"Quick" overnight brisket


 

Jonas-Switzerland

TVWBB Super Fan
"Mach nur einen Plan, sei ein helles Licht.
Mach noch einen Zweiten, funktionieren tun sie beide nicht."

- Some german smartass

I planned to cook a brisket on the 22 for friends. I planned the whole Saturday to cook the brisket, hold it overnight for a nice lunch with friends on Sunday.

Nice idea. Now my extended family decided on a big family get-together on exactly that Saturday. I don't want to leave the WSM and Brisket unattended for several hours. I am left to start cooking on Saturday evening, and serving it the following Sunday for lunch. I'd try to cook it at 250-275 to get at least some rest time for the Brisket. Or maybe try cooking it the evening/night of Friday to Saturday.

Any suggestions?
 
Hot hold in kitchen oven.

Last brisket I did was 10 hours in the smoke; two hours in a 300 oven wrapped; then 12 hours hot hold at 150. Great results.

A hold of 18 or 24 hours should be fine. Restaurants do that.
 
The only issue I have with the oven hold is keeping my misses happy. Last year the oven leaked the fatty, smoky smell all inside the house for several days.

May have been my sub-par wrapping. Can you wrap it air tight in the oven somehow?
 
I usually wrap in butcher paper and do get some cooking smell. You could try wrapping in foil and/or a covered foil tray. My guess is you'd still get some smell, but maybe less.

Smell aside, the hot hold is THE power move for landing the brisket plane on time. Since it works for such a wide time range (like from 2 to 24 hours). The main trick is to figure out how to get the oven to run low enough.

My oven (like most) has a lowest setting of 170F. Most folks advise a hold temperature of about 150F. My oven (who knew) has a setting that lets you adjust the temp up/down by 35 degrees. After testing with a probe thermometer, I found that a 185F setting and a minus 35F adjustment works out to exactly 150F for my oven. That's on convection roast and with a big pan of water at the bottom of the oven. My oven can run for many many hours on end within 1-2 degrees of the 150F target.

It makes the cook's job soooo much easier. Even more so if you do the last few post-wrap hours also in the oven.

And improves the brisket too (by melting/rendering the fat more completely). I mean Aaron Franklin does it....

 
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I like to wrap the meat in butcher paper (either brisket or pork butt) when it looks good to my eye and then place the wrapped meat into a large aluminum disposable turkey pan (a boat?) so it contains all the juicy mess, then usually finish off in the oven.

I prefer a large cooler and old bath towels to hold/rest the meat for several hours rather than my oven.
My oven doesn’t keep heat well if it’s off.
The oven would work fine if I set it on proof or on low with a slight door gap.

My best brisket cooks are when the brisket rests 4-5 hours.
I had one rest for 7 hours and I think it was my best one.

I’m not sure if any of this would help you but good luck to you on your cook 👍.
 

 

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