Troutman!
I love that pic of the SV point. The fat looks fine to me. You can cut it out while eating (if you want ). The 50 hrs SV gives me pause, but maybe one of these days..
Never heard of “wet curing”a brisket, but there are a lot of things I’ve never heard of...

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Yea we just cut the fat out on the plate. If I do this again I'll separate the muscles at trimming.

50 hours sounds like a lot but remember its set and forget. The only problem is timing. You have to shoot for dinner time 2 days in advance !!
 
What a most excellent experiment! I think I'll try the sous vide method on my next cook with the flat, and smoke the point for my wife's favorite - crispy cubes.
 
Never heard of “wet curing”a brisket, but there are a lot of things I’ve never heard of...

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If at all possible always wet cure brisket. Normally the full packers come cryopacked. You simply cure them all in the frig for 30-60 days. You need to take into account the right pack date in your calculation. Also need a frig that maintains a good 33-34* temp range.

The cure is similar to dry curing in that it begins to break down the connective tissues with the enzymes that are naturally present in the meat. As long as the cryo stays sealed you really don’t have too much to fear from bacterial intervention. Well worth the effort. I have a garage frig for just such a purpose (plus keep my beer cold !!! :) )
 
If at all possible always wet cure brisket. Normally the full packers come cryopacked. You simply cure them all in the frig for 30-60 days. You need to take into account the right pack date in your calculation. Also need a frig that maintains a good 33-34* temp range.

The cure is similar to dry curing in that it begins to break down the connective tissues with the enzymes that are naturally present in the meat. As long as the cryo stays sealed you really don’t have too much to fear from bacterial intervention. Well worth the effort. I have a garage frig for just such a purpose (plus keep my beer cold !!! :) )
So you're "wet aging" them in the original unopened cryopack with nothing added ?
 
So you're "wet aging" them in the original unopened cryopack with nothing added ?

Yes sir, done all the time, know lots of folks that do it. Just be sure your have a good temperature control in the refrig you use. But yea keep it in the bag, it's already custom shrink wrapped for you !!
 
Nothing wrong with that, I do the same."wet curing" is what threw me off.I thought you were using Prague or something when you are wet aging.
 
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