Sous-Vide BBQ Brisket
Brisket, oh Brisket, how shall I make you? Last year I smoked a Brisket low and slow on my Weber Smokey Mountain using Charcoal and wood, and it took 15 + hours. Granted, I have a custom Weber, so I never had to reload the darn thing, but it still took a very long time to make BBQ Brisket. I also used a BBQ GURU so I was able to keep a constant temp of 225˚ƒ. How much smoke do you really need? Most smoke penetration occurs during the first 2-3 hours of smoking. And that's because the surface is still wet. Smoke sticks to wet things, and that's why most people spray their meats with apple juice. If you keep the Brisket wet, it will keep taking on smoke. But do you really need that much smoke......maybe you do, I don't. So essentially, after several hours, you're primarily using your smoker as an oven which equates to my previous statement..... waste of time.
Enter the world of Sous-Vide cooking. Brisket is not a tender piece of meat because, as we all know, it has a lot of connective tissue, and that stuff needs to break down before it can be chewed or digested. Ahhh.... this is where Sous-Vide cooking shines; taking tough meat and making it tender using a thermal bath. How do you cook a Brisket using the S.V. method? Well, that's the $64,000 question. There is no correct answer, just opinions. There is such a variety between briskets it's hard to come up with an X-Temp and a Y-Time. Some briskets are very tough, and others are much more tender. They all have connective tissue, but some have less than others.
Ok, here is the short answer. Do you like moist meat and tender meat? You need to find the right combination of Time and Temp that satisfies your criteria. Easier said than done. I found these numbers on the net, and as you can see, there all over the place. Like I said earlier, just opinions and preferences.
Nathan Myhrvold Method - 140˚ F for 72 hours.
Douglas Baldwin Method 176˚ F for 24-36 hours.
Baldwin Alt Method 135˚ F for 36-48 hours
Thomas Keller Method 147˚ F for 48 hours.
Traditional Texture 154˚ F for 24-hours
How do you tenderize a piece of meat? Well, again, it's finding out the right combo of time and temp. "The time needed to tenderize a piece of meat will go up exponentially as the temperature gets lower" (Serious Eats). A greater moisture loss will occur as you increase the temperature, but the meat will be flakier. So if you want a flakier piece of meat, cook it at a higher temp but do it for a shorter time. If you like dense, moist meat like steak, try a lower temperature for a longer time.
I started out with a Costco 11 lb Brisket.
Meat became slightly wider after I took it out of its plastic sheath.
All trimmed up and ready to go.
A very straightforward cooking technique.
A simple, uncomplicated rub with brown sugar added. Double vacuumed sealed. I didn't want to risk a bag breakage on such a long cook.
Dry-Brine for a minimum of 2 days, but 3-4 days is the sweet spot.
Dry-Brine for a minimum of 2 days, but 3-4 days is the sweet spot.
This big boy sits in my Polycarbonate container ( 18 X26 ) with a custom lid. Did you notice the blanket around the S.V. circulator? Yea, I keep the house so-called in the summer (60˚ F) to insulate the container. Insulating the container helps regulate the constant temp, so the Circulator doesn't need to work as hard.
After the 48-hour water bath, I submerged it into a huge ice water bath to stop the cooking process and bring down temp. After about 5 hours or so in the ice water bath, I refrigerated the Brisket. The Brisket will be refrigerated overnight (can be refrigerated up to 90 days depending on refrigerator temps....See Baldwin). The whole idea of refrigerating the Brisket overnight is this. The Brisket will smoke that much longer without raising the internal temperature because the Brisket went in cold. This is what it looks like out of the refrigerator. Very Very wet. I padded it down with paper towels to remove excess moisture making sure not to remove the rub.
Applied more seasoning but no salt!!!
I used my propane smoker for this cook. Propane is really convenient.
It's 90˚ ƒ outside, and I was concerned with temps, so I mitigated the issue by filling the water reservoir with ice and wrapping my blue Ice-blocks in foil. I was able to run the smoker at exactly 215-225 for 4 hours. I have two burners that run independently of each other. I used cherry wood and a couple of charcoal briquettes on each side. At two hours in, I turned one-off and lit the other side. The total smoke was 4 hours. The Brisket internal temp never rose above 136˚ƒ. Putting the Brisket in Ice-Cold mitigated the possibility of the temp going too high. I did not want to exceed the Sous-Vide temp.
ALL DONE...REVIEW AT THE BOTTOM...
Here's a Caveat: If you want a more traditional texture, you could process at 154f for 24-Hrs. If you toss on the Smoker cold, you will need to run it very low, like 170-190f, because it will dry out a bit before it reaches the original I.T. that you processed via Sous-Vide.
Processing at 135f is more forgiving. Now, if you chose 154f at 24-Hrs and want to smoke at a higher temp like 225f, it will need to go on the smoker a little warm to prevent drying out. So if it's me, I might go from the Sous-Vide to the counter to rest to bring down temp about 30 degrees before putting on the smoker. And if you Shocked and refrigerated the Brisket for a bit, I would retherm at 135f for a few hours before putting it on the smoker.
Second Version- Faux Aged and Warm Aged HERE.
Second Version- Faux Aged and Warm Aged HERE.
REVIEW- Amazing!!!! Exceptionally tender, juicy, and flavorful. I won't change a thing!!!!! I will revisit my Pastrami recipes that call for 149 for 48 hours and try 135!!!!!
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