High Heat Brisket - Help


 
J

Jim Smithson

TVWBB Fan
I am in the final stages of my Brisket cook. It took quite some time to get from 155 to 170F. When I foiled it and went to the store, came back in 1 hr and it was at 210F!! Plus the probe or fork doesnt pull out easily. So I added some beef stock and refoiled for a bit more time.

Whats up here? That temp seems very very high to me.
 
I am worried that is overdone...but I am wary of my probe to be honest. Either way, I took it off and refoiled with beef stock to rest.
 
Jim,

Reading a brisket temp with a probe can be very subjective to exactly where it's placed.

I don't measure temps in briskets for being tender. I do it solely by the feel of the probe end.

Insert the probe into the thickest part of the flat.....if there is a lot of resistance then the brisket is not tender. If there is little resistance, then it may be close to tender, and ready to pull.

If it is soft like butter, then I'd pull it and shorten it's rest time.

Brisket temps can be all over the place, I have a thermapen and have poked all over them out of curiosity. Once I realized all the different temps at hand, I stopped using a probe for judging "done".

I haven't had a dry one since.
 
Whats up here? That temp seems very very high to me.
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When doing a high-heat brisket cook ignore the temps after foiling. Like Craig, I don't temp after foiling but simply use the probe to feel for 'done'.

Being used to low/slows and when seeing high internals so soon after foiling can make you think you're crazy. But if your fork or probe isn't telling you it's done it isn't done.
 
Ok, the brisket was dry...not horrible but not tender either.

I was just stumped how it could go from 170 to 210 in 1 hr! But not feel tender...I was worried I had past the tender phase and was onto the leather stage..haha.

I should probably not have probed it and just kept it going until it was tender...but it just didnt feel right.
 
I wanted to add to this now.

I only probed this brisket after I foiled it as I recall someone mentioned that you should start checking it for doneness at 190 or so...but only use that as a gage as to when to check.

Once I came home and saw the temp at 210, I thought I had missed my window. It is just not intuitive to continue cooking when it appeared to me it was overdone.

The brisket was a bit tough to cut and a bit dry. Do you really think that cooking it further would have turned it into moist tender brisket? Very hard to picture a tough/dry magically turning into moist/tender...unless something breaks down.

Boy, briskets are not as straight forward as Butts. My first brisket, I did low and slow up to 195 or so...and it was very very tender at that point. That is also why the 210F temp freaked me out.

Ah well, next time I will not make it for a crowd and experiment a bit more and let it continue to cook.

thx
 
unless something breaks down.
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Ahhh, therein lies the key.

Had you said that the meat cut easily (was 'tender') but was dry I would suspect that the meat cooked too long. But 'tough to cut and a bit dry' suggests undercooking.

Temps are unreliable when the brisket is foiled (and the foil contains added and/or exuded moisture) because the temps don't tell you to check for 'done' like they do in unfoiled brisket. They can rise very quickly because of the increased activity of the moisture due to the sealed foil (the same thing occurs in pot roasts braised in liquid in a covered pot in the oven). Though the temps rise rapidly (and can fall and rise again rapidly), the time element is still essential. Though cooking at high heat and foiling accelerates the process, time for the connective tissue and soft fat deposits to break down is still necessary. That's why feel, rather than temp, is critical.
 
JIm, I may have jumped the gun. I had a brisket hit 205 and was dry. Kevin, Craig and, others do reliably use 'feel'. I defer to them.
 
I have done several briskets in the past normally using the probe to measure meat temperature to judge doneness with varying success. Tomorrow I plan a high temp cook and will use the "fork" method to judge when it is finished after foiling at around 170.

What are the thoughts on when to start inserting the fork to test and about how often to keep trying? I assume you should inset in the thicker part of the flat? Any other tips?

Thanks
 
Jerry,

I do high heat briskets regularly. I'll begin check temps with a thermapen about 2-2.5 hours into the cook.

On average, I'll foil closer to the 3 hour mark.

Once temps climb into the 170's, the brisket is headed for foil. I'll begin probing about an hour after the foiling.

After that, the amount of rechecks depends on how close to tender the brisket is. I would say I probably check 15-20 minutes when I think it's close.

PS- I insert the probe into the thickest part of the flat.....if you are intending a long rest, I would recommend pulling the brisket off when there is still the slightest bit of resistance left.

I've done anywhere from 10 - 13 lb packer cuts, and they've taken between 4-5 hours cooking at 325-350 lid.
 
On my high heat cooks for brisket I start checking the feel after about 1-1 1/2 hours in foil. If it's not done at that point every half hour or so after that. Most of my high heats take around 4 1/2 hours to complete.
 
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