Abbreviated brisket cook


 
M

Mike A. Kaplan

New member
Hello everybody,

Just Smoked a 12 lb brisket for our annual office Halloween potluck lunch and did the following.

After trimming and applying rub I put the brisket on the WSM at 11:00 pm Thursday evening temp at 210. By midnight I had the temp stable at 240 and I went to bed.

The next morning at 6:00 a.m. (today) I checked the brisket temp (160) and basted. By 9:00 am temp was already at 170 so I foiled and basted and brought the cooker up to 300. Within an hour temp was 205 and I pulled and put in a cooler.

I was surprised it only took an hour in the foil. A total of eleven hours cooking time.

The brisket was fantastic. Moist, very tasty and everyone raved about it - so I was happy.

I've only cooked one other brisket and that was 18 hours at 240ish. Also a 12 pounder that came out very well.

I was just wondering if this is often done. It wasn't exactly like the "Smoked and Oven finished" technique described in the Cooking Topic. I was worried that since I foiled at 180 it didn't have enough time as it went to 205 to really break down the connective tissue, etc., but it was darn near perfect.

Any thoughts on this?

Oh and thanks for all of the tips, tricks, insights and inspiration everyone on this board provides.
 
Proof is in the brisket!!! Obviously it works great. Foiling will quicken the cook and along with bumping the temp had obvious results. Now you are a brisket god to all your friends!
 
Time is the operative issue once the brisket passes 120 or so internal, not the internal temp. Cooktemp affects internal temp, of course, and as internals rise and rendering occurs the time till done shortens as the cooktemps increase. (I do briskets in 4 hours, as an example, but I cook at 325-350 unfoiled, then 350-375 foiled.)

Foiling changes the cooking dynamics because foiling traps moisture. Moisture is a far better heat conductor than air, as you have just seen.

One word of caution: Because moisture conducts heat very well it is quite possible to see very quickly rising internal temps very soon after foiling. This does not mean the brisket is done, i.e., tender, because internal temps having nothing to do with tenderness directly. Though an internal temp might correlate with tender in this or that brisket, internal temp does not cause tenderness. It is very much worth testing the brisket with a probe or fork to see if it is in fact tender--or just shy of tender--before removing it from the cooker, just to be sure.

Congrats on your cook!
 
Thanks for your replies and insight Kevin and Don. I haven't tried a high temp brisket cook yet but I will soon. This board is a treasure trove of information and good will. My hearty thanks again.

I did check for tenderness with a fork and I thought it was surprisingly tender even at eight hours at 240. My concern was that eight hours wasn't enough time to accomplish rendering and then with such a quick finish in foil would I really have a nice brisket on my hands. I did foil it and put in a cooler for about two hours before cutting it. The holding helps too right?

I have indeed become a barbeque diety here in the office. I managed to save one piece for my 12 year old son (and chief assistant).
 
You could have temps still rising while in the foil off the heat. Its one way to actually overcook the meat even off the fire. More common in high heat cooks. But high heat is still the way to go. I dont find that high heat briskets need the long wait time. I usually carve into mine within 30-40 minutes.

Play around with it till you get comfortable with it, and your results will always be improving.

And listen to Kevin and Bryan.
icon_smile.gif
They invented the method, and the internet
icon_smile.gif
 
Mike, I think you'll enjoy trying a high heat brisket cook. My last 2 have used that method, and those 2 briskets are easily my most successful yet.
 
Thanks for all the input. I will be trying a high-heat brisket on my next cook and will incorporate everything I've learned on these pages researching them.

Hope everyone has a smokin' weekend.

Cheers!
 
Come on people! All day and not one clever comment on my ridiculous joke?

That was a poor attempt at sarcasm, I was hoping for a laugh. I have no idea who originated the concept of a high temp brisket. But I'm pretty damn sure one of those guys came up with all the rest!

icon_smile.gif
 
I thought it was a riot! Nearly spit coffee all over my keyboard.

Nah, not me in either case. Contrary to myth, several central Texas joints have been doing high heat for a long time--longer than me!

