Question about Cambro or cooking longer (Cooking a Brisket)

[wwolfram]

What is the difference in taking a brisket to internal temperature of 200, then wrapping it in towels and placing it in a faux cambro
vs.
Cooking the brisket longer on the smoker to 203?

I am trying to figure out the effects of using a faux cambro. I read in Meathead's book that a faux cambro is almost a necessity to finish a beef brisket (page 51). Can someone help explain the differences?

[lschweig]

Most of us take a brisket to 200 or 203 and then put in the faux cambro. By putting it in the cambro you are essentially holding it at the same temperature for a hour or two or even more and allowing the connective tissues to melt away and increase tenderness.

[ecowper]

wwolfram the internal temp is less important than the probe tenderness of the brisket. Once your brisket is over 190, start using a probe to test tenderness. When your probe slides in like a knife into warm butter, the brisket is ready to come off the grill. I typically see this being somewhere around 198-200. I rarely have had a brisket go to 203.

Then i hold in a cambro at least an hour, preferably two. That hold in the cambro makes a huge difference.

[lschweig]

Spot on ecowper I forgot to mention the probe tender part, thanks.

[LA Pork Butt]

I would check it for probe tender before putting it in the faux cambro.

[wwolfram]

Thanks! I'll try this tonight!

[Jerod Broussard]

If cooking a good Choice or higher grade probe tender helps to not overcook it with unnecessary drying out. (see my first Prime flat for a good lesson learned with respect to that)

If doing Select those poor things sometimes can take 205+, a HOT hold for three hours and just barely be ready.

[Huskee]

The thing to remember is the faux Cambro hold ceases cooking the meat, the temp is slowly waning. You are no longer transferring energy into the meat, but energy is slowly leaving it. The other posters above have covered why this "hold" is beneficial. Delicious brisket (and pork butts, chucks, etc) is both a product of temp and time at that temp.

I rarely ever take briskets to 200 or 203. 195 for Choice and above is plenty in my experience, plus a good 2hr+ Cambro hold where the IT hold at ~195 for an hour then begins dropping to 165-170 by the time I pull it out. This is where "pobe tender" comes into play. Nicely marbled briskets just don't need a high temp of over 200 as is popular, but it doesn't hurt either. I have begun just dropping the temp on my cooker to 160-170 once the meats hits anywhere from 195-200 and leave it in there wrapped instead of messing with moving to a warm cooler. If I need to hold overnight or where I can't be there then I'll do the cooler thing. You have a lot of flexibility, don't get too hung up on a specific process and specific numbers.

[wwolfram]

Great explanation! I used the Faux Cambro, the temperature dropped about 7-8 degrees every 30 minutes. Would you suggest that I use more towels in the cooler? Or, I could drop the pit temp to 160 as you suggested.

Also, what is a SV?

Thanks Huskee!

[Atalanta]

Can a SV be used instead of a cambro?

[EdF]

Huskee - no issue with bark holding up using the SV method?

[Huskee]

EdF Those that do it say as long as there's solid bark before starting then no it doesn't affect it much

[EdF]

Thanks Boss. BTW are we related? You do have that family look. Eastern European?

[ecowper]

wwolfram I have held a brisket in a cambro as long as 4 hours, actually. I like to slice brisket somewhere around a 140 internal temp. If you are worried about meat temp, you can use your smoker or oven, at 170, to hold the brisket. Has the same effect.

SV = Sous Vide