Urgent: How to rest and hold brisket like @BBQBill

[wcpreston]

Once BBQBILL briskets are probe tender, he does this:

Rest them at 110F at 90% humidity until they drop to 150F
Hold them indefinitely at 150F at 75% humidity

"Next, they rest still wrapped at a controlled temperature of 110°F and at 90% relative humidity until the thickest part of the flat where the probe drops to 145°F to 150°F or so.
I then open and add liquid inside the butcher paper and re-wrap.
They are then moved into holding at 150°F and at 75% relative humidity for around 10 to 15 hours. (Depending on my schedule)"

I kinda forgot this waiting on my next brisket cook, and forgot to buy some stuff to handle it. My question is what do I do now? (My 16lb Costco Prime brisket is going into the stall right about now.)

What do you do if you don't have an oven that goes that low? Specifically, it's the rest step I'm curious about. The lowest my oven goes is 170F.

Do I:

1. Rest on the counter
2. Rest in a faux cambro?
3. Something else?

I can raise the humidity with steam, but just curious as to what you guys who don't have BBQBILL's commercial holding oven do?

[Henrik]

I say go for no. 2

[wcpreston]

Henrik Thanks for such a quick reply.

That's the way I was leaning. I was going to put a temp probe in both and occasionally open it if it's higher than 110F in there. I figure the humidity will be OK as well.

[jgreen]

Without fancy commercial equipment, I think faux cambro is next best option.

[SmokeyGator]

110 @ 90% humidity, then 150 @ 75% humidity? Sounds technical and complicated.

Go with option 2. I use a yeti 45 quart, it has held ribs for 10-11 hours (steam was still visible when I unwrapped them). I used towels to protect the bottom of the cooler, loaded 8 racks wrapped and in the cooker set to 250 for 2-3 hours in, then more towels to take up air space.

When its its time to wrap add an ounce or so of whatever liquid is handy, cook until the probe test is good or temperature hits whoever you think is good, then put it in a cooler packed with towels. Don't use the good towels, they will smell like BBQ brisket. It will hold for hours with 16 pounds of hot brisket in it.

NOTE: the ribs were for a luncheon. I tried to convince the luncheon master to go with pulled pork, but she wanted ribs. It was 8 full racks which as it turns out is the maximum amount I can load in my primo. Gave em 3-4 hours unwrapped at 225, then 2-3 hours tightly wrapped. Before wrapping I basted them with sauce and an ounce or so of beer went in the foil. So a lot of heat load was inside the cooler, because they had to sit so long.

[wcpreston]

Yea, I know it's super technical. That's BBQBILL.

Not sure about others on here, but I'm trying to emulate his procedure because (A) he's emulating Aaron Franklin, who I love and (B) BBQBILL also sells his brisket, so he's very precise. I'm trying to get just as precise, but then i realized I couldn't do it -- after I started my cook.

[SmokeyGator]

I hear you. Emulation is the highest form of flattery. I want to go back to NYC just for Katz deli pastrami. I can’t duplicate or exactly, but the "close enough" recipie here is really close enough. I don’t have the steam table, I can’t do the 48 hour cook, so it isn’t exact. You are having the same issue here. So concentrate on what you can do. Start with a quality cut of brisket. Follow the prep instructions. Get the cook temp right. Use the rub recipie. Then faux cambro to rest.

[Bumby]

I agree with the faux cambro idea. I love meat smoking as a hobby and one of the things I love about it is simplicity. The faux cambro upped my game and doesn't require a lot of additional time or attention.

[Troutman]

First of all I do a lot of briskets as well. I just stick them in a 170* oven and after about 30 minutes I shut the oven off and let the brisket ramp itself down for the next hour to hour and a half. It's generally sits in a foil pan covered with foil and wrapped in a big beach towel. After that amount of time the brisket is around 140-150*ish and still steaming. It's ready to carve. I have no problem with that method.

Second, do the same with a pre-heated cooler. Just dump hot water into the cooler and rinse just before placing your meat all wrapped like above.

Third, relax man. It ain't a perfect science. Be a master over the meat, don't let it be a master over you. As my daughter would say, just chill !!

[wcpreston]

Yes, yes, you do cook a lot of briskets, too. . (I can't wait for this Thursdays...)

Thanks, @Troutman.

Now I just have to start testing for probe tender. It's prime and I'm in the 190s, so I'm checking early.

[Spinaker]

Agreed!

[jfmorris]

Yep, I agree with everyone else. 170 oven or faux cambro is the best way to go. Without fancy commercial equipment with temp AND humidity control you will not duplicate the process you describe. Don’t over complicate it and try to open and close it during the faux cambro hold in an attempt to duplicate the overthought process. It’s just BBQ!

[Huskee]

I just close the vents on my grill once it reaches the target and let the temp wane to 150 and pull the brisket at either 2 hrs or when the brisket IT reaches 150, whichever comes first (2 hrs always comes first so far). No fuss no muss, superb brisket. We're all different.

[SmokeyGator]

I do this with my Primo. For pulled pork once it hits 190 I can close off all vents. Fire goes out but the heat remains for more than enough time to finish the cook. And then the cooker itself becomes the cambro.

Whatever works. The last ribs I did would have lost a competition for being very overdone. But everybody loved them. No leftovers. That is all I care about. My backyard is not a competition

[adamcoe]

I feel like if you're worrying about a 15% difference in humidity you're overthinking it. The beef has no idea, and I can't possibly imagine it would make a noticeable difference on the end product. Cook it, rest it for an hour or two, then serve. If you're cooking the night before, then cook it, cambro it (either faux or the real deal if you have the dough) and again, serve. If you start getting into 203 degrees vs 205 or this humidity vs that, you're just trying to invent problems. Cook it, serve it, eat it. Nobody -even competition guys- are checking the relative humidity when they serve brisket. When it's done, it's done.