anyone awake...these briskets cooked fast!

[dougmays]

hey all,

so i'm cooking 2 brisket flats for a cookout tomorrow around noon. i planned to let these slow cook all night and wrap in the morning. i have a 6lbr and 7lbr in the smoker. Well some how after only 4 hours of smoking (smoker ran a little hot at 260) they are already at 165...yikes!

i've never done the smoke, refridgerate, reheat before. so i'm thinking i'll take them off soon, maybe give them another 30-60mins of smoke and the foil and let rest. i'll have my weber kettle grill with me so i guess i'll star reheating them in the morning around 10am for a couple hours to get the back to temperature.

any advice? i cant believe these guys cooked so fast

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Hey Doug,

I've run into a similar situation before (probably more than I care to remember), and I opted to rest for an hour or so, slice it up hot, then chill in a low-profile container for faster cooling. You should catch any juices from slicing, if any, to return to the sliced meat, and you may want to add some beef broth or de-greased drippings from the smoke (if you have any). When you reheat, 250* while layered about 2" or so thick in a covered metal baking or steam table pan will get you over 160* usually in less than 2 hours. 225* reheat can take 2-1/2 to 3 hours. I probe a couple times during my reheats (or just leave the probe in, through foil) just to be sure where I'm at.

If it reheats a bit too quickly, just hold it at a probed internal temp (between or into slices, about mid-depth) of 135* or a bit higher, and that's safe to hold for hours and hours, though the longer the hold or the higher the temp, the more grainy the texture can get (actually, it slowly continues cooking, and at much over 135*, this texture change seems to be more noticeable earlier). So, controlling the holding temp can save your bacon...er...brisket...ha-ha!

Part of why I rest for shorter periods for reheats than I would for immediate serving is that while resting, the meat temp is slowly dropping off, and during this period, would still be slowly cooking. So to reduce to this secondary cooking cycle, cut the rest time, and with the reheat, you're effectively adding that time back at the end before serving. Getting moisture back into the meat once it escapes in this situation, is probably best accomplished through slower reheats and bit of added liquid. I'll be danged if I can recall what thread I read it on now, but I think Chef Jimmy J posted a reply somewhere on the subject a few weeks back, but it seems he mentioned that a submersion and very slow increase in liquid temps would help (or something along those lines...I've slept since then, so I'm not sure now...LOL!!!)...if I weren't needing to hit the sheets soon, I'd hunt for it, but I gotta work in the AM.

But yeah, it's do-able, brother.

Eric

 

[dougmays]

Thanks alot eric!

i'm thinking i might use this as research and slice one as you said and keep one whole (keeping juices in both) and then reheat at 250 in the foil
 

 

[so ms smoker]

   I recently did 10 brisket flats at work. The first 6 smoked to 160 then panned and foiled to 190, cooled and refridgerated. The other 4 smoked to 160, then panned,  foiled , cooled and refrridgerated.  Reheated in the oven the next morning to 190. They came out great! Don't forget to add beef broth at foiling time.

Mike

 

[dougmays]

meat came out great! very moist!

so i'm no longer affraid of reheating..thanks all!

 

[forluvofsmoke]

I love to hear about successes...yet one more reason not to fear the brisket, huh?

Now you have opened yourself up to even more options for your smoked meats.

Eric