Being a Texan, my style of brisket cooking is typical Central Texas style, smoke the heck out of it until probe tender. Given into further experimentation; however, I decided to try a comparison between the traditional Texas style brisket and one using a sous vide technique. For you SV purists out there, I tried to follow a Kenji recipe with one difference which I will explain later.
Let's begin with the traditional Texas style brisket. Had a prime full packer in the garage refrig wet curing for about 45 days (including the packing time on the shipping box to Costco) so I pulled it and decided to smoke it on the pellet smoker. First gave it a good trim, then salt brined over night. Later I injected with beef broth and phosphate.....
....next I seasoned with a good rubbing of my big beef blend ........
....then onto the smoker at 225* for the next 13-14 hours. It fought me at the crutch (around 168*) so I wrapped it in paper. Finally hit right at 200* IT and was toothpick tender so into the cambro it went for about 1 1/2 hours to rest. Carved up real nice, flat was a bit dry but the point was tender and juicy.
Not long after I was trolling the meat section at my favorite HEB and happened upon the cut up brisket case. They normally have flats all trimmed up but this day they also put out the trimmed up points. Picked out a good one for my sous vide experiment. After having enough turkey for another year, I decided this weekend to try my SV brisket my way. Kenji's recipe calls for a flat that goes into the bath for 50 hours then gets smoked for about 2-3 hours to an IT of 135*. I took it one step further and started with a smoke in my WSM. Since I didn't want to smoke long, instead of wasting a good fire, I decided to stick a chicken on as well.....
....after about 1 hour or so and an IT of about 100* I figured it had enough smoke so I pulled it, vacuum sealed it and stuck it in a bath at 130* for the next 50 hours......
....came out looking real nice and had a distinct wabble-wabble to it like it had smoked for 12 hours !!! I ice bathed it and put it in the frig until the smoker got warmed up.....
...gave it another good seasoning and put it on the pellet smoker at 300* unitl the IT hit 135* which took about 1 1/2 hours. Let it rest on the cutting board for about 30 minutes then carved.....
... came out super tender and juicy, really pretty amazing. It had a smokey note to it with the consistency of sirloin steak. The only thing that I didn't like was the fat layer between the muscles. It never really rendered like in a traditional brisket so we ended up just cutting it out. Made a gravy out of the bag jus to complement the meat.....
Oh yea and the chicken turned out pretty good too, just an added bonus.......
So what style is preferred? I see both as being viable alternatives. The smokey Texas traditional, with it's pull apart tenderness and unctuous collagen rich fat has always been a hit around my house. It's time consuming and sometimes difficult to hit on point. The sous vide steak like method yields a very tender and medium rare alternative that for me didn't have the proper fat rendering. Next time I believe I will separate the two muscles, remove the fatty layer and cook the meats separately.
All in all I was pleased with the results. Works well for me using chuck, top round, sirloin and now brisket. Cheap meats make good eats is my new motto !!! As I continue to keep my smoke blue and my beers cold....Troutman is once again out !!!! Carry on ......
Let's begin with the traditional Texas style brisket. Had a prime full packer in the garage refrig wet curing for about 45 days (including the packing time on the shipping box to Costco) so I pulled it and decided to smoke it on the pellet smoker. First gave it a good trim, then salt brined over night. Later I injected with beef broth and phosphate.....
....next I seasoned with a good rubbing of my big beef blend ........
....then onto the smoker at 225* for the next 13-14 hours. It fought me at the crutch (around 168*) so I wrapped it in paper. Finally hit right at 200* IT and was toothpick tender so into the cambro it went for about 1 1/2 hours to rest. Carved up real nice, flat was a bit dry but the point was tender and juicy.
Not long after I was trolling the meat section at my favorite HEB and happened upon the cut up brisket case. They normally have flats all trimmed up but this day they also put out the trimmed up points. Picked out a good one for my sous vide experiment. After having enough turkey for another year, I decided this weekend to try my SV brisket my way. Kenji's recipe calls for a flat that goes into the bath for 50 hours then gets smoked for about 2-3 hours to an IT of 135*. I took it one step further and started with a smoke in my WSM. Since I didn't want to smoke long, instead of wasting a good fire, I decided to stick a chicken on as well.....
....after about 1 hour or so and an IT of about 100* I figured it had enough smoke so I pulled it, vacuum sealed it and stuck it in a bath at 130* for the next 50 hours......
....came out looking real nice and had a distinct wabble-wabble to it like it had smoked for 12 hours !!! I ice bathed it and put it in the frig until the smoker got warmed up.....
...gave it another good seasoning and put it on the pellet smoker at 300* unitl the IT hit 135* which took about 1 1/2 hours. Let it rest on the cutting board for about 30 minutes then carved.....
... came out super tender and juicy, really pretty amazing. It had a smokey note to it with the consistency of sirloin steak. The only thing that I didn't like was the fat layer between the muscles. It never really rendered like in a traditional brisket so we ended up just cutting it out. Made a gravy out of the bag jus to complement the meat.....
Oh yea and the chicken turned out pretty good too, just an added bonus.......
So what style is preferred? I see both as being viable alternatives. The smokey Texas traditional, with it's pull apart tenderness and unctuous collagen rich fat has always been a hit around my house. It's time consuming and sometimes difficult to hit on point. The sous vide steak like method yields a very tender and medium rare alternative that for me didn't have the proper fat rendering. Next time I believe I will separate the two muscles, remove the fatty layer and cook the meats separately.
All in all I was pleased with the results. Works well for me using chuck, top round, sirloin and now brisket. Cheap meats make good eats is my new motto !!! As I continue to keep my smoke blue and my beers cold....Troutman is once again out !!!! Carry on ......
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