Finishing brisket in oven 2nd day

[lisaf]

I smoked my 8lb brisket yesterday for 8 hrs getting to an internal temp of 165. Then, I wrapped it in foil, poured a little apple juice in and set in in a large lasagna pan on the counter for about 1.5hrs and then into the fridge.

Today I have it in the oven at 230 and I set my probe to beep at 195 degrees. I left it in the foil in the baking dish.

Questions:

Is it fine in this kind of dish? I don't have a large alum pan, and am not sure it really makes a difference.

Is 195 the right temp? Should I go 205?

How long should it rest after I take it out?

Any suggestions? This is only my 2nd brisket and 1st time finishing in the oven. I'm taking it to the neighbours for our annual summer potluck. I've made 3 sauces; KC, Carolina & a cherry/coke/bourbon.

Any suggestions appreciated :)

 

[noboundaries]

I've never smoked/cooked a brisket in stages like that but before I started smoking meat I cooked plenty of briskets in the oven at 350F that turned out juicy, tender, and delicious.   

The baking dish if absolutely fine.  Don't sweat the dish.  The dish has a little more thermal mass than an aluminum pan but will be fine.

You have a partially cooked brisket that has sweated out a lot of its water.  It would be really tough if served like it is now.  The connective tissue was just getting to the melting stage and melted connective tissue is what makes a brisket tender and juicy.  You have the smoke flavor in the meat but it isn't done. 

You can leave it cooking at 230F but you may be looking at several hours to get it from the 35F or so start temp after being stored in the fridge up to your target temp and desired tenderness stage. If you have the time, no problem.  If not, crank the temp up in the oven to 300-325F, leaving the brisket wrapped in the foil.  You are essentially going to braise it at this point.  Since a lot of the water may be gone from the meat you'll need at least a cup of apple juice in the foil to help the braising process.  If you need to add more into the foil from what you added earlier, I would.   

At 195F IT poke it with a toothpick right through the foil and see if it slides into a tender cut of meat.  If not, keep cooking.  You may have to go to 200 or 205F IT.   

Let it rest wrapped in the foil with the juices for about an hour after you take it out.  In fact you can just leave it wrapped and take it to the party.  It may completely fall apart once there but trust me, people will think you are a master at smoking/cooking meat.  For some reason folks think fall-apart tough cuts of meat means it is cooked to perfection.  Don't argue with them.

Your sauces sound delicious BTW!

 

[demosthenes9]

^^^^  Yep, yep, and yep.  Spot on as usual Noboundaries.

 

[noboundaries]

Thanks Demosthenes9!

LisaF, how did it turn out?

 

[lisaf]

As always, a learning experience. I put it in the oven at 230 degrees and it took quite awhile to warm up. I switched to 275, and then 325. It took about 6hrs to hit an IT of 200-205.

But, well worth it. It did just fall apart and had great flavour. I served a platter full with the sauces and also made some nachos with a variety of cheeses and the KC sauce.

Next time I will pull it off at 145 and finish the next day if I don't have time. And, I'll trim some of the large fat off as well.

Still have some leftovers and made pizza on the grill with it tonight. Mmmmm.

Thanks so much for your wisdom. It really helped.

 

[noboundaries]

Glad it was a success and happy to help.