Sous Vide Brisket


 
Go Fletch! I’m interested in all these Sous Vide projects, I did a tri tip once with the thing and it worked very well, I’ll do that again. But, having a piece of equipment like that on hand and not using it more than one time makes me mad at myself.
 
BFletcher said:
I'm using the technique from the first recipe I spotted, found here: https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-bbq-pork-shoulder

But for the rub I'm just using A1 Sweet Mesquite BBQ rub, no curing salt, using the 165* method. For the finish I'll load it on the smoker tomorrow.
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Given what I think I know about smoke and meat, I'd think you'd be better off starting on the smoker and then shifting to the sous vide after three or four hours of taking on smoke. I'd probably finish in the smoker as well just to reset the bark. Not sure if the trade-off between one very long cook and two short cooks would be worth it, but my initial thoughts are that it would be. Start at a reasonable hour on day one. Put it in the sous vide for 18-20 hours, then complete on the smoker well before dinner time. So you'd be exchanging 12 hours of tending the smoker for starting a fire twice. Sounds like a good swap to me.

Be sure to let us know how it comes out.
 
Interesting Jay, I like your thought process and the method sounds pretty smart but, what about smoke, Sous Vide then. “Set” on an indirect kettle?
The way I see your methodology is:
1- Smoke for flavor,
2- Sous Vide for cook,
3- Then, finishing with enough heat to set the bark.
That makes perfect sense to me but, I have made a mistake before in...1986 I think.
Is that kind of your thought on the way this “could” be done?
I have to say, I like that idea a lot!
 
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I'm new to smoking and have been doing some sous vide for a little while. Bought a 13lb brisket the other day, split it into thirds and decided to cook the middle. Mostly flat, some point. I used SPG, smoked for 3 hours with a whiskey oak wood. Then sous vide at 148'F for 40 hours. Then back on smoker for an hour or so for the bark. It turned out amazing! So tender, so juicy! The point was obviously the best part, but the flat was great as well! Here are some pictures.

Right out of sous vide
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After the smoker a second time
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The juices are flowing!
LYcYxYS.jpg


Sorry I did not take more pictures of the flat cut. Got hungry! I will try the long smoker only cook one day, but the sous vide is pretty convenient with the damn fine results you get. Best part is you dont even have to look at it during the 40 hour cook. Just in a ziploc freezer bag. No vacuum sealer
 
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Timothy F. Lewis said:
Interesting Jay, I like your thought process and the method sounds pretty smart but, what about smoke, Sous Vide then. “Set” on an indirect kettle?
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I can't see where using the kettle at the end would alter the results. You aren't looking for more smoke at that point, just to dry out the surface. For that matter, you could probably just stick it in the oven sitting on a rack and it would work out much the same. The one thing here that confuses me quite a lot is the temperature. All these sous vide recipes are using much lower temps than you typically see as guides for brisket and pork butt. I realize it's a much longer time at those lower temps, but given how many different approaches I've seen for BBQ, if holding 165F for 24 hours was a superior approach I have to think somebody in the BBQ world would have stumbled on that. Perhaps it's the sealed environment with sous vide, taking evaporation out of the equation, that makes the difference.

Bear in mind, I've never done sous vide so this is all theory, no practice. I may need to pay more attention next time Costco has sous vide heater/circulators on sale.
 
JayHeyl said:
I can't see where using the kettle at the end would alter the results. You aren't looking for more smoke at that point, just to dry out the surface. For that matter, you could probably just stick it in the oven sitting on a rack and it would work out much the same. The one thing here that confuses me quite a lot is the temperature. All these sous vide recipes are using much lower temps than you typically see as guides for brisket and pork butt. I realize it's a much longer time at those lower temps, but given how many different approaches I've seen for BBQ, if holding 165F for 24 hours was a superior approach I have to think somebody in the BBQ world would have stumbled on that. Perhaps it's the sealed environment with sous vide, taking evaporation out of the equation, that makes the difference.

