Brisket safety question


 
Chris W.

Chris W.

TVWBB Pro
The situation is this: we are celebrating Thanksgiving with my wife's extended family the Sunday after Thanksgiving. My wife's cousin has offered to pay for a brisket if I'll smoke it for this day as she's not big on turkey. I have no problem doing this, and of course said I'd smoke the brisket. However, my wife and I have plans that will keep us away from our house (and thus my WSM) for over half the day on Thanksgiving, the Friday after, and the Saturday after. My plan is to smoke the brisket on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, let it rest for about an hour, then place it in the fridge overnight and slice it on the morning of Thanksgiving.

My question is this: Will the brisket keep safely in the fridge from Thursday to Sunday, or should I throw it in the freezer right after slicing, then pull it out and put it into the fridge around 2:30 on Saturday afternoon to defrost (we have somewhere to be at 3 on Saturday, so 2:30 is about the latest I can do it, unless I want to wait until about 11)?

Thanks for the advice!
 
For peace of mind, I think I would smoke it then freeze it. I think your quality will be pretty similar to freshly smoked this way as well. Letting it in the fridge for that long will likely cause it to dry out some, which is not good eats either.
 
If you have a foodsaver, cook the brisket, slice it and go ahead and bag it. You can reheat it in the bag. All you need to do is heat the brisket in the oven, in a water bath and it will be awesome.
 
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