Dry Brisket repair


 
J

James Stewart

TVWBB Fan
I was wondering if anyone has tried this or a similar technique. This weekend I smoked a brisket which ended up being quite tough, I usually will start testing the tenderness around 180 degrees and always end up with a great product. This particular evening I had to leave the house unexpectedly and pulled the brisket off at 180, put in foil, and hoped that it would continue cooking enough in the foil. It was quite tough after a couple of hours and putting it back on the smoker or in the oven was not an option. The next day I took several slices from the flat and wrapped them in foil with about a tablespoon of apple juice. I placed them in the oven at 250 degrees for an hour and a half. They were perfectly tender and very juicy and I was very happy with the results.
 
I seem to remember this being discussed here about a year or so ago. Probobly longer memory starting to fail.
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As I recall it was acceptable to reheat the brisket to get the internal up to where it hits that magic point where it gets tender just before it starts to dry out.

I saw the thread about 2 weeks after I made a corned beef brisket. I cooked it to 165 and that wasn't enough for my liking. I take mine to 175 now. Anyhow I read there that you can finish cooking the brisket so it would be tender. I was thinking that I wish I would have known that a week earlier before that pastrami got 86d.
 
In my experience there is no magic temp. It is around 185. Usually 185 is the starting point could be 195. I used to cook my brisket by temp and took to 190. One would be good the next would be dry and the next would be tough. Then I started doing as others here said to do with brisket. Go by feel for tenderness. I usually use a BBQ fork or the thermometer. Once the brisket gets to 185 I use one of the mentioned implements and poke the brisket. When it goes into the meat like it would go into warm butter, it is done. My briskets became consistent when I started doing this.

Each cut of meat is different. One may become tender at 183 and the next at 197. The thing about brisket is after it becomes tender it starts to dry out. It doesn't take too long to get a dry brisket. On butts most of them are tender around 190 but they have enough fat that they won't dry out 5 degrees after becoming tender. On a brisket 5 degrees after tender is a dry brisket.
 
Some protein starts coagulating at 120, more at 140. See the sixth paragraph--the one that starts 'Sidebar:'--here for a description of the process.

If the cooking process is terminated after the proteins have coagulated significantly and the connective tissue has tightened (both having the affect of squeezing out water) but before significant fat rendering/tissue denaturing has occurred, the brisket will feel dry even though it is undercooked and further cooking will make it more tender and seem moister. It's primarily a time issue though, not a temp issue.
 
So if a brisket is dry, there are two possibilities: it might be undercooked or it might be overcooked, and that window in between is the fork tender window. The FORK TENDER WINDOW ("FTW") is dependent on the cook temp. and the quality of the meat. Higher smoke temps followed by foiling and oven temps between 310-325 is more likley to result in a moister brisket. Is that right?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> So if a brisket is dry, there are two possibilities: it might be undercooked or it might be overcooked, and that window in between is the fork tender window. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Right.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> The FORK TENDER WINDOW ("FTW") is dependent on the cook temp. and the quality of the meat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Well--the cook temp will determine how quickly the brisket might get to the FTW. The quality (in this case meaning amount of internal fat/connective tissue) is important as this will help determine how much time the brisket needs in the rendering stage. It's time in this stage that determines final result quality: a brisket with more internal marbling, one that is thicker, will require more time than one with less or that is thinner.
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Higher smoke temps followed by foiling and oven temps between 310-325 is more likley to result in a moister brisket. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> In my opinion, yes. But this doesn't mean that it's the only method that works of course.

Cooking at higher temps results in a narrower FTW time-wise, but imo lessens the chance of the brisket losing too much in the way of moisture. Low temps widens the window time-wise but, again imo, increases the time for moisture evaporation. Employing foil (at any cook temp) can shield the meat from direct heat and lessen the evaporation push. Foiling can also set up a braising scenario and one must be mindful that foiling too soon or for too long can facilitate a result with a pot roast-y texture, especially if cooking at higher temps. Heat transfer is more efficient during braising which can be very helpful--it is both efficient and gentle--but can result in wildly divergent internal temps. It is best to rely on feel and not internal temp to determiine 'done', though this is the case regardless if one has foiled or not.
 
If your brisket is dry because it was overcooked then FTW has been slammed shut and your brisket is unrepairable. If it is undercooked, it is repairable by throwing it in the oven until you reach FTW. I have done two brisket cooks, the first was perfectly moist and then second was dry. On the first cook I followed the feel of the brisket. On the second brisket I probably didn't check for the feel enough and that's probably why it was dry. Although, it simply could have been undercooked and unbeknownst to me could have been repairable. It's a mystery that will never be solved.

Kevin, would you mind telling me the times and temps of your brisket cook...you know, in the smoker without foil and in the smoker or oven with foil.

Thanks.
 
In the upper 200s from 7-10 hours depending, of course, on brisket thickness and quality, and depending on actual cook temp and whether or not I foiled. In the lower 300s (I've always foiled post plateau) 4-5 hours depending on thickness, quality and average cook temp. The numbers are for the cooker.

For flats in an oven (about the only time I cook flats or use an oven for brisket) I braise (300) after searing. Flats usually take 3.5-4 hours.
 
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