To add to the conversation, I made a brisket flat sous viding at two different temperatures and then a quick hot smoke. It came out great! No pictures since my friends brought their 1 1/2 year twin boys to destroy my house
I followed the advice of a ChefSteps forum poster - Diablote. Diastole goes into a long and very interesting explanation of collagen contraction and temperature control and the post is worth finding (it is toward the bottom of the first forum page - https://www.chefsteps.com/activities...smoked-brisket. The summary is: "A recommendation, then, if you're cheap like me but want to get off-the-chain results on a poorly-marbled Select brisket, would be to sous vide for 36 hours at 130˚ to dissolve all the collagen (into very moist gelatin) before it can contract, and then another 4 hours at 151˚ to get the color and texture of smoked brisket. Just my 2¢."
I did this almost exactly - 48 hours at 131 and 4 hours at 151. I then chilled it overnight (always chill) and then 1.5 hours in the smoker at 325. The results were fantastic! The meat was moist for a flat and fairly tender. While the crust had mild smoke flavor, it was probably the best I ever made.
In the future I might go up to 155 as the texture wasn't quite as traditional as I might have liked. I will definitely never do a straight 155 sous vide again.
I followed the advice of a ChefSteps forum poster - Diablote. Diastole goes into a long and very interesting explanation of collagen contraction and temperature control and the post is worth finding (it is toward the bottom of the first forum page - https://www.chefsteps.com/activities...smoked-brisket. The summary is: "A recommendation, then, if you're cheap like me but want to get off-the-chain results on a poorly-marbled Select brisket, would be to sous vide for 36 hours at 130˚ to dissolve all the collagen (into very moist gelatin) before it can contract, and then another 4 hours at 151˚ to get the color and texture of smoked brisket. Just my 2¢."
I did this almost exactly - 48 hours at 131 and 4 hours at 151. I then chilled it overnight (always chill) and then 1.5 hours in the smoker at 325. The results were fantastic! The meat was moist for a flat and fairly tender. While the crust had mild smoke flavor, it was probably the best I ever made.
In the future I might go up to 155 as the texture wasn't quite as traditional as I might have liked. I will definitely never do a straight 155 sous vide again.
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