My First Brisket (Flat only)

I have been reading a lot about Q'n with brisket. Thanks to the members here who have posted for others to learn and get started with new cooks.

Unfortunately I only have a flat, but it's a prime 7 Lbs trimmed. My plan is to sous vide and then charcoal to try and get the maximum texture and use it sliced 1/3" thick in sandwiches, (of course served with beans, potato salad, coleslaw, pickles, sauce etc.).

I have tried to consolidate opinions on the following but I start to second guess myself. I'll take sanity checks on my "plan".
1. Wet aging. I'm giving it a week in cryo vac in the fridge before anything else.
2. Brining. I'm going to seal it in a bag with a 1.8% salt and 1.2% sugar solution for 4 days, (if I injected then only 1 day).
3. I'll open, drain, dry and reseal the flat back in a bag for sous vide cooking. 136F for 2 days, (maybe a molasses and Bragg glaze in the bag).
4. Chill and refrigerate until the day of serving.
5. Glaze, rub and smoke in the WSM at 225F for 3-4 hours until bark is set. Internal temp somewhere in the 180-203 and wobbly feeling range.

I'm set to start unless anyone thinks this plan has critical flaws. I don't want pot roast and I don't want tough.

If something goes wrong it would be hard to know where in all those steps.. Go the simple route low and slow in the wsm with a simple rub.. As long as the temps are in check, don't overdo it with the wood (keep the blue thin smoke).... And you'll end up with great brisket. . I also have a prime brisket.. in the freezer for now.. Going to smoke a pork picnic shoulder and angus beef ribs this Saturday for Father's Day..

Randy's advice is spot on. Once the bark is set, I would foil until 195 deg and probe for tenderness. If the probe goes in like a hot knife into butter, your done. If not, try again in 30 mins until probes tender.
Good luck.

I'm no expert -- I've only done brisket once -- so take this as you will. My recent reading has suggested the meat only takes on smoke flavor until it hits about 140F. My understanding was this has more to do with changes in the cell structure during cooking than it does specifically the temperature. IOW, sous vide to almost 140F, chill, and then smoke would likely result in almost no smoke being taken on by the meat because the cell changes would have occurred in the sous vide without any smoke. Again, just what I've read. Can't say from personal experience because I've never tried the approach you're suggesting.

Brining is typically done with dry cuts of meat, a category of which brisket is not generally considered to be a member. There seems to be a trend away from brining in general these days. It appears to have been replaced with "dry brining" -- simply rubbing the meat with a generous helping of salt and leaving it sit for various lengths of time depending on the cut and the size.

If you sous vide to 136F and then refrigerate, the meat will be ~40F when you put it on the WSM. I think you're being exceedingly optimistic in thinking 3-4 hours at 225F will bring 7 lbs of cold brisket up to ~200F, particularly since the initial cook won't have hit the temps needed to render the collagen. Were you to go directly from the sous vide to the smoker then 4 hours at 225F might be adequate, though I'd still be skeptical.

My inclination would be to go with what Randy suggested -- low and slow in the WSM for the whole cook -- particularly since this is your first attempt. What you've got planned is very complicated. If for no other reason than comparison, I'd KISS this time and make note of what you think needs to be improved and work specifically on that next time. Put on a simple rub and let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple days if you feel an overwhelming need to fuss with it. Then plan for 12 hours or more on the WSM. I've had some cooks come out better than others but I've never had anything come off the smoker that was inedible or even not tasty. The worst of my efforts have gotten rave reviews from those who tried some. I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying even if you mess it up you'll likely end up with something that's rather tasty. BBQ is usually very forgiving.

I recently tried ribs doing 2 hours of smoke then 2 hours wrapped in foil, all at 275F. The ribs were awesome and I was able to use the juice to make a very nice sauce. It worked so well I'd be inclined to try something similar with the brisket. You'd obviously need much longer cooking times with the larger piece of meat. Again, brisket isn't my favorite and I've only done it once, so take my thoughts on this with several teaspoons of rub.

Mr Ivey's advise on foiling is great! you mentioned it's the flat cut thus leaner part of the brisket, i think His advise is the better route to take.. Might do that with the Prime brisket from Costco that I have on the deep freezer though I do want to try the wrapping with butcher paper first... Jayheyl, you sure do sound like a pro! Great insight and observations.

Randy Pereda said:

Might do that with the Prime brisket from Costco that I have on the deep freezer though I do want to try the wrapping with butcher paper first.

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I can't tell you how many times I've looked at that prime brisket at Costco and just scratched my head. They want considerably less per pound for the prime than they do for the choice. The choice is just the flat, but it still doesn't make sense to me. Some day I'm going to give that prime brisket a try.

Everytime I go to my local Costco to get a prime packer they are our. Will have to try some other Costco's in the area. Really want to try them. Everyone who has posted about them is really impressed. At that price it is worth a shot.

JayHeyl said:

I can't tell you how many times I've looked at that prime brisket at Costco and just scratched my head. They want considerably less per pound for the prime than they do for the choice. The choice is just the flat, but it still doesn't make sense to me. Some day I'm going to give that prime brisket a try.

