Brisket for Christmas

[JohnnyB66]

I am doing a whole brisket on Christmas Eve to be reheated and eaten on Christmas. Don’t have time to do on Christmas Day with travel and gifts. Should I reheat whole? Should I make burnt ends on Christmas Eve and reheat or do them on Christmas Day? I have a small electric smoker available on Christmas Day to do burnt ends. I am gonna reheat brisket in oven at 325 on Christmas Day. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[912smoker]

Welcome to SMF from SE Ga Johnny !
First off, what time do you anticipate the brisket to be finished and what time are you planning to eat ? They can be held warm in a cooler for long periods of time when covered with a towel.
I've also wrapped with saran wrap and think that it helps.
Using the smoker to make the burnt ends sounds like a good idea to me but others will be along with more helpful tips.

Keith

 

[thirdeye]

Welcome aboard.
I have made 'cook ahead' briskets for friends for many years. Because most are not Barbecuists... I send along a sheet of instructions on how to thaw, reheat, slice and some serving tips. I do a wrapped finish with some beefy au jus for maximum moistness. Again, non-Barbecuists usually don't care if the bark is a little soft, they are after tenderness and flavor. Here is a snip regarding my method of reheating. Note the unique method I use for wrapping. It's a foil bowl, a cover lid, then a foil outer wrap. Nobody has ever had a pouch leak during reheating. Click the photo to enlarge.

 

[JohnnyB66]

Welcome aboard.
I have made 'cook ahead' briskets for friends for many years. Because most are not Barbecuists... I send along a sheet of instructions on how to thaw, reheat, slice and some serving tips. I do a wrapped finish with some beefy au jus for maximum moistness. Again, non-Barbecuists usually don't care if the bark is a little soft, they are after tenderness and flavor. Here is a snip regarding my method of reheating. Note the unique method I use for wrapping. It's a foil bowl, a cover lid, then a foil outer wrap. Nobody has ever had a pouch leak during reheating. Click the photo to enlarge.

View attachment 519526

I am cooking the brisket day before I am serving. Probably be done 20- 24 hours before service.

I appreciate the tips. But reread the questions. 1) Reheat whole? Or sliced?
2) Burnt ends Christmas Day or do day before and reheat?

 

[thirdeye]

I am cooking the brisket day before I am serving. Probably be done 20- 24 hours before service.

I appreciate the tips. But reread the questions. 1) Reheat whole? Or sliced?
2) Burnt ends Christmas Day or do day before and reheat?

Sorry, from the info in my snip.... I prefer to cook whole, and reheat whole. When possible I even go so far as to slice while guests are dishing up plates. I would make the burnt ends on Christmas.

 

[civilsmoker]

thirdeye has you covered! 6 layers covered to be exact.... LOL but seriously what he suggested is how to do it.

 

[JohnnyB66]

Sorry, from the info in my snip.... I prefer to cook whole, and reheat whole. When possible I even go so far as to slice while guests are dishing up plates. I would make the burnt ends on Christmas.

Perfect answer. That’s what I was leaning towards. Any great reheating tips? I am saving the juices for reheating and doing it at 325F in an oven. It’ll be wrapped tightly in foil with the juices in a pan.

 

[thirdeye]

Perfect answer. That’s what I was leaning towards. Any great reheating tips? I am saving the juices for reheating and doing it at 325F in an oven. It’ll be wrapped tightly in foil with the juices in a pan.

That photo I included in post #3 pretty much has all of my reheating tips, the way I wrap, oven temp of 250° and how to deal with the foil juices.

 

[tallbm]

I am doing a whole brisket on Christmas Eve to be reheated and eaten on Christmas. Don’t have time to do on Christmas Day with travel and gifts. Should I reheat whole? Should I make burnt ends on Christmas Eve and reheat or do them on Christmas Day? I have a small electric smoker available on Christmas Day to do burnt ends. I am gonna reheat brisket in oven at 325 on Christmas Day. Any thoughts are appreciated.

Hi there and welcome!

If cooked write chances are it will be amazing anyway you go about reheating as long as you don't overcook it on reheating.

