Should I Change my Plans?

[JimT]

I started two rather thin (1" to 1 1/2") brisket flats at 7:00 this morning. My plan was to try the "Smoked & Oven Finished" method Chris describes in the Cooking section. It is now 10:00 and both pieces around 165 degrees, nearly time to pull and foil. My estimate is that they will be done by noon or so if I continue this method.

Can I keep them warm in the cooler for 7 or 8 hours? That seems like an awfully long time.

Should I just continue to cook them in the smoker? I'm afraid they will be quite dry, since they are so thin.

Looking for suggestion, and quickly,

JimT

 

[K Kruger]

They will not hold 7-8 hours.

You can do the same thing as the oven-finished method by foiling separately and putting them back in the WSM. I wouldn't bump the temp up on the cooker though; the cooking will speed up anyway. Take to a few degrees shy of target, pull, and rest an hour or two in a cooler with towels. If dinner is distant, unwrap the flats (saving any juices to add to your sauce) and cool in the fridge, unwrapped, 20 min. Re-wrap in plastic. To reheat: Put the meat on a rack in a roasting pan, add a couple T of water, cover tightly and place in a 300 oven. Pull when the internal hits 150. Or, heat some sauce to a simmer in your largest frying pan, add a little butter allowing it to melt, slice the brisket thinly against the grain, and lay the slices in the sauce to heat over very low heat, covered, for just a few min. Normally I prefer the first way--it works well with thick roasts; kind of a crap shoot with thin ones.

Thin flats are tricky and you're somewhat at a loss at the beginning.

 

[JimT]

Thanks Kevin, your ideas sound good.

As an update, the cooker was running a little hot at first (245 - 250.) Now that I've got it down to the 220 - 225 range, the cooking rate has decreased dramaticall. In fact both probes (one in the top, one in the bottom) show a slight DECREASE in temp. I stuck an instant read thermometer in the thicker part of the top one and it read 155.

Perhaps all is well!

JimT

 

[K Kruger]

The temp drop is due to internal rendering--a good thing--what we call the plateau.


Btw, regardless what you choose to do it can be helpful to have a pot of sauce hot and at the ready before serving decision time--it allows you to cheat plating if need be. Heat some sauce, add a little butter and your reserved juices, if any, and stir well. (The solids in butter help with mouthfeel. You don't need much (2 t-1 T/cup sauce) but can use quite a bit if warranted. In that case it needs to be unsalted butter or you risk a salty finish. You can also mix sauce with stock for a finish--say 2 parts sauce, 1 part beef stock, 1 part chicken stock plus butter.)

Anyway, if you slice your meat and it's unacceptably dry you can chop it fairly finely, put it in a bowl, and add sauce to it, a T at a time, till just past 'moistened' and serve. A rice or baked potato side is handy here. Butter the rice or potato and serve the sauce-moistened chopped brisket on top, as if that had been the plan from the beginning. Of course, if you're serving sandwiches they simply become 'chopped brisket' sandwiches.

Brisket slices--even if moist when first sliced--do not stay as moist over time. Slice as close to serving as possible. You can dip the slices in your hot sauce mix before plating. That'll help.

 

[JimT]

Thanks for the tips Kevin!!!

I think I'll save them in about 3 different places on my hard drive, and print out about 15 copies just so I don't loose them.

All is well. Problem #1 turned out to be a defective (brand new, first time used) Maverick ET-73. On the second reset, it died completely. Put in a fresh set of batteries (not Duracell) and the transmitter still would not even come alive. Blank LCD, nothing, nada. Yes, I did turn it on and off several times.

Problem #2 would have to be my own inexperience. The Maverick, clipped to the top grate, showed from the very beginning a temp that was higher than my 4" lid mounted thermometer. All I could think of was, "how strange." I shouda known something was wrong.

Anyway, to cut this long story short, I got things under control. The flats came off the WSM at 3:00 (8 hours) showing 170* and 172*, looking and smelling great. Thet're now in the oven at 300*, temps are climbing, the smell is permeating the house, and everyone wants to eat NOW!

Patience everyone, patience.

Thanks Again,

JimT