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Meat continues to take on smoke flavor after 140. That's a myth. Supposedly smoke ring formation stops around then but even that's debatable. The cook itself is way over my head, I can't say whether it will work or not. It sounds like something from Chefsteps. They might have a good step by step approach to what you are doing. Full disclosure: I absolutely detest sous vide for crotchety old man reasons but it might be a good approach to cooking a flat. Let us know how it works!

I'm sure no expert but I did my first brisket a few weeks ago and after researching all I could and the advice of the forum pros I went at it this way.

http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?65667-Super-Low-and-Super-Slow-Brisket-Flat-Success

I kept it super simple and it came out perfect. It was all about the brisket not the rub not the smoke just the beef.
Now I have a base to expand on if I want to, if you make it to complicated and it comes out bad it's going to be awful hard to ID what the problem may have been.
Good luck whichever way you do it

lol.. As soon as I saw the 2.99 a lb price on the prime brisket it was a reflex grab!.. Did look for more They only had 1 out of the packer.. Not even choice... I was so excited.. 37$ for a whole brisket.. But I wonder if they do it on porpoise lol.. Try getting there when they open..

So far it seems the consensus is simple, low and slow for a first time brisketeer..

Keep it simple. Make a fire. Throw it on. See what happens.

Salt and pepper are all you need. You might try dry brining -- just salt (a medium dusting) and put it on a rack uncovered in the fridge overnight. Add the pepper before cooking. You are at the start of a long learning curve.

Jeff

Thanks for your help guys; I appreciate it.
I'm going to simplify for sure. No brining or pre-seasoning. I was a little worried it would take on a pastrami flavour if I did that anyway; I'll just salt and pepper prior to WSM with 1 part hickory and 2 parts apple for as long as it takes to get the flat feeling tender, checking every 20-30 minutes after 185.
I'll keep my sous vide step in there as a helper for the crutch/wrap, getting through the stall on my time and being able to collect the juice.

1. Sous vide at 140 ramping up to 165 at the end of 2 days for 3-4 hours.
2. Transfer to WSM at 225 until 185+. Expecting 6ish hours to do this, I'll adjust the grill temp up if needed to 240.
3. Planning on holding in 200F oven until serving time; "brazing" in juices from the bag.

I'll report back for sure. I love how my roasts have been turning out with sous vide. Chuck, sirlion and round roasts start to turn rib roast tender.

It turned out better than I thought possible.
48 hrs at 147F in the cryovac bag. No seasoning.
Overnight in the fridge with salt and pepper on both sides.
Into WSM at 1 pm for 6ish serving. One chunk of apple and three chunks of hickory. Set to 215 and ramped to 275 within the last hour to also cook some sausages on the lower rack. I pulled the brisket at 191 and basted the top with sauce before a final 10 minutes.

I'll ask friends for photos and post them back.

Can't wait to see the picks Jordan!

Interesting technique, Jordan. I'm looking forward to the photos.

A rare photo indeed. You can see the ends were being attacked by people hovering in the kitchen. The threat of a sharp knife did nothing to slow them.

I cut the flat in half length wise so I could give everyone a piece from two different cross slices.
The 4 cups of juice from the sous vide bag were reduced on the stove by 1/4 and then mixed in with some thick and sticky BBQ sauce. It has become my new favorite "universal" condiment.

Jordan, I'm intrigued and simultaneously perplexed by your approach. You have some steps here -- the time in the sous vide, the rest in the refrigerator -- that I assume were designed to accomplish specific things. Could you explain exactly what the goal of these steps was? Why would I want to take this approach rather than just putting the brisket in the smoker? I'd really like to understand what advantage there is to this approach.

Sure, my rational for all steps was to maximize flavor and tenderness while minimizing the risk of not accomplishing either goal at reasonably specific serving time with many other things going on.

Breaking down each step I took would have the following rational:
1. Wet aging in the Cryovac is to promote natural enzymatic breakdown; which accomplishes both flavor and tenderness goals. Many steak houses keep small cuts 2 weeks and large cuts 30+ days in Cryovac before cooking them for this reason.
2. Sous Vide was mostly used to reduce the risk of a poor outcome. The time and temp were chosen to maximize tenderness and push the brisket through the stall. Thereby eliminating much of the timing risk while also enhancing texture. Plus it would elminate any need to rest the brisket after the smoke.
3. Overnight in the fridge with salt and pepper breaks down into two parts. One simply for taste, (maybe salt goes beyond and contributes to tenderness but at this point I figure that was already sorted as it was fully cooked). I was aiming for a simple Texas style flavor similar to the S&P brisket from B&D Ice House in San Antonio. As for the overnight chill, that was to enable enough time in the smoker to pickup enough smoke and form a bark. If it went from sous vide to smoker the time in smoke would only be in the area of 2 hours. Something I can try next time as the time savings would be appreciated.

Was the process overkill, maybe. Did I stress out, nope. Did it have the texture and taste as expected, yes. Plus it was served on time with everything else. The brisket went straight from the smoker to plate with hot sausages and all of the sides.

Thanks for the explanation. I'm glad it was a stressless cook that came out well.

I do question the idea that using the sous vide eliminates the need for resting after pushing to the final temp on the smoker. You're still heating the brisket to ~190F on the smoker so it should result in at least some contraction of the muscle fibers and squeezing out of fluid. Or does the pre-cook to 175F set the muscle fibers so they don't contract any further when reheated and pushed to the final temp?