I personally don't like to reheat whole because it takes HOURS to come up to temp. You may need oven time for other things doing this and your smoker won't be nearly as efficient as the oven since oven can go higher on temps. Reheating whole to me is almost like recooking the whole thing to get to 170F internal temp hahaha.

If you cook until it is tender and then tightly wrap in 2 layers of foil and put in the fridge until the next day, you can open it up, dump it onto a big cutting board and slice it while it is cold.
This will allow you to get really good slices since it has "congealed" together while being cold.
Then you can put the slices back into the foil with all the fat and juice "congealed" or still sitting in the foil and reheating will go quicker.
Additionally you can put slices back into smaller packs of foil and reheat faster in the oven as smaller packages.
Finally, if you have chafing dishes you can put the the sliced meat in the dish to reheat or just lay the foil packets of sliced meat into the dishes to heat up.

Here in TX I eat brisket like at least once a month and at many many special events and gatherings. It is done like this at plenty of them.

Almost all of my briskets get sliced and added back to the foil and then I pull slices and reheat in the microwave and it's still amazing!
For me anything that needs to be vac sealed gets done already sliced.
Everything is often much easier to deal with when already sliced BUT you lose the whole "carving experience" if that is something you want to share with others at a table.

In the real parts of TX we see so much brisket no one cares about a carving experiences, they only care about the flavor, drinking some beer, and having a good time :D

 

[JohnnyB66]

That photo I included in post #3 pretty much has all of my reheating tips, the way I wrap, oven temp of 250° and how to deal with the foil juices.

Again thank you very much

Hi there and welcome!

If cooked write chances are it will be amazing anyway you go about reheating as long as you don't overcook it on reheating.

I personally don't like to reheat whole because it takes HOURS to come up to temp. You may need oven time for other things doing this and your smoker won't be nearly as efficient as the oven since oven can go higher on temps. Reheating whole to me is almost like recooking the whole thing to get to 170F internal temp hahaha.

If you cook until it is tender and then tightly wrap in 2 layers of foil and put in the fridge until the next day, you can open it up, dump it onto a big cutting board and slice it while it is cold.
This will allow you to get really good slices since it has "congealed" together while being cold.
Then you can put the slices back into the foil with all the fat and juice "congealed" or still sitting in the foil and reheating will go quicker.
Additionally you can put slices back into smaller packs of foil and reheat faster in the oven as smaller packages.
Finally, if you have chafing dishes you can put the the sliced meat in the dish to reheat or just lay the foil packets of sliced meat into the dishes to heat up.

Here in TX I eat brisket like at least once a month and at many many special events and gatherings. It is done like this at plenty of them.

Almost all of my briskets get sliced and added back to the foil and then I pull slices and reheat in the microwave and it's still amazing!
For me anything that needs to be vac sealed gets done already sliced.
Everything is often much easier to deal with when already sliced BUT you lose the whole "carving experience" if that is something you want to share with others at a table.

In the real parts of TX we see so much brisket no one cares about a carving experiences, they only care about the flavor, drinking some beer, and having a good time :D

Thank you for the response. What temp would you reheat (sliced brisket) in an oven? Like that no one cares about carving, only beer and brisket

 

[tallbm]

Again thank you very much


Thank you for the response. What temp would you reheat (sliced brisket) in an oven? Like that no one cares about carving, only beer and brisket

A temp of 350F should do the trick. Sliced always reheats faster. Sliced in seperate packs of foil, even faster.

Once the meat got to about 150F temp I would cut the oven off and leave meat in there. Keep an eye and make sure it doesn't get over warmed but that should get you there :)

 

[JohnnyB66]

A temp of 350F should do the trick. Sliced always reheats faster. Sliced in seperate packs of foil, even faster.

Once the meat got to about 150F temp I would cut the oven off and leave meat in there. Keep an eye and make sure it doesn't get over warmed but that should get you there :)

Again thank you for the information. Wish me luck. Gonna be smoking a 3 bone ribeye roast at same time for Christmas Eve dinner. Excited but nervous a bit. Only my 2nd brisket.