Brisket, oven for 3 hrs, then smoker?


 
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DavidD

TVWBB Super Fan
Was at the hunting camp and one of the members said he was making smoked brisket for dinner. I told him I didn't see any smoke and he said it was first in the over wrapped in foil for several hours, then goes to the smoker for the rest of the day. He said this ensures the meat doesn't dry out.

I didn't say anything, but it is my understanding the smoke penetration is not so good when internals reach 145 degrees. Isn't he doing this backwards. Put it on the smoker, then, if you need to speed cook or wish to enhance moisture retention, foil it?
 
I've only done one brisket so I'll let the pro's come in here also, but I tend to agree with you. If you are going to fire up the smoker anyway, why dont you just leave it alone and do the whole thing on the smoker?
 
'Meats' will absorb all the smoke you give it, that's why you can oversmoke.....it's the smoke ring that stops forming in the 140º range.
 
Meat absorbs no smoke but when smoke is being past over it it will lay it on the meat.

If you want smokering you can't use the oven for the first 3 hours.

Jim
 
Jim's right. Larry too.
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The meat doesn't actually absorb the smoke or smoke flavor, it is deposited on the surface of the meat. It will accumulate as long as smoke is applied. The smoke ring is a chemical reaction and stops once the surface area of the meat reaches approx. 140ºF (meaning, the chemical reaction starts immediately and starts working it's way into the meat. The 140º temperature comes later, being as the meat started out at a lower temperature (lower temp means deeper smoke ring) but catches up with the part of the meat where the chemical reaction is occuring. Once the 140º barrier catches up with the chemical reaction from the smoke, the smoke ring ceases). I'm sure there will be a debate here, so correct me.
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Bill
 
No debate, Bill. Meat doesn't 'absorb' smoke, smoke adsorbs onto (i.e., sticks onto) meat. I'm not sure we can be sure with any sort of precision, temp-wise, when the reaction quits but somewhere ~140 seems correct because it is around that temp that myoglobin begins to denature into a tan/brown-colored substance.

Foil can reduce moisture loss as renderings and evaporated moisture stay in the foil--but they do not necessarily stay in the meat which is to say that meat can overcook in foil. Certainly this isn't going to occur if one foils first, when the cooking is insufficient to cook to done in the first place, let alone overcook, but cooking in foil to start is utterly without merit; it's pointless.

'Ensur[ing] that the meat doesn't dry out' is done by not overcooking.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Jim Minion:
Meat absorbs no smoke but when smoke is being past over it it will lay it on the meat.

If you want smokering you can't use the oven for the first 3 hours.

Jim </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Bad choice of wording (absorbs)on my part. However, what I meant was meat will 'take on' all the smoke you give it.
 
How did it taste? I've never done it that way and can't say whether or not it would work.

I have started meat on a smoker and finished in the oven. Works fine when done that way.
 
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