Bear in mind, I've never done sous vide so this is all theory, no practice. I may need to pay more attention next time Costco has sous vide heater/circulators on sale.
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Part of it is the sealed environment. You can get a similar effect on long rests by wrapping in butcher paper, or by making sure that you have a humid environment. WRT the lower temps, brisket gets "tender" through the breakdown of the connective tissues between muscle fibers. This is a function of "temp over time", or "time at temp". Pretty much the same thing. When you put a brisket in a smoker and take it up to a temp such as 205, the reality is that it spent Z minutes at 204, Y at 203, X minutes at 202, W minutes at 201, yada, yada, yada. The breakdown of the connective tissues was a result of the sum of all that.

You can accomplish the same thing by lowering the temp and drastically increasing the time. A good example, though in reverse, would be melting an ice block. If you set the block on a counter at room temp, the ice will melt, but it will take quite some time. Put the same block in an 250 degree oven, it will melt much quicker. Guess you could do the same with freezing. Put one jug of water in a freezer set at 26 degrees, another in a freezer set at -10. Both will freeze, but at different rates.


The reason most places don't mess with this is that time = money. The faster you can get a quality product done, the more money you will make.
 
That is an awesome-looking brisket, Steven!

So here is my SV pork shoulder experience: I followed the technique from the recipe I shared earlier; that is why I hit it on the WSM after the SV bath. I've read others that call for smoking it first but I was curious to learn of the results. Plus, I would not have been able to do it over the weekend had I gone with an initial smoke. Raw weight was 9.5 lbs. It bathed for 24 hours at 165. It probed 163 after that bath and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz (bone-in). I collected 4 cups of juices from the bag! It also fell apart while transporting from the sealed bag to the sheet pan (I stupidly thought I was going to lay it on the grate and I prepped the WSM 14 for this job). After realizing I had to smoke it laying in the sheet pan I changed gears and set up the WSM 18. I hit it with more rub before placing in the smoker and let it ride 1.5 hours at 275-300.

Since it partially fell apart, a little bit of it that wasn't protected by the bark looked as though it was going to be tough and/or dry but after pulling it and mixing it up I didn't notice any issue. It definitely had a smoky taste; there was no doubt about it having been in a smoker. I was honestly well-pleased with its taste; I believe it was a very credible piece of meat.

 
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timothy said:
Some fine looking meat by both of you!

I remember asking this same question on the old forum before Sous-Vide was popular.
https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?26392-Improving-Cheap-Roast-Beef

The thing I like about SV is you don't have to go out of your way to buy prime or Waygu cuts.
Choice or even select/no roll come out fantastic and I'll vouch on that:cool:

Tim
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The brisket I did was select and it was really good. I'd never had a brisket before, but if all briskets were like this one, I can see why they are so popular. I didn't dare put any kind of sauce on it cause it was so good!
 
Bill.Craven said:
I've done a number of Briskets with an Anova Sous Vide setup. The reason for the long cook at 150 - 155 is to break down the connective tissues and make it tender. The more time the meat spends in the sous vide, the more tender it becomes. At 155 the fat won't render out, so you need to trim and remove most of the fat before starting the water bath.
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Just did a sous vide brisket with my neighbor -- I did the smoke, he did the bagging and sous vide. Everyone but me praised the result. What Bill says about the fat is correct. The big problem for me was that the internal marbling of the point didn't render to moist goodness, but stayed the consistency of caulk. I wasn't involved in the sous vide at all, so I can't comment on that except that my neighbor said he had it at 148 for 48 hours. He let it cool down to about 128 before he brought it over for me to finish. I finished it in the WSM at about 300 for an hour or so to get the temp up to about 160, then wrapped it tight in foil and rested it for about an hour. After 2 cays of cooking I would call the result underdone.

Bottom line, I don't think it was worth the trouble.

Jeff
 
Very interesting reading and I thank those who have tried doing it and posting their results. It would appear that for steaks, I'll still do SV but when fat rendering is required, it appears that the "tried and true" WSM method is still king :D
 
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