anyone put a brisket in a cooler?


 
M

Mike Tag

TVWBB Member
Have seen many of y'all like to foil your butts and wrap them in a towel and then into a cooler for a couple of hours after cooking? Any of y'all ever done this with a brisket? Too much of a risk of turning the brisket into mush?
 
In fact, some time resting in a cooler will do a brisket a lot of good. Pull it off at around 185-190°, foil it and place it in a dry cooler for a couple hours-- works well.
 
You all are too disciplined. I just get too hungry to wait. If I finish in the early a.m., I just double foil and throw in the frig for a good breakfast.
 
I'm with Greg, butts, briskets and chuck roasts in a cooler. Hey Phil, I think you might have gotton that cooler from my nephew, most everything he makes should be in that!
 
One of the reasons I ask is b/c I might go to A&M's spring game in a few weeks. If I do that, I plan on getting off work at 8 a.m. then having my brother drive me 3 hours down there. Figure I can smoke a brisket while I am at work, come home and foil it and wrap it and put it in a cooler where it can perfect itself during the 3 hour drive. Arriving around 11:30 a.m. with a brisket ready to eat. Is 3 hours too long?
 
Yeah, you've got to do the cooler thing. Heat a few fire bricks and put in the cooler with the brisket. It will stay hot a long time.
 
I've kept briskets and butts insulated in the cooler for up to six hours and they were still too hot to grab with bare fingers. Three hours won't be a problem. I like to wrap in a few layers of foil, then in a tag-end length of 60" wide Polar Fleece from Wal-Mart. You can usually find 1/4 to 1/2 yard pieces in the fabric department from the ends of bolts for a little of nothing. 1/3 of a yard of 60" polar fleece fabric is a perfect width to wrap around a brisket about three times.
 
I once went 12 hours with a heated piece of Belgan block. By all means rest your brisket in a cooler.
 
Once your foiled brisket is in the cooler, throw some old blankets or old towels on it all the way to the top of the cooler. The more tightly packed the cooler is, the hotter the brisket will stay. If you have a lot of empty space in the cooler, the brisket will cool off faster.
 
Couple of tips?

Preheat the cooler. ONe way to do this is to fill it with hot water from your bath tub. Susan Z also came up with the idea of putting it in front of a heating air duct if you have forced air heat.

Also, if you're using heated bricks to hold the meat longer put towels underneate and around the bricks so you don't melt your cooler.
 
bought a 13 pound brisket today and it is currently marinating for the Friday smoke. I need to get a membership at Costco or Sam's b/c the meat at kroger just isn't going to cut it.
 
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