Why a long hold for brisket works, and in fact is recommended

[Henrik]

Hi all,

As has been discussed before in this forum and others, holding a brisket at 140-150° F is a Good Thing™. Aaron Franklin does it, and several others. But what is it specifically that makes this work, and depending on your cook time and temp, for how long should you hold it?

There's a guy on YouTube, Steve Gow, whose videos I've watched. Just occasionally, I'm not a follower, but every now and then there's an interesting topic. This was the case with his latest video. It's a 30 minute video where he goes into great detail explaining why you should hold a brisket, for how long etc. By far one of the most interesting topics I've seen, related to how the collagen acts (turning into gelatin) and how it relates to when you pull the brisket off and how long to hold it.

Quick summary:
1. Smoke the brisket till average temp is 195° F (i.e. just shy of done)
2. Hot hold it at 150°F for 14 hours
3. Serve it.

Optional, in case you took it all the way to 203° F:
1. Smoke the brisket till average temp is 203° F
2. Let it rest on the counter until internal temp drops to 150° C
2. Hot hold it at 150°F for 14 hours (I _think_ this was the same hold time, but for those that watch, please correct me if I'm wrong)

Why should it rest for a while in option #2? This is to avoid a mushy brisket. By dropping the temp to 150 quickly, by 150 and lower the collagen won't turn into gelatin.

Here it is, seriously good stuff for the nerdy people like me:

A quick note:
So, when cooking to "almost done" he grabs the brisket and probes the underside, like many do, to check for tenderness. When it's starting to give, you know you're getting close. As for the average temp, you're gonna have to guesstimate, as the point and the flat usually differs in temp. Also, some kind of holding oven is needed, he discusses various options at the end of the video.

[Lynn Dollar]

Why should it rest for a while in option #2?

To stop carryover cooking as fast as possible. That's the Aaron Franklin method. Franklin says in his second book, that after a 2 hour rest, the brisket won't get any better.

Without deviating from my usual method of smoking brisket and trying this long hold to find out for myself , I've been skeptical.

Long holds are done in bbq joints to manage space on the smokers. Brisket holds very well while other meats don't , like chicken and ribs. So they get the brisket off first.

Chef Chris Young says when the brisket is around 150* , there's not much happening with the meat. He says its 99% rendered and the collagen has broken down at the end of the cook. He says collagen breakdown starts at 160 and kicks into high gear above 180. That's also the prime temp for fat render.

All that said, in Evan Leroy's new book, he says this , and I can't argue with someone whose smoked as many briskets as he has. But its ironic that a trained chef, whose been to culinary school, has no explanation other than " its magical " .

[Henrik]

Chris Young's comment on collagen breakdown starting at 160 aligns with what Steve says in the video. The magic Evan refers to is explained in the video. This is what I found interesting, the "why" behind why this works. And Evan is yet another chef who uses a "heated rest".

[Lynn Dollar]

Henrik I think Gow has a made a living off of brisket. When he dies, he will have a brisket in his coffin. There's soooo much more to bbq than brisket. But a lot of people are obsessed with brisket.

For me, what is the incremental gain ? I realize that a great bite in cooking, comes from small incremental gains in every aspect.

But is the time and effort of a long hold worth the small gain ? And I would not know the gain unless I could do a side by side.

[Lynn Dollar]

BTW, the YouTube algos reward anyone who puts " brisket " or " the best " in the title to their video. I think there's a lot of clickbait out there, thats only done to get views and increase their ad revenue.

[Mosca]

RlsRls Every brisket is different. I’ve planned on 12 hours and had them done in 8. They’re not really hard; they’re more like uncharted territory for every user. Because they’re big, kind of expensive, and take a long time, they don’t get cooked very often, and because of that there’s a mystique about them. Keep it simple. Cook them at 250°-275° instead of 225°. Pay attention to the flat, not the point. (Cont)

[Mosca]

(Cont) A lot of the finer points being discussed are nuances. Remember that a lot of these guys with the vids are in competitions, or are restaurants competing with each other for customers, and are looking for that elusive edge that will win prizes or win the review section of Texas Monthly. You can make a backyard brisket that will have your eyes glaze over without a 12 hour rest. It’s just a big ol’ stupid piece of meat. Trim it, season it, cook it, rest it, eat it.

[Mosca]

(Cont) And those things make sense by having a brisket, a knife, and all the other stuff right in front of you. Paraphrasing Aaron Franklin, the only way to get good at cooking brisket is to cook lots of briskets. I nailed it on my 5th one. The first four were okay, but the 5th one and every one thereafter have been what I expect brisket to be.

[DaveD]

Thanks for the share Henrik!

[mrteddyprincess]

RlsRls I just cooked four whole packers yesterday keeping my stick burner between 275 and 300 F. Two of them were probe tender in 6 hrs and the other two took 8 hrs. I rested them 3-5 hrs. So from beginning to end the whole process was about 11 hours.

Brian

[RlsRls]

Four?? I gotta ask,... "Why"?

[mrteddyprincess]

RlsRls my dog really likes brisket!?! (I BBQ for the teachers at my school. We have three floors of teachers and I'm providing the sliced brisket for our pitch-ins on each floor for this coming Friday.)

B

[realdocBBQ]

Yup, Steve's a good guy and he does some interesting videos. I've talked with him a time or two on his FB group. He also has a partnership with Oklahoma Joe's Smokers, so he also posts some on their channel, too. Of course, these videos heavily promote their products, but he still covers some great topics, and uses their pits, which are more 'attainable' as a lower cost alternative that many Americans can actually obtain - not being able to spend $3-5k on a backyard pit shouldn't preclude you from making good BBQ, so I do like that he shows how to get some good results with more 'budget' style equipment.

If you like the sciency stuff more, he has a good video from a few weeks ago on the Smokin' Pecan pellets that is pretty good - he actually breaks down the amount of smoke and amount and types of compounds released in that smoke, and captures and analyzes it in liquid with a higher-end chemical analyzer, which is pretty cool. Interesting stuff.


<edit> Pretty sure he's actually a lawyer who quit his day job to be a YouTube cook. Good for him!

[Dewesq55]

Yes, he's a lawyer who apparently no longer practices.

[Smoke em if you got em]

He regularly holds briskets for 18 hours, and has gone as long as 20 hours that I know of. He has some interesting videos. I’ll probably try his 195 method on my next brisket. It used to be 190, but he fine tuned it to 195. Nobody experiments more with brisket than him. He also has a seasoning for sale for brisket.

[realdocBBQ]

Yes I've done as long as 20 hours without problem. Even just 4-6 hours makes a difference, but getting over 8-10 hours seems to be the sweet spot for me.

[Andrrr]

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing.

[TripleB]

Interesting. At the San Marcos, TX Meat-Up a couple of years ago, I talked with a pitmaster that cooks only brisket at Terry Blacks. He said the same thing of holding the brisket at 140d for 10+ hours.

[Duanessmokedmeats]

I rest between 2-5 hours @150, sometimes longer. Have had no complaints.
14 hours seems excessive.

[J-Melt]

I always notice a difference on longer holds. So I try for at least 4-5 hours.