Trusting Meat Temps

[Ryan Taylor]

Was at a competition this weekend and didn't do so hot (19th out of 37) and I ran into a situation I've never encountered before. My brisket finished a bit earlier than expected which isn't all that unusual and it was temping out at 199 to 202 everywhere I probed with my thermapen. I went ahead and separated the point and the flat and threw the flat in the cambro and cubed up my point for burnt ends but they were really chewy. I don't think I've ever encountered 200+ degree temps in my point and had chewy meat. Luckily I had some extra time to let the burnt ends go and that helped but in the end they just weren't that great.

Sort of off topic but in the process of separating the point and flat I lost a lot of heat. About an hour before turn-ins I checked on my flat in the cambro and the temperature was down to 165 which I lower than I prefer for slicing and boxing. Again I had enough time to throw the flat back on the smoker and get it back up to around 180 but that was a good lessen to learn.

So I guess my question to you all is if you can't trust your temps what do you look for in a brisket? Similarly what is the highest you've ever seen your briskets need to get to to get the tenderness you wanted and needed? Could this have been a poor job of butchering on my part and I didn't trim enough fat? Did I maybe just encounter a piece of meat that was more marbled than is preferred?

Thanks for any tips. And since everyone likes, pics, here is the turn in box

 

[Randy W]

Very sorry to hear about your challenges. It always sux when ya work your rear off and spend mony, countless hours in pre-comp prep then the actual comp, and then things not turn out the way you wanted them.

One thing I might ask is do you know what to look for in a brisket's 'doneness' rather than its temp? It would help you to understand more what the brisket's doing internally, rather than just its temp. I've had briskets that were done perfectly in the low 190's, and briskets that were done over 200. I do use a Thermapen to just have an idea of what the temp is, but it's more of a reference at which point the brisket was in a certain state.

With regard to your point vs. flat, my flat is allllways done before my point, and I separate them at low-to-mid 190s (just seems like my Prime briskets are always done in this range), immediately re-wrap my flat and place it in the Cambro, and cube my point, mix in a little reduced beef stock concoction and coating of rub, and then put back on the smoker in an open-faced foil pan to further render. It may be 'done' at the point that I take the packer off, but not nearly enough fat will have been rendered out to make the cubes edible. They always have to go back on for about 45 or so, uncovered, and then sometimes even a little longer, covered (don't want them drying out, but I HAVE to render enough fat that they're a pleasurable treat rather than chewy).

Not sure if this helps?