Recently, there was post about using Kenji's sous vide method of cooking a brisket. He used a brisket flat cut in half. I had a full packer in the freezer that I had cut in half between the flat and the point as my freezer is too small to fit a whole packer. After reading that post, and with my new Anova Pro in hand, I went for it - sort of. Here is the link to the Serious Eats article and recipe: Sous Vide Smoked Brisket Recipe (seriouseats.com)
Here is the post by gdsim1 that got me going: Sous Vide Brisket - HOLY COW!!! 😳 - Pitmaster Club (amazingribs.com)
Bottom line first: this was the most tender and moist brisket I have had in a long time! And the texture, bark and smoke, for me, was excellent! Here is a pic of the end result plated. I'll go back to the story of the cook after.
First big mistake I made was after defrosting the brisket in the fridge for 3-4 days, I decided to leave the point in the bag and sous vide it without removing, dry brining and re-bagging. DO NOT DO THAT! I did not realize that the meat after sous vide would not absorb the salt in my SPOG rub as it would have if I removed it and put the rub on the uncooked meat before sous vide. Lesson learned the hard way.
So, into the sous vide tank at 155* for 30 hours.
After 29+ hours, removed the brisket from the sous vide and into an ice bath for 30 minutes. My plan was to then unbag it, put on the rub and into the fridge overnite before smoking it on the MAK. By the way, the 30 minute ice bath was based on Clint Cantwell's sous vide brisket recipe on the free AR site: Sous Vide And Smoked Beef Brisket Recipe Is Pure Nirvana (amazingribs.com).
Here is where my mistake comes into play. Because I did not unbag, brine and re-bag, the brisket was covered in globs of semi-chilled blood, liquid and fat from the ice bath. YUCK! I washed and rinsed the meat and dried with many paper towels. here is a shot of it before going into the fridge.
And a shot of it where I cut a piece off to see what the flavor and texture was before putting in the frig.
Looks dry, but it is not. Obviously more firm than taking the meat to 203-210*, but very tasty.
Next day, fired up the MAK to 275*. Once it got to temp, smoked the meat for just under 3 hours. Here is another divergence from Kenji's recipe, Clint's recipe and the recent post that followed a similar method. Clint has you smoke at 225* for an hour to get the meat back to 125*. After 1 hour, though, mine was still at 85* IT at a smoke temp of 275*- started at fridge temp of 40*. I used an meat probe with with my Fireboard to measure the IT.
After the almost 3 hours, my probe was showing 150*, not the almost 200+* the other post reported, nor what Kenji's recipe has after 3 hours. maybe because I used the point end? Dunno.
Here it is out of the smoker. I highly recommend this approach. I will be cooking the flat end the same way except this time removing from the original bag, drying and dry brining overnight, the re-bagging before sous vide.
Bon appetite!
Here is the post by gdsim1 that got me going: Sous Vide Brisket - HOLY COW!!! 😳 - Pitmaster Club (amazingribs.com)
Bottom line first: this was the most tender and moist brisket I have had in a long time! And the texture, bark and smoke, for me, was excellent! Here is a pic of the end result plated. I'll go back to the story of the cook after.
First big mistake I made was after defrosting the brisket in the fridge for 3-4 days, I decided to leave the point in the bag and sous vide it without removing, dry brining and re-bagging. DO NOT DO THAT! I did not realize that the meat after sous vide would not absorb the salt in my SPOG rub as it would have if I removed it and put the rub on the uncooked meat before sous vide. Lesson learned the hard way.
So, into the sous vide tank at 155* for 30 hours.
After 29+ hours, removed the brisket from the sous vide and into an ice bath for 30 minutes. My plan was to then unbag it, put on the rub and into the fridge overnite before smoking it on the MAK. By the way, the 30 minute ice bath was based on Clint Cantwell's sous vide brisket recipe on the free AR site: Sous Vide And Smoked Beef Brisket Recipe Is Pure Nirvana (amazingribs.com).
Here is where my mistake comes into play. Because I did not unbag, brine and re-bag, the brisket was covered in globs of semi-chilled blood, liquid and fat from the ice bath. YUCK! I washed and rinsed the meat and dried with many paper towels. here is a shot of it before going into the fridge.
And a shot of it where I cut a piece off to see what the flavor and texture was before putting in the frig.
Looks dry, but it is not. Obviously more firm than taking the meat to 203-210*, but very tasty.
Next day, fired up the MAK to 275*. Once it got to temp, smoked the meat for just under 3 hours. Here is another divergence from Kenji's recipe, Clint's recipe and the recent post that followed a similar method. Clint has you smoke at 225* for an hour to get the meat back to 125*. After 1 hour, though, mine was still at 85* IT at a smoke temp of 275*- started at fridge temp of 40*. I used an meat probe with with my Fireboard to measure the IT.
After the almost 3 hours, my probe was showing 150*, not the almost 200+* the other post reported, nor what Kenji's recipe has after 3 hours. maybe because I used the point end? Dunno.
Here it is out of the smoker. I highly recommend this approach. I will be cooking the flat end the same way except this time removing from the original bag, drying and dry brining overnight, the re-bagging before sous vide.
Bon appetite!
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