Holding vs. Resting

[Dustin Dorsey]

We tend to use both terms interchangeably but there seems to be a difference. I came across this article from TMBBQ the other day:

http://www.tmbbq.com/the-importance-of-resting/

In it, Daniel Vaughn mentions there is a difference between holding and resting. A lot of us use a faux cambro to "rest" our meat when what we are doing is holding. It does seem to do a great job of helping to make a more tender, juicy product. This is invaluable to cooking a brisket and getting it done to serve at a certain time because it gives a buffer. I guess what I'm getting at, is I've pulled a brisket out of a cooler that was too hot to handle and gleefully gone about carving it up. Sure it was held for a few hours but it was still at a hot temp and some of the juices were lost. Shouldn't it be more important to get the brisket down to a nice slicing temp of 140? How we get there maybe isn't as critical as getting there.

A lot of times the resting and holding would coincide, but I think it might be worth it to give a rest in addition to the hold.

 

[Bob Ivey]

A question then, isn't the idea of keeping the brisket or pork butt in a faux cambro to keep it at a temp above 140* since below that temp we run into food safety issues. When I pull a brisket off the smoker, I let is rest on the counter tented in some way to allow the IT to come down to about 170* to stop internal cooking so the brisket is not overcooked and then double wrap in aluminum foil to be able to hold the meat for later carving and serving. You are probably right that we may be using the wrong terminology but have the concept correct. So maybe we should say "rest" the meat on the counter till it hits the 170* mark and then "hold" for service later in the day.

Interesting question!!

 

[Phil Perrin]

I've always thought of resting as holding the meat for a short while to let the juices reabsorb and holding as keeping it hot for a long while to wait for serving time.

 

[ChadVKealey]

I have a bad habit of undercooking brisket because I rely too much on "carryover cooking". That is, I pull it out of the smoker when it's almost tender and running about 190-195 because (in my experience), the IT of most meats will continue to climb a few degrees after you take them out of the cooker. This works well for butts, but doesn't seem to for brisket. I'm guessing the extra fat content in the pork is holding or transmitting heat better?

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

A question then, isn't the idea of keeping the brisket or pork butt in a faux cambro to keep it at a temp above 140* since below that temp we run into food safety issues. When I pull a brisket off the smoker, I let is rest on the counter tented in some way to allow the IT to come down to about 170* to stop internal cooking so the brisket is not overcooked and then double wrap in aluminum foil to be able to hold the meat for later carving and serving. You are probably right that we may be using the wrong terminology but have the concept correct. So maybe we should say "rest" the meat on the counter till it hits the 170* mark and then "hold" for service later in the day.

Interesting question!!

You definitely want to keep the meat above 140, but I've also heard that's an optimal carving temp being the bare safe minimum that would retain the most gelatin in the meat. 170 though is probably safer.

 

[Matthew F.]

Wow, this is a very interesting topic. I'm smoking my first packer brisket next weekend and I want to get it right. Is the general idea to pull the brisket off of the smoker when it is probe tender, "rest" it in the open air until it hits 170 with allowing the heat to vent out (if it is wrapped) to prevent over cooking and then wrapping it and "holding" it in the cooler to keep it above 140? Optimal slicing temperature is in the 140-150 IT range?

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

Wow, this is a very interesting topic. I'm smoking my first packer brisket next weekend and I want to get it right. Is the general idea to pull the brisket off of the smoker when it is probe tender, "rest" it in the open air until it hits 170 with allowing the heat to vent out (if it is wrapped) to prevent over cooking and then wrapping it and "holding" it in the cooler to keep it above 140? Optimal slicing temperature is in the 140-150 IT range?

Matt,
That is dead on what I'm thinking would be ideal.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I just got home from having dinner and now, I'm hungry again!

 

[Bob Ivey]

Matthew, Dustin is spot on. That is exactly what I do with my briskets. After it has been held in the faux cambro for at least an hour you can slice it. I normally hold mine for at least 3 or 4 hours and when I pull them out of the cooler I still have to use gloves because they are still so hot that I can handle them with bare hands. Enjoy that first brisket. I will be worth it.

 

[Enrico Brandizzi]

I have a bad habit of undercooking brisket because I rely too much on "carryover cooking". That is, I pull it out of the smoker when it's almost tender and running about 190-195 because (in my experience), the IT of most meats will continue to climb a few degrees after you take them out of the cooker. This works well for butts, but doesn't seem to for brisket. I'm guessing the extra fat content in the pork is holding or transmitting heat better?

Chad,
My opinn is that carry over needs thickness too.
Brisket flat isn't thick enough for a useful carry over. Point yes.

 

[JayHeyl]

You definitely want to keep the meat above 140, but I've also heard that's an optimal carving temp being the bare safe minimum that would retain the most gelatin in the meat. 170 though is probably safer.

From my recent experience "holding" pork butt for 5-6 hours at whatever temp -- wrapped in foil right off the smoker and immediately stored in the faux Cambro -- I would suggest a sub-160F holding temp. I found out the hard way that collagen will continue to convert to gelatin when above 160F until there's none left and the meat gets mushy. Juicy, but with all the bite of a warm bowl of oatmeal. I'm sure the same would apply to brisket.

As to the more general question of resting vs holding, I'm not sure I understand any more than I did before I started reading this. The linked article didn't strike me as very clearly making what I assume was the intended point. About all I came away with was the author thinks you need to let the meat cool until it no longer steams when you cut into it. I'm more a pulled pork guy so that doesn't seem to be particularly useful advice. I can't hang on to the meat if it's hot enough to steam so the health and safety of my fingers ensures I won't be pulling the pork when it's that hot. I guess if I ever make brisket again I'll try to keep this in mind.