Mike-- Here and here are two examples of high heat brisket cooks with process notes you might find helpful.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
I thought it was a riot! Nearly spit coffee all over my keyboard. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Same here, big time RIOT! I'm pretty sure it was Diet Coke that came out my nose at work along with the tears from laughing so hard. The looks I got from my crew was pricless as well.
icon_biggrin.gif
Funny stuff there Tom. I'd have to say I followed Kevin's lead on the High Heat brisket for sure. Thanks for the laugh Bud.
icon_cool.gif
 
I caught that joke and thought it was very funny. I wouldn't be surprised if they were involved in the development of a space gun or zero gravity technology.

After re-reading the post I am curious about one thing. Kevin mentions that the issue in rendering the connective tissue and fat is not temp but rather time once we pass 120 degrees. So the high heat technique suggests to me that a mere four hours is sufficient to accomplish all that, saving me 14 hrs in cooking on a 13 brisket. I'd really like to understand the science behind that. How do temperature adjustments correlate with rendering?

Why I want to know this I'm not sure, but it's curious to me.
 
A few points: What makes the high heat work in a shorter period is a combination of both the higher temps and the foiling phase. Foil traps moisture and moisture is much more heat conductive than air. The heat thus transfers better in foiled conditions so cooking is more efficient--and quicker.

Temp adjustments can speed rendering but there is a caveat: Without foil one can create problems in both low/slow and high heat approaches. If one cooks a typical supermarket brisket at too low a temp and either does not foil or foils late in the process, it is quite possible that the moisture loss will end up being too much by the time the brisket is tender--either because no foil was used or the foil was used too late. (Low/slow can work quite well, with or without foil. Lower and slower is often not better for typical briskets.)

With high heat cooks moisture loss is accelerated because of the higher heat. Without foil (or, really, if one foils too late) a similar finish can occur as often occurs with the low/slow cook just mentioned.

In both cases foil can be effecively used to both stem moisture loss (by retaining drippings and eliminating evaporative moisture loss) and to cook more efficiently.

Foil is not required for all cooks necessarily--if one chooses not to use foil then one needs to select a cooktemp range best suited to the brisket being cooked. All briskets are not really 'different' from each other, as one often hears. Within reason they are quite similar to each other. Weight is fairly immaterial. What matters is thickness (most are of very similar thicknesses); grade (one can group Select, low- to mid-range Choice, Top of Choice/CAB, Prime/Kobe/Wagyu) and level or lack of trimming. Imo, neither a 'flat' nor a 'point' is a brisket. They are pieces of briskets and this needs to be kept in mind. Though a 6-lb flat might be of the same thickness as a 12-lb packer they are not the same thing. The cooks might not be dramatically different from each other but they can be different enough. The point: plan accordingly.

One of the reasons--probably the main reason--I and others like a high heat approach is because it streamlines the planning and cooking process. One might need to make a few adjustments here and there based on the same variables noted above (thickness, trim level) but these potential adjustments are comparatively minor vis-à-vis a low/slow, unfoiled cook. And the consistent results--whether one cooks something different each time (Select flat, Choice overtrimmed packer, untrimmed no-roll packer), or not, speak for themselves.

*******


Once cooktemps are sufficient for rendering to occur then it will occur. At low temps it will occur slowly--at very low temps, very slowly. One can cook a brisket (or other tough cut of beef) sous-vide (vac-packed in a package in a constant-temp water bath) at 131-136F for many hours (typically 24-48, depending on the cut and thickness in question) and reach ultimate tenderness. It is, as you see, not a question of the brisket reaching some arbitrary internal temp, it is a question of time. Because the meat is vac-packed moisture loss is obviously not an issue.
 
Well that pretty much satisfies my curiosity. My next brisket will be a high temp cook and I will report my results.

Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to this Kevin and everyone on the board from whom I've leanred so much. This is truly a cyber "community".

Happy smokin' everyone!
 
Mike , the first time I did a high heat brisket I couldn't believe how simple it was. BUT, the results were great!!!! I've done about six or seven since then with similar results. I tweek the procedure as I go to try to attain the results I'm looking for like better bark or pulling off the smoker earlier and letting it get to optimal temp wrapped in the cooler. Good luck with your next